The adidas X Pharrell Human Race collection

Thanks to a well-planned project and collaboration agreement, adidas Football, together with Humanrace, unveiled a very special collection of football jerseys last Friday. This collaboration featured the artist Pharrell Williams, who hand-designed all the products in the collection. Today we’re talking about the adidas Humanrace collection.

29 October 2020 - Written by David del Río
Just recently, the football world was taken by surprise when Paul Pogba showed off some very special boots in a live stream on his Instagram account. He had just received them from adidas, and they bore a very special signature: that of their creator, Pharrell Williams. The boots were entirely hand-designed and clearly inspired by retro styles, drawing on the legendary 1998 Predator Accelerator. However, those boots were just the beginning. Barely a week after that first preview, the German brand, together with the director of the Humanrace project (P.W.), officially unveiled a new collection of football jerseys for Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Manchester United and Real Madrid. These kits have been completely redesigned and are inspired by some of the most iconic jerseys in the history of these clubs.


The adidas Humanrace jerseys collection

For anyone who thinks that ‘Jersey Culture’ is losing momentum or that it never really took off, it’s time to say that they are very much mistaken. It is becoming increasingly common to see football jerseys and other merchandise from major international clubs forming part of many people’s everyday style.

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Whether it’s down to a passion for football or simply their stylish design, football jerseys are no longer worn just on match days. It’s becoming increasingly common to see them as part of the everyday style of fans all over the world.


Taking this idea as his starting point, the creator of the Humanrace project drew inspiration from five iconic jerseys from the clubs featured in this collection and gave them a unique twist through a design process carried out entirely by hand.

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Each of the jerseys presented here tells fans and supporters a little about each club’s history, as well as the reason behind the choice of a particular design for this collection. All these moments have been channelled by the designer in charge to imbue every football jersey in this collaboration with a contemporary reflection on today’s football culture, whilst also celebrating the imperfect beauty of the human spirit. Hence the real reason why every item in this collection has been hand-designed.


Pharrell Williams himself admitted that: “History is what shapes the future, and sometimes, to look ahead, you first have to look back. The most important part of the process with this collection has been learning about the history of each of the clubs chosen for this collaboration, and also identifying the moment that has had a truly positive impact on their recent history.”


Starting with the official Arsenal FC jersey, which is inspired by one of the Gunners’ most famous kits of all time: the ‘bruised banana’ kit, worn during the 1991–93 seasons, and moving on to Manchester United’s famous official blue and white kit from 1990–92, we come to Bayern Munich, who during the 1991–93 seasons wore their traditional red jersey with the three very large adidas stripes on one shoulder and on the shorts.

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This collection is rounded off by the Real Madrid kit, which is inspired by the official Real Madrid jersey worn during the 2014–15 season and features a dragon design by the artist Yohji Yamamoto, as well as the pink Juventus jersey worn by the Turin-based team during the 2015–16 season, a very important year for the Italian side, as it was the year they won Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana.


Finally, the launch of the adidas Predator 20+ alongside this collection was a huge success, as the design—inspired by the 1998 Predator—meant the boots sold out in a matter of minutes worldwide on the day of their release.

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The entire adidas Humanrace collection is now available to buy on the Fútbol Emotion website.

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