For decades, women’s uniforms were just derivations of men’s. Now, taking specific design cues, like ponytail-friendly necklines, comes the good stuff.
The United States women’s soccer team has been fighting for gender parity not just in the courts — suing the United States Soccer Federation last week for discrimination — but also in their uniforms, known as kits. And at least when it comes to the clothes and the Women’s World Cup, they have won.
On Monday, at a global event in Paris, Nike revealed the new home and away uniforms for 14 out of 24 competing teams, and for the first time since the brand began working with the WWC tournament in 1995, each one of them was made specifically for the women’s teams, not as derivations or extensions of kits made for men. Three days before, to coincide with International Women’s Day, Adidas released its new designs for four WWC teams.
In the larger picture of gender issues and sports, this may not seem like a big deal. But the clothes athletes wear speak loudly about identity and allegiance, and have the power to help instill confidence. Clothes are also the easiest way for fans to assert their own allegiance, aspiration and personal connection. They are, above all, symbols. And now they are finally symbols of parity.
“We are shifting more resources to women,” said Amy Montagne, the vice president for global categories at Nike — and not just because this is the largest number of teams the company has worked with. (It outfitted 11 clubs for the 2015 Women’s World Cup.) But because, Mark Parker, the chief executive, said, “We believe this summer can be another turning point for the growth of women’s football.”
Certainly, given Nike’s current emphasis on women’s sports — the Dream Crazier campaign, a series of new initiatives designed to support women’s coaching and engage more girls — as well as its own experience with Serena Williams and the current focus on female dress in the competitive arena, it would have been fairly hypocritical for the company to treat its women’s soccer kit as in any way secondary to men’s.
