Real Madrid Team Up with Japanese Designer for Kit Celebrating 120th Anniversary

To celebrate its 120th anniversary, legendary Spanish football club Real Madrid has once again teamed up with a renowned Japanese fashion designer to produce a fourth kit for the 2021-22 season.

The kit was unveiled on Real Madrid’s social media platforms on Thursday, March 17, and will be worn in their ElClásico matchup against FC Barcelona on Sunday. It was designed by Yohji Yamamoto, a fashion designer who has collaborated with Adidas for 20 years and has won awards in both France and Japan.

The kit is black, with tonal diagonal lines running at various angles across the front and sleeves. Based on the promotional materials around the kit, these lines may be meant to evoke the lines found in a zen garden.

Una colección especial para celebrar un momento especial. 🖤
Nuestro 120 aniversario.@RealMadrid x @adidasfootball
🔗 https://t.co/kvrj5xoaWG pic.twitter.com/n1gwFIOcC6
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) March 17, 2022

Rather than an Adidas logo on the chest, this shirt sports a white Y-3 logo — the same logo used on other collaborations between Adidas and Yamamoto. The Adidas shoulder stripes, sponsor logo and club crest are also rendered in white.

Photos from Thursday’s launch showed the kits with names and numbers in a white paintbrush font on the back. However, when they’re worn in Real’s match against Barça on Sunday, they’ll likely use the standard La Liga font.

A pink goalkeeper kit with the same tonal pattern and black accents was also released on Thursday, along with a line of off-pitch apparel and accessories, including jackets, pants and hoodies.

Real Madrid and Yamamoto first teamed up to create a third kit for the 2014-15 season. That kit was again predominantly black with white accents, including a grandad collar. The front of the shirt featured an embossed dragon.