Major League Soccer players will be sporting adidas One Planet jerseys in Matchday 9 for Earth Day weekend, to underscore the league’s commitment to raise awareness about ocean plastic waste and eliminating CO2-emitting plastics production.
FC Cincinnati players will wear the One Planet kit this Saturday, April 22 at TQL Stadium against the Portland Timbers (7:30 p.m. ET | FCCincinnati.com/Tickets | MLS Season Pass | ESPN 1530).
The kit is available for sale beginning at the TQL Stadium Team Store (NE corner of the stadium; 1501 Central Parkway, Cincinnati, OH, 45214) in men’s, women’s and youth sizes. It is also available online at MLSStore.com.
The jerseys are made entirely out of recycled Parley Ocean Plastic: re-imagined plastic waste intercepted from beaches and coastal communities and shorelines. The design inspiration nods to the fact that the jersey materials are sourced directly from plastics that were diverted from reaching our oceans by incorporating topographical maps from the ocean floor.
The process to re-imagine the plastic waste and turn it into the One Planet kit takes four steps:
INTERCEPT: adidas intercepts plastics before they reach the ocean in high-risk environments
SHRED: These plastics then go through a shredding process
MELT: That shredded plastic is then melted down in preparation for threading
THREAD: The final step is for the melted plastic to be mixed and threaded into a material that can be used to then create our performance products
Earlier this month, as part of MLS WORKS sixth-annual Greener Goals initiative, FC Cincinnati partnered with the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and Living Lands & Waters for a clean-up of the Ohio River. The clean-up was part of a tie-in with the club’s 2023 primary River Kit, which pays tribute to the city’s beloved river.
More than 60 volunteers boarded watercrafts or walked along the land to remove litter from the riverbank, including Zoo and FC Cincinnati front office staff, alongside FCC goalkeeper Evan Louro and defender Joey Akpunonu.
Read HERE for more information on the river clean-up.
MLS WORKS, Major League Soccer’s social responsibility platform, on Monday kicked off its sixth-annual Greener Goals Week of Service which highlights the League’s commitment to environmental sustainability, including efforts around waste reduction. Earth Day matches on April 22-23 will raise awareness surrounding sustainability and highlight how the MLS soccer community is addressing environmental impact.
