To say Nike raised the bar with Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup kit would be quite the understatement.
It possessed that rare magic of appealing to both fashion-first millennials and football shirt connoisseurs. In the case of the former, the appeal was so extreme that ultrafast fashion flogger Primark shamelessly tried to cash in by making their own tacky version. The less said about that depressing idea, the better.
Two years on and Nike have revealed their 2020 Naija-inspired collection and it certainly feels like an aesthetic sequel to 2018’s originals. Like most sequels of anything, that thrill of discovery is missing, but that’s not to say it’s anything but a winner.
Like the 2018 editions, the greatest success is that these shirts feel Nigerian. That might sound obvious, but beyond basic colour schemes that reflect their flag, how many other international shirts can say they truly capture the same kind of human spirit and culture of their country and its people?
Even if they’ve done it before and arguably better, this is still Nike at its visionary best.
Cult Kits Rating: 4-0
A tantalising, swaggering display that’s full of personality and charisma, but doesn’t quite have the malice to make it more of a thrashing.
Words by Dom Kocur
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