The All Blacks have revealed their brand new primary jersey that the reigning World Champions will wear for the defence of their crown at Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, and it’s one of the most unconventional jerseys in the tournament.
As is of course the way with most modern All Blacks jerseys, the new shirt looks like plain black jersey from a distance – it’s the most iconic jersey in all of rugby for a reason, after all. Up close, however, things get a bit, well, organic…
The jersey, which was designed by Y-3 , the collaboration label between adidas and legendary Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto, brings together Japanese and New Zealand culture in a truly unique way.
The body of the shirt features hand-drawn koru and fern motifs that in themselves would be striking, but on the players’ jersey this pattern has an all-over textured effect that actually looks as though the jersey has been made of those ferns.
So often Adidas’s new All Blacks jerseys get carried away talking about the cutting edge new technology that’s involved in their creation, and of course this remains probably the most meticulously advanced and expensively designed rugby shirt on the planet for all those reasons…
But it’s nice to see them do something with an All Blacks design that isn’t so much about the tech and actually does something visually different and striking.
In addition to their primary jersey, the All Blacks have also revealed a white alternate design, which again emphasises the same 3D fern pattern.
The new All Blacks Rugby World Cup 2019 jersey will be worn for the first time for their opening RWC2019 match against South Africa.
Check out all the new Rugby World Cup 2019 jerseys in our full round-up here.
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