The collaboration between Nike and the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) will debut brand new jerseys at the 2019 World Championship.
LPL and the worldwide sports apparel giant announced their partnership in late 2018, making Nike the sole clothing provider and official shoe for the Chinese league. Previously, Nike signed their first esports player ever when they welcomed Royal Never Give UP’s (RNG) Jian ‘Uzi’ Zihao to the brand in October 2018.
The deal between the two entities will soon bring an array of shirts that are similar in design, but are each specifically inspired by the 16 teams in the league.
In a September 8 reveal, Nike pulled back the curtain on the kits that players will don for the 2020 iteration of the LPL.
“The season culminates in the 2019 Season World Championship in Europe,” Nike said in their announcement. “Which marks the debut of new Nike x LPL team uniforms, featuring bespoke designs unique to the gaming communities and a common chevron pattern on the chest to symbolize motion and teamwork.”
The devil is in the details for Nike’s LPL kits. While all teams will sport roughly the same design, they’ll take their own identity with different color schemes, emblems, and patterns that more accurately represent the individual orgs.
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With China sending three representatives to the Worlds competition in October 2019, Fun Plus Phoenix (FPX), RNG and Invictus Gaming (IG) will brandish the new jerseys first.
Shirts for the trio were highlighted as Nike went “behind the designs” of their jerseys, giving a look at the inspirations that fueled the new outfits.
LPL Champions FPX has a phoenix feather pattern in the middle “symbolizing the creature’s rebirth from adversity.” Meanwhile, RNG’s jerseys have a “dragon skin” pattern in the center chevron with accompanying dragon crest on the sleeves.
Meanwhile, IG will have a small but important distinction for their uniforms represented in the golden star above the team logo in recognition of their 2018 World Championship victory.
Nike’s League of Legends pro jerseys “will be available October 1” and the entirety of the LPL will transition over to them in the 2020 Spring Split.