Umbro Partner With Sophie Hird For Final Chapter Of 'Make New' Campaign

Completing the brand’s celebration of upcycling, Umbro has revealed the final chapter of its ‘Make New’ campaign, and it sees designer Sophie Hird transforming pre-loved Speciali boots and footballs into a special one-of-one ‘managers biker jacket’.

Back in April, Umbro kicked off their ‘Make New’ campaign, which saw the brand partnering with talented creators to promote and celebrate ‘upcycling’, repurposing materials and products that would otherwise be discarded as waste. It saw these creators breathing new life into boots, balls, jerseys, sneakers and even football socks, transforming them into unique and interesting projects, and now the final instalment arrives courtesy of designer Sophie Hird.

For this final instalment, Hird has transformed pre-loved Speciali boots and footballs into a ‘managers biker jacket’, inspired by Umbro jackets and coats traditionally worn by managers during the 80s and 90s.

“I’m really drawn to sportswear from the 80s and 90s,” explained Hird. “The jacket is made from a range of Umbro Footballs and Speciali Boots. I was really intrigued when I started to tear these products apart and wanted to strip them back down to their bare bones, reworking them into something new. There are a lot of layers and separate components that make up the boots that I was unaware of, so I let these lead the design and the colour blocking throughout the jacket.”

Taking around 80 hours to complete, the jacket features an intricate design featuring over 300 panels that have been hand-cut and stitched together.

Creators can still get involved in the ‘Make New’ campaign by submitting examples of their latest upcycled projects to umbro.com. From all submissions, the best entries will be sent a Mystery Box of Umbro products and challenged to create a unique project using them. The winner will join Umbro’s global influencer team, Diamond FC where they will receive regular product drops and upcycling challenges for one year.