The return of the stripes in the new Inter jersey

In the footballing imagination, the first jersey is the sacred one, something untouchable, non-divisible and that every year is called upon to respect all the stylistic, traditional and historical cornerstones that each team brings with it. There are now teams that are recognisable by their designs and patterns, teams that even without seeing logos or other fundamental elements you can guess their origin, one of these in Italy is certainly Inter, which is part of that great circle of teams that since its foundation has always had the first striped jersey, strictly black and blue. It all started with a group of dissident members of AC Milan, who on 9 March 1908 decided to found Internazionale. A team born almost by chance, created due to the strong desire of the partners to accept not only Italian but also foreign players and also to undertake commercial strategies quite different from those of their Rossoneri cousins. The black and blue stripes, unlike others, have always been part of the team's history, from the very first moment and have not been changed or replaced except on one occasion. 

Innovating a first jersey is always difficult, not to say prohibitive. There have been attempts of attempts, many of which, however, have clashed with the conservative drives of the fans. In 2019, Juventus was one of the first to wear a jersey without the traditional black and white vertical stripes. It was neither a success with the public nor with the critics despite some very good sales, probably thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo. Last year, however, it was Paris Saint Germain's turn with Jordan taking inspiration from the historic Chicago Bulls jersey and abandoning Hechter's design, but the jersey only sparked controversy from the most conservative fringe of the Parisian club's fans. Inter actually tried this last season, introducing a snakeskin weave, but the stripes never disappeared, even if they were not as sharp and distinct as they have always been in history. 

And after last year's revolution, this year the stripes have returned as bold as they once were in the new jersey designed by Nike with the Vaporknit template, a model that the swoosh will make all its big clubs and national teams wear at the next World Cup in Qatar. A new jersey defined as "a memory" by Nicolò Barella, who tells us: "everyone who has worn and experienced this jersey has incredible memories. We hope to leave beautiful ones with this unique jersey too." A thought shared in part by Alice Regazzoli, who on the other hand described the new Inter jersey as beautiful and finally added: "for me to wear it has always been a great emotion, I will fight as hard as I can to defend these colours."

From Barella to Regazzoli, the return of the stripes represents something important, a crucial event for the two of them, who belong to a somewhat more traditionalist fringe and have always preferred the more classic jerseys. For both of them, however, the jersey represents something mystical and, more specifically, Inter, both Barella and Regazzoli were keen to emphasise in each reply the great emotion of playing at San Siro with this jersey and wearing those colours with the constant desire to do more and more. And in the end they also let themselves go, talking about the only declared goal for both teams, that of returning to winning the Scudetto, despite the other cups taken home, the ideas are clear: to return the black and blue Milan to victory.