Stitch, don't touch my weave!

Stitch, don't touch my weave!
22 January 2022 156 view(s)
Stitch, don't touch my weave!

With great excitement, we have finally got hold of a small number of Italy’s Puma Ultraweave 2021-2022 shirts. When the news broke of it’s arrival I hurriedly rushed up to the Goods In Department, grabbed the shirt out of the box, and felt… well,..nothing - the bag was weightless. As it was transparent, I could see the shirt inside but to the touch the bag felt empty, save for the minimal mass of a cardboard tag somewhere inside. Like a child watching a magic trick I chuckled with bemused amazement. To check my senses weren’t deceiving me I rushed the shirt to the Dispatch Department and dropped it on the scales - 112 grams, less than 4 ounces in old money! The dispatch operative whose desk I had commandeered and I stared at each other, again chuckling to ourselves. Just how light was the shirt inside! We carefully unwrapped, detagged, and put it back on the scales. 100g, ONE HUNDRED GRAMS - about the weight of three bags of crisps! Nothing.

 

 

When Puma broke the news of their most technologically advanced shirt yet on the 5th October 2021, they promised it was the lightest shirt of all time with the base weight of the template coming in at 72g. As part of Puma’s Faster Football initiative, they aim to be the fastest sports brand in the world. This shirt is the result of four years of research and development overseen by Creative Director of Teamsport, Stefano Favaro. “Our athletes wanted something lighter and faster to help them achieve marginal gains needed at the highest level.” He said at the shirt’s release.

 

 

On closer inspection, apart from the lack of weight, you immediately notice it is only made of two distinct panels. The main front panel sporting the Renaissance pattern of Italy’s Euro 2020 winning jersey wraps backwards over the shoulders and is heat bonded to itself underneath the arms to form the sleeves. The second panel covers the back of the torso and is flatlock stitched into the front panel at the back of the shoulders to form a raglan sleeve, with the stitching going down from the neckline to the armpit. If you rub the material between your hands, you can barely feel anything against the texture of your other hand. The material is made using Puma’s dryCELL recycled polyester. It offers superb sweat-wicking and breathability, whilst featuring a 4-way engineered mechanical stretch and a 2-dimensional ripstop structure. 4-way means it stretches both horizontally and vertically maximising comfort and resilience and a 2-dimensional ripstop is when thicker reinforcement yarns are interwoven at regular intervals in a crosshatch pattern throughout a material making it more resistant to tearing and ripping.

 

 

Much was made of the “peacoat navy” mesh cuffs and panels at the front and back of the neckline. From the photos many people assumed it to be woven to increase breathability. However, giving it the “Spark Design Academy Test'' of stretching it between my thumbs you can tell it is an extremely elastic but dense lattice work designed to give the shirt shape whilst ensuring it is extremely comfortable and durable.

 

 

As pointed out before, the sleeves are heat bonded and this continues down the sides of the shirt and bottom hem, dramatically reducing the weight by removing much of the stitching of a standard shirt. The bond is neatly locked at the bottom with strips of matte navy tape. All of the minimal internal stitching is a soft flatlock with such a low profile it can barely be felt with your fingertips. There is a sizable manufacturer's label sewn into the left shoulder which I must admit surprised me, as I would have thought this would be printed. But it is only sewn in by two loops in each corner, clearly designed to be easily removed to strip the shirt right back to its bare chassis.

 

 

The FICG crest and Puma Authentic applications are again heat bonded to reduce weight. Both have a soft hand feel but, at the same time, are firm and robust. The Puma logos have a soft gold leaf appearance accentuating the Renaissance patterning, again like the Euro 2020 jersey. 

 

 

The shirt was debuted on the 6th October 2021 by the Azzurri in their UEFA Nations League Semi-final defeat against Spain, and 3rd place playoff victory against Belgium. It’s due to be worn again in the World Cup Qualifying playoff against North Macedonia in March (but wasn't), before (hopefully) being used in the playoff final against Portugal or Turkey (again...we now know it wasn't), meaning it will only ever be used for a maximum of 4 games by the Men’s team (Ultimately just two!), making it extremely rare. Whilst the Ultraweave template is expected to be utilised for all of Puma’s World Cup 2022 kits, Italy are expected to sport a design based on the lighter blue Euro 2002 kit worn 20 years previously.

 

Shop our Italy collection here

 

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