Major League Soccer (MLS) and kit partner adidas teamed up to mark Earth Day 2023 through a ‘One Planet’ strip based initiative which saw all teams in the league wear shirts made from recycled plastic for the Earth Day weekend round of matches on 22 and 23 April.
Adidas, which has an MLS partnership that see it supply all of the teams’ kits through a centralised deal, produced a complete set of unique jerseys to celebrate earth Day 2023 – the fifth anniversary of a league/sportswear brand project aimed at raising awareness of global plastic ocean pollution.
The adidas shirts are made from Parley Ocean plastic – a recycled material made from recycled plastic waste – and are handmade to designs reflecting the teams and the depths of the oceans.
As part of its ongoing partnership with non-profit Parley For The Oceans, adidas collected plastic from remote islands, beaches and coastal communities before it can enter the oceans, crushed, melted and mixed it with a fibrous material to create the kits
This initiative was amplified through a campaign distributed by the sportswear brand, the league and its constituent clubs, while official replica ‘Earth Day’ team shirts are available for fans to buy through the MLS digital purchasing platform.
The campaign create and PR ran with the slogan ‘End Plastic Waste’ accompanied by a signature campaign swirling print and a call-to-action uniting each MLS club and all fans to act collectively and responsibly for the planet.
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This initiative not only links to MLS’ goal to ‘be the most sustainable league in international football’, but is also part of Adidas ongoing ecology mission to X and follows hot on the heels of the German sportswear giant’s April ‘Inspired By Nature’ launch of a set of six national women’s teams’ away kits for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Other linked recent Adidas/Parley initiatives range from the 2022 and 2021 iterations of the ‘Run For The Oceans’ project, its 2021 ‘PrimeBlue’ All Blacks and Black Fearns kits with New Zealand Rugby Union, its 2021 ‘Floating Tennis Court’ stunt leverage interest in the Australian Open tennis tournament and supporting the Great Barrier Reef, as well as its 2018 ‘Cliff Dive’ partnership with Anna Bader and its 2016 ‘Eco Team Kit’ projects with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
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