As we approach World Cup year in 2026, the branding, ball and other assets have now been released so we are starting to get a feel for how it will look. But, it’s not just the visuals of the branding and sponsors which shape how the tournament feels, but also the kits.
This time, as expected, the majority of kits will be Adidas or Nike manufactured, with a few others in the mix. But I want to spend some time focusing on Adidas.
They’ve made a subtle change to their template, which I expect to start seeing across all of their club kits too in the 26/27 season. It’s so subtle you may not notice, or you may notice a difference but not be able to put your finger on it.
In fact, it’s a change that I’m surprised hasn’t happened sooner.
So, to set the scene, the Adidas brand effectively splits into two key areas, ‘Performance’ and ‘Originals’. The Originals sub brand focuses more on fashion, and sportswear made for fashion. The Performance brand focuses on items made specifically for sports performance.
Originals maintains the original Adidas branding, the strong blue, the three stripes and the Trefoil logo. Performance wear carries the black and white brand colours, the three stripes and the triangular ‘mountain’ logo.
In the early 90s, Adidas rebranded visually. This is when the mountain logo and the black and white colourway was introduced. Now, at that time, there wasn’t the huge desire for vintage looking pieces. It was there, but was quite underground and exclusive. Trying to find a pair of retro Adidas trainers at that time was harder than you might think. Unlike today where everything is at your fingertips, there was no online shopping, in fact, there wasn’t even the internet. So finding those retro pieces was achieved by scouring second hand shops, or listening out for rumours of deadstock being available in certain stores. Adidas Connection on Tottenham Court Road would usually have something rare on a shelf somewhere.
But what that did was generate a demand for deadstock or vintage items carrying the ‘old’ Adidas trefoil logo, and Adidas cottoned onto this. However, their brand had been updated and so any ‘old’ item to be re-manufactured and put on sale would need to carry the new logo, therefore instantly showing that it was a re-release, not an original piece. So, to cut a long story short, the ‘Originals’ sub brand made its way onto our shelves and the brand was then able to seamlessly cover both markets, people who needed quality performance sportswear, and people who wanted vintage fashion wear, including football fans who craved terrace fashion – which brings us nicely back to football.
That desire for these pieces has now also crossed over into performance wear. Many football clubs whose kits are made by Adidas, now have a third kit which carries the Originals trefoil logo, not the mountain logo that we see of their ‘home’ shirts. Afterall, football kits are high performance, elite sport items. But then again, they’re also worn as fashion items, so…
One thing you’ll notice that links the two sub-brands is that they both carry the three stripes in their identity, an asset that immediately identifies Adidas. Theres a whole story related to ownership and copyright of the stripes, but that’s for another time.
It’s those stripes that I want to focus on. The three stripes had always been part of the Adidas brand and they have transferred to the newer brand in the same style. The mountain logo in itself is formed of the famous three stripes, but at an angle forming the shape of an ‘A’. So, when we look back to the early nineties, and take a guess at what the brand update brief would have been, then it really works, all the elements are there, and the rationale is spot on.
However, when we look at the three stripes within the mountain logo, the spacing between them is much tighter, the stripes themselves are heavier than the original stripes that we see on trainers, on t-shirts, on tracksuits and even on the modern football shirts of some massive clubs. Those stripes have been carried over from the early branding and the negative space between each stripe is the same width as the stripes themselves. So my assumption would be that some creative license was granted when designing the mountain logo. Had the thinner, evenly spaced stripes been used, it may have had less impact visually.
Adidas have decided that this upcoming World Cup, is the time to address that. On all of the World Cup kits made by Adidas, being worn at the 2026 World Cup, the stripes have been adjusted to not only be thicker and have stand-out, but they now mirror the spacing and sizing used in the mountain logo. They have a stronger impact, while taking up the same amount of space on the sleeve – something dictated by FIFA kit branding rules.
So while you’re watching the games and enjoying the summer sunshine in 2026 but can’t quite put your finger on what is different about these shirts as, afterall, all the same elements are there, take a closer look at the stripes…
If this sparked a rethink with your brand, imagine what we could achieve together. Talk to Mobas, contact the Mobas team by dropping us an email at: say.hello@mobas.com