At an event in Florence, Italy, Puma and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) presented the new Italy home kit for the European Championships 2016. The blue and white kit is inspired by triumphs of the past, with a throwback design that summons the great history of Italian football, along with an homage to Italian sartorial fashion. The new kit will debut on pitch on Friday, November 13, when ‘Gli Azzurri’ play Belgium in a friendly matchup game.

Puma created the new kit with an eye on detail, thinking back to the pride, passion and tradition of Italian football. High crew neck collars reference the great Azzurri shirts from the past, keeping this design detail alive in the modern day. Thin embossed vertical stripes along the front, sleeves and back draw back to the traditional pinstripe detail of Italian fashion.

“It is important to us that we have a shirt we believe in. This shirt shows that Puma understands this, and again they have met our high expectations,” -FIGC’s Buffon

“The Italian shirt for us is an icon,” said Puma Global Creative Director Torsten Hochstetter. “It represents so many things to many people – a symbol of pride, of passion, great history and heritage, tradition and elegance. It also gives me great personal satisfaction having studied design in Florence, to work on such an iconic symbol, and present it in my ‘home away from home’. It is celebrated, along with the national teams who wear it, all over the world and we take great care to create a kit that is worthy of its reputation.”

Additional design elements in the kit include form stripe mesh inserts along the shoulders, high sleeve cuffs, golden sleeve piping and the side vent ‘tricolore’ flag detail on the left and right of the hem. The blue home shirt is combined with traditional white shorts and blue socks that also feature subtle golden details.

Italy’s new shirt features ACTV Thermo-R, Puma’s latest apparel technology. Strategically inserted in both the front and back of the shirt, ACTV Thermo-R helps players maintain an optimum body temperature. This is done by a unique phase-change material being injected into the shirt’s inner athletic tape, prompting microcapsules to absorb excess heat and release it back to the body when needed. The taping in the shirt provides an extra snug fit, micro-massaging the skin in specific areas to provide a faster, more effective energy supply to the active muscles.

FIGC Captain Gianluigi Buffon mentioned his great experience working with Puma for more than a decade. “Throughout this period the focus and attention they give to the design of the Italian kit is truly impressive. Italian people like to present themselves well, especially in our physical appearance and it is important to us that we have a shirt we believe in. This shirt shows that Puma understands this, and again they have met our high expectations.”

The new Italy Home Kit is available for purchase on puma.com and at global sports retailers starting November 10. This launch coincides with the release of new home kits for their other partnered European federations Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia and Czech Republic.

Photos Courtesy of Puma