Dr. Susan L. Sokolowski
is a Professor, Department Head of Product Design, and the Founder of the Sports Product Design Graduate Program at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on performance product innovation, sizing/fit, advanced materials, and sustainability. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and holds more than 100 U.S. and international patents.
Email: sokolows@uoregon.edu
An official FIFA World Cup national team jersey can sell more than 3 million units during a World Cup cycle. Every four years, national teams introduce new home, away, and occasionally third colorway jerseys. These designs often incorporate national heritage, community narratives, and meaningful visual symbolism intended to unite players and supporters. The design of a new World Cup jersey typically begins 24 to 36 months before the event. The process is driven by the national team’s uniform sponsor and includes research, concept and materials development, prototyping, athlete and federation feedback, wear testing, and manufacturing.
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, polyester knit transitioned into the preferred jersey material because of its’ lightweight, durable, wrinkle-resistant and shrink-resistant, economical, and UV resistant characteristics. It also can be finished with moisture management treatments to move sweat away from the skin and sublimation printed with a wide variety of colors and graphic patterns. Polyester is a petroleumbased synthetic fiber developed in the 1940s, typically made of polyethylene terephthalate derived from ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. Brands later adopted recycled polyester made from plastic bottles to improve sustainability.
However, polyester is facing growing criticism from an environmental standpoint. Both virgin polyester and recycled polyester shed plastic microfibers, and recent evidence has indicated that recycled polyester can shed more. In research cited by the Microplastic Research Group, recycled polyester sheds 2.3 times more microfibers by weight and roughly 55% more by particle count than virgin polyester, with particles roughly 20% smaller. Given that tens of millions of jerseys may be produced for just one World Cup, this becomes a serious environmental concern shaped by both brand decisions and fan demand. In fact, the fashion industry is one of the biggest contributors of microplastics into our waterways. Product development, production, wear, washing, and disposal, apparel made with synthetic materials like polyester release plastic microfibers that pose risks to animals and human health, accounting for 20% to 35% of all microplastics that enter the ocean.
To address this concern, one possible solution is to reconsider using the materials worn in the earliest FIFA World Cup jerseys worn for the 1930 tournament in Uruguay. These early jerseys were made from cotton or wool fibers, both naturally sourced, making them more sustainable than polyester. In comparison to polyester which is estimated to take 20-200 years to break down after disposal, cotton can biodegrade in roughly 1-5 months, and wool in about 3-6 months under favorable conditions. Despite their biodegradability advantages, cotton and wool do have some performance limitations that originally led brands to move away from their use. Cotton absorbs about 7% of its weight in water (versus around 0.4% with polyester), so jerseys can become quite heavy when wet, potentially affected player comfort and performance. Cotton jerseys can also dry more slowly, and have lower abrasion resistance, wash shrinkage and shape loss, limited UV protection, and color fading under repeated washing in comparison to polyester. Wool can absorb up to 30% of its’ weight in moisture, however it can feel dry due to its’ unique fiber structure that is crimped. Wool can also be expensive, difficult to source in large quantities, and be challenging to wash frequently in high temperatures.
However, since the 1970’s and 1980’s textile engineers have been working on ways to address these challenges. Cotton knits can be engineered through yarn selection or construction or treated with moisture management finishes to move sweat from the skin side of the material to the outer surface for evaporation, helping to reduce weight, cling and drying time. Cotton can also be treated with finishes for better durability, wrinkle resistance, UV resistance, and colorfastness. If Merino wool is used, it inherently has characteristics that are favorable for a World Cup jersey. Merino wool is a superfine natural fiber that is soft next to skin, breathable, moisturewicking and naturally odorresistant. Like cotton, finishing treatments can assist with laundering and moisture management to reduce weight. Alongside these advances in cotton and wool, the broader textile sector is investing in bio-based performance materials derived from renewable feedstocks. These developments suggest that future World Cup uniforms may not need to rely exclusively on petroleum-based synthetics, but could be made from improved natural fibers, bio-based polymers, or hybrid solutions that better balance performance and environmental responsibility.
Materials alone are not enough. The deeper problem is a commercial system built on novel colorways, tournament cycles, and the expectation that fans will replace their jersey whenever a new one debuts. Even low-impact fibers will have a limited effect if that model continues unchanged. Fans can influence this system by demanding fewer kit styles, more sustainable materials, and longer product lifecycles which may put pressure on brands and federations to be more accountable. In that sense, fans could become the most important force for environmental change.
