The Tencent League of Legends Pro League has announced a partnership with American multinational footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and service corporation Nike. This partnership was announced earlier in 2019 as a four-year deal, with apparel and footwear for the LPL teams. The reveal of the team jersey kits is the first showcase of what the partnership will entail.
LPL x Nike
Starting from the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational, you can purchase @Nike and LPL esports themed clothing. The LPL team jersey designed by Nike will be unveiled during the 2019 World Championship finals too. So expect more future apparel and sneakers by Nike and the LPL! pic.twitter.com/2QXiKAxHFz
— LPL (@lplenglish) February 28, 2019
Nike LPL partnership
As mentioned in the original tweet from February, Nike announced it would design a series of LPL team jerseys by the 2019 World Championship finals. All the jerseys that have been unveiled have a similar design. They are short-sleeved with a v-neck, along with the Nike logo on the right side. Each team’s logo is then featured on the left side, with a chevron pattern on the chest area. The Nike swoosh differs in color based on the jersey background, with a white, black, and gold swoosh available.
“Esports athletes share the same determination and competitive spirit as all athletes, they spend their lives preparing for intense competition, working relentlessly to improve their reflexes, coordination, vision, mentality, and teamwork,” said the Vice President of Category Marketing at Nike in Greater China, Eric Wei, back in February. “We are very excited to support LPL teams and players with ground-breaking esports game-day gear and training programs that will help unleash their full potential.”
The one difference on the jerseys is Invictus Gaming’s version, which has a single gold star above the team logo. This symbolizes the esports organization’s previous 2018 World Championship victory over Fnatic. Most of these jerseys will only be worn by the teams in the upcoming 2020 LPL Season. However, the three LPL representatives – which include FunPlus Phoenix, Royal Never Give Up, and Invictus Gaming – will wear their special jerseys to this year’s 2019 Worlds Event.
Jerseys at Worlds Event
During the 2019 LPL Summer Split, FunPlus Phoenix took first as the LPL Summer Champion. Meanwhile, Royal Never Give Up has qualified through Championship Points, as has previous Worlds winner Invictus Gaming through the Regional Finals. Nike reviewed all of these jerseys in greater detail in their jersey reveal post.
The FunPlus Phoenix jersey features a black, red, and gold color scheme. The chevron pattern featured on the chest has a phoenix feather pattern. This is repeated as well with a pattern on the sleeve and neck tape.
The Invictus Gaming jersey has the traditional, iconic team colors, which consist of white, black, and silver. The chevron pattern has an angel wing pattern and a Chinese character above the jock tag. The character “極” means “extreme” in English. There are also two target scopes on the neck area.
The Royal Never Give up jersey also is designed with the RNG color scheme of black and gold. The chevron pattern has a design similar to the scales of a snake or dragon skin. The symbol above the jock tag is one that represents imperial authority. There is also a dragon crest on the sleeves. These details make the jersey seem to be characteristic of a traditional royal robe worn by Chinese emperors.
The three jerseys will debut with the LPL teams at the 2019 World Championships on Oct 2. The rest will be first worn by players in the 2020 LPL Regular Season. The Nike x LPL team jerseys will also be available for purchase by the public on Oct 1.
