How Kappa Kombat changed the aesthetics of football

In the early 2000’s, Kappa revolutionized the world of football by creating a product that challenged every aesthetic standard. We’re talking about the Kombat, the stretch jersey made famous by Italy during EURO 2000 and the one that introduced the stretch fabric onto football fields. The concept behind that jersey was simple: to exploit the flexibility of the material to let the player continuing his movement while held by an opponent and at the same time highlight that same held so that a referee could sanction it. The revolutionary design, originally, was not received with enthusiasm by Italy’s players. Emanuele Ostini, the man who conceived and designed Kombat for Kappa, in many interviews has revealed that during the first day of dress fitting at Coverciano, Italy’s headquarter for the National team, no one among Totti, Del Piero and Cannavaro dared to give the new jersey a try as they were scared by how much tight it was. Eventually, Cannavaro wore it and Ostini, as soon as he saw the defender’s physique exalted by the Kombat, told him: “You look like Superman!”. Yes, because another effect created by Kombat has been that it completely transformed the players’ perception, turning mere footballers in real athletes with incredible bodies.

Since 2000 Kappa has realized multiple versions of the Kombat, some of whom have become a cult among kit lovers like, for example, the one wore by AS Roma in Champions League during the 2001/02 season, or the historic jersey sponsored by PlayStation wore by Auxerre. There have been kits taken to the extreme, like the seamless i.e a jersey with no seams wore by Napoli during the 2016/17 season, while in this season the one realized for AS Monaco in collaboration with Drôle de Monsieu has been the most highly regarded.

Kombat’s success must not be measured only for how it changed forever football’s esthetic, virtually banning all the large kits that ruled the scene in the 90’s. The influence of Kappa’s gamble is clearly visible in the collections of the most famous brands, not because they are mainly composed by tight-fitting shirts but for the large use of stretch fabric. Dolce&Gabbana have turned it into a trademark. Just to highlight some of the most recent examples, for the 2022 collection they created a cargo for men in stretch cotton that become a benchmark for the relaunch of these trousers while in 2023 they designed a close-fitting and soft little black dress in cady stretch that quickly imposed itself as one of the most elegant dresses of the brand. In wider terms, through stretch fabric the company put easiness at the service of the style, a dogma followed by Diesel too. If you search the word stretch on their official website, you’ll be redirected to 708 products. Renzo Rosso has decided to bet on stretch fabric so much that he used it for almost every jean he has created exploiting the flexibility to enhance comfort.

Kombat’s revolution may not be over yet. Just like in the early 2000’s Kappa’s stretch jerseys have subverted esthetic on football fields, it cannot be ruled out the possibility that this model could create a new trend in 2023 too. Football jerseys have been the inspiration for block core, a fashion trend born on TikTok characterized by supposedly casual looks in which washed-out jeans are paired with old large football jerseys, a trend that got in Hector Bellerin its most famous testimonial. Kappa has been mainly involved in this trend because Bellerin last season was immortalized with a retro jersey from Betis, team sponsored by the Turin’s firm, and because old Manchester City and Barcelona’s jerseys realized by Kappa in the 90’s have been the most popular among people who participated in block core. The evolution of this trend could turn into a trend reversal represented at its best by Kombat, a step into the direction of more fitted jerseys taking advantage of the success of Y2K, the 2000’s revival for the Gen Z. And in football nothing represents the 2000’s at their peak as Kappa’s stretch jerseys.