Gloucestershire football club Forest Green Rovers is considered the “greenest football club in the world” and combines sustainability with football in many initiatives. It is the only vegan FC that will soon be home to the world’s first wooden stadium. The club’s latest eco-friendly initiative is jerseys for the 2024/2025 season.
Designed in collaboration with official kit partner Umbro, the club’s new bamboo fabric shirts feature climate change figures. The data is engraved on a hidden band in the neck lining and along the side seam. The FC also collaborated with the University of Reading’s Show Your Stripes campaign, using a graphic by climate scientist Ed Hawkins and a chart by Miles Richardson, professor at the University of Derby. Hawkins’ graphic visualises the rise in average global temperatures from 1850 to the present day, while Richardon’s contribution comes in the form of his biodiversity stripe chart, which shows the loss of British wildlife since 1970. A pink colourway is used for away matches and a green colourway is for training.
“We have taken great steps to integrate sustainability into every aspect of our club activities. It is in our DNA to continue to look for ways to raise awareness of the climate crisis,” Dale Vince, chairman of Forest Green Rovers, told Dezeen.
“The new Forest Green kits turn players and fans into climate ambassadors, turning every game into an opportunity to inspire action and recognise the urgent need for global climate solutions,” Hawkins said. “Football unites people and now it can unite fans in the fight against climate change.”
Check out Forest Green Rovers FC’s climate change kits in the gallery above.
