All Blacks Stitched up by Kiwi Fans

All Blacks Stitched up by Kiwi Fans

Thousands of kiwi All Blacks fans will get the chance to have their name stitched into an All Blacks jersey, as part of a campaign to celebrate the famous black jersey, from sponsor adidas.

Caption: All Blacks captain Richie McCaw checks out the adiThread Nanotechnology at the University of Technology last Friday.

Using state-of-the-art ‘Fibre Imprinting Nanotechnology’, adidas will literally write up to 100,000 All Blacks fans names onto a single thread – adiThread - that will be stitched into the Silver Fern of a special All Blacks team jersey.

The jersey will be presented to Richie McCaw as a symbol of the nation’s support.

The ‘Fibre Imprinting Nanotechnology’ was developed by Professor Richard Blaikie and Gary Turner of the University of Canterbury and the MacDiarmid Institute of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.

adidas New Zealand Marketing Manager John Beckett, explained that this year's adidas/NZRU All Blacks campaign, ‘This is not a Jersey’ is all about the All Blacks jersey, and what it means to both players and fans.

“’This is not a Jersey’ concentrates on the power of the iconic black jersey to unite and inspire as a symbol of kiwis’ support and a way of defining ourselves as New Zealanders.

“The adiThread initiative, as part of the wider campaign, aims to help New Zealand fans feel closer to the team and to provide the opportunity to be more intimately represented by the country’s most famous team jersey.

“When you put your name on the jersey, you are literally a part of it – the fabric of a nation.”

The Fibre Imprinting Nanotechnology technology used to develop adiThread has been commercialised by Canterprise Limited, the Commercialisation and Technology Transfer Company of the University of Canterbury.

Canterprise CEO, Raiyo Nariman says “adiThread demonstrates how state of the art technology coming out of the University can be incorporated into innovative applications in fields outside technology-based products.”

Beckett says: “It’s great to get Richie McCaw to sign your jersey – but what a great show of support to sign his! It’s a powerful symbol, and also an acknowledgement from the captain and his team how seriously they take that support.

“But more than that it's a genuine effort by the team to get closer to the fans, because the supporters are a big part of what makes the All Blacks such a special, world-beating team.”

Fans can register their names on to adiThread at www.thisisnotajersey.com

-Ends-

© Scoop Media