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Supplied/NZ Rugby
The All Blacks’ jersey for this year’s Rugby World Cup has been revealed.
The All Blacks will carry a fresh interpretation of the iconic silver fern, and a reminder that they are merely guardians of the jersey, into this year’s Rugby World Cup.
On Wednesday, adidas and New Zealand Rugby revealed the kit the All Blacks will don in France in their bid to regain the Webb Ellis Cup, and become the first side to lift it a fourth time.
And it was a Frenchman – Fey The Wolf, an emerging Parisian-based street-style designer, who is known for his distinctive and creative use of the colour black – who collaborated with adidas in this latest design of the most iconic jersey in the world.
Packed with leading technical innovations and built with All Blacks’ insights and testing feedback, it is designed for play at the highest level, featuring ergonomic side panels around the abdominal area for a tight fit, with extra compression around the upper body thanks to a bias cut.
In a press release explaining the design elements, adidas said their design team worked closely with Fey The Wolf and current All Blacks players to create a kit “that is centred around the significance of the New Zealand silver fern – which holds deep, cultural meaning to all New Zealanders and the Māori community as a symbol of strength, resilience, and enduring power”.
SUPPLIED/NZ RUGBY
All Blacks captain Sam Cane models the jersey he will be wearing in France later this year.
As such, the shirt celebrates that element along with the tournament’s host nation by interweaving rounded edges of fronds found in France into the silver fern design.
Printed across the replica and on-pitch jerseys, the fern’s outline is made via a bold single continuous stroke, which is symbolic of the understanding that players never own the jersey and instead they merely protect it and pass it along to the next generation, creating one continuous line of guardianship.
And at the heart of the on-pitch jersey is an emblem made up of 14 differently sized ferns, which signifies the diversity and differing experience of the current squad.
“Completing the emblem, the crest of the team acts as the 15th fern, with each facing inwards to create the “USO” mark; a Samoan term meaning brother, in honour of the bond between the All Blacks.”
The replica jersey has been manufactured using continuous rolls of material containing Fey The Wolf’s unique fern design, meaning each replica jersey is slightly different, providing fans with their own unique piece of New Zealand Rugby legacy.
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