Will long-sleeved jerseys be back?

Over the past five years, long sleeves have all but disappeared from the playing fields, with the exception of a small minority of players such as Cristiano Ronaldo who have continued to wear long sleeved kits. A lost aesthetic from the second half of the 90s that Nike seems intent on bringing back into fashion for the next World Cup in Qatar in December, starting in the coming months with the shirts of Croatia, Holland, England, Poland, the United States and Portugal. Excluded therefore for the moment are some of the national teams represented by the swoosh, but it is not certain that in the future Nike can expand production to all its national teams.

There are two reasons why all the brands have abandoned long-sleeved jerseys. The first is of a technical nature, due to the emergence of new technical jerseys that are lightweight and breathable and allow every player to play in all weather conditions. The second reason is economic: demand from the mass market has fallen dramatically over the years, evolving in exactly the same way as the fit of the jerseys. But beyond any innovation, it is in fact impossible to forget the jerseys that the various Batistuta, Ronaldo, Veron and Gascoigne in Italy wore in that era, marking the style of entire generations, a trend that came from the fashion world increasingly influenced by the entry of designers with a cultural and aesthetic background very close to hip hop. 2021 was the year of the return to vintage logos, now Nike seems more than ready to reopen the archives again and take another step back in time, dusting off the long-sleeved jerseys, considered a symbol and representation of the aesthetics of the past.