Club’s new kit includes climate change design

Reading’s new home kit features a stripe design to represent increasing average global temperatures.

The design on shirt sleeves and shorts was first created by Professor Ed Hawkins, a University of Reading academic, in 2018.

Each stripe on the shirts shows a year’s average temperature since the club was founded in 1871.

Blue stripes represent cooler than average years and red hotter than average.

Tim Kilpatrick, the club’s head of commercial, said he hoped the design would “inspire more climate conversations” amongst fans.

“We are not perfect, but this is the start of a journey. We will not aim to change the world overnight,” added Kilpatrick.

“We want to aim to reduce our carbon footprint as a football club and give our fans the opportunity to come with us on the same journey.”

The shirt is made from recycled plastic bottles and can itself be recycled again in the future.

The equivalent of 13-and-a-half plastic litre bottles produces enough polyester yarn to make one of the shirts.

“Support is a powerful thing in football and this collaboration makes it a key theme for the season,” added Hawkins.

“We hope Reading Football Club’s fans will push them on to success this season, while at the same time the players and the club will be supporting climate action and recognising the science.”