American based sportswear company BOL which has its headquarters in Miami on Friday unveiled fresh kit designs for T&T as part of a partnership between it and the T&T Football Association (TTFA) which was announced earlier this year. The unveiling of the uniforms comes a month since the two-year partnership was agreed in April.
The apparel brand released new home and away jerseys featuring unique steelpan and tribal artwork that represents the beauty, strength and resilience that is the team’s heritage.
The stripes of the red home jersey combine elements of football with distinctive patterns of Trinbagonian ceramics and silhouettes of the steelpan, the national instrument, a release from BOL said, noting that the native figure portrayed on the away jersey, also wearing a steelpan earring, represents how the team unites the country and its people abroad as a tribe.
The uniforms are modelled by national midfielders Joevin Jone and Matthew Woo Ling.
“Our brand finds inspiration to create its products from the stories and culture of the teams that we partner with,” said Tiago Pinto, co-founder of BOL. “It is an honour to be able to translate the vibrant culture and compelling story of the National Team into a jersey that represents the Trinbagonian people.”
The new kit deal replaces Joma, the country’s last kit deal. Under the previous president William Wallace and the United TTFA Team, the country came close to securing fresh kits from UK firm Avec Sports, but it failed to materialise because it failed to meet the approval of the Board of Directors of the TTFA.
According to the release, BOL chose to introduce the new kits this week with the hope of inspiring the T&T Men’s National Team ahead of two crucial matches for the World Cup Qualifiers against the Bahamas today at 5 pm and St Kitts/Nevis on June 8.
The brand is on a mission to share the emotional journeys of men’s, women’s, and youth teams and is the first sports brand to give equal compensation for performance achievements.
“Overcoming hardships along the way with the heartbreaking loss against Haiti in the 1974 World Cup and against the United States in 1989, T&T MNT made it to the highest stage of football by qualifying for the World Cup in 2006,” the release said.
Responding to the announcement Robert Hadad, chairman of the FIFA appointed Normalisation Committee said: “This is not just another red jersey. BOL is the brand that has captured the need for our team to fight back.”
The TTFA is currently examining plans for local distribution of the kits for local fans and details will be unveiled soon and will be in shops and online.
Meanwhile, the uniforms are currently on sale for US$90 (TT$630.00) via the BOL website with free worldwide shipping.
About the brand: "BOL, football is all about passion, expression and, sometimes, even obsession - always driven by winning. As a Miami brand, we see the game as a way to celebrate bravery, diversity, belonging and different cultures, altogether by the same goal: the goal (it's like this word was made for it). But we also know that to win, there's a long journey. A journey where players, fans, teams and nations create unstoppable energy to express their best - on and off the pitch. And we believe in embracing and enjoying every step of this journey. With hard work and lots of joy. So, if you see a space to express your best self in football - watching it or playing the game -, this is definitely the place for you."