Arsenal stars launch new home kit at local sports clubs
A host of Arsenal stars including Bukayo Saka have launched their brand new kit for the 2022-23 season and along with it a pledge to give a little back to the corner of north London that the Premier League club have called home for the past 100 years or more.
The Gunners have made a habit of going back and mining their heritage for inspiration in recent times, particularly their much-loved designs of the early to mid 1990s: from bruised bananas, to lightning bolts, to the marble plinths that once adorned the hallways at their old Highbury stadium.
Their latest offering is no exception and perhaps most closely resembles the Arsenal home kits that date from between 1994 and 1998, thanks largely to a button-up polo neck that carries a red zig-zag around the collar — a graphic that is also mirrored on the accompanying socks.
The large white panels on the sleeves are also reminiscent of those found on the club’s beloved 1994-96 home strip as worn with pride by such legends as Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp.
Along with the launch, the club confirmed that £5 from every sale direct through them will be donated to their own in-house community initiative, The Arsenal Foundation.
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In order to celebrate and give back a little to the very people that support them through thick and thin, the club had players pull on the new jersey and visit a selection of the projects that have benefitted from donations made by the Foundation. For example, England international Saka donned his crispest white slacks and took in a little crown green action at Finsbury Park Bowls Club.
Meanwhile, Granit Xhaka had a kickabout with North London United, a sport project for young people with Down Syndrome aged between 5-25 years.
Leah Williamson dropped in at Islington Boxing Club, an amateur club run mainly by voluneteers just a short walk from the Emirates stadium.
Elsewhere, Stina Balckstenius and Vivianne Miedema — in a sight that will give Gunners fans hope that the Barcelona-linked striker will be still be at the club next season — visited a fencing club in the new Gunners kit.
Arsenal will wear their new strip for the very first time when they welcome Everton to the Emirates on the final day of the season as Mikel Arteta’s side intend to look the business while overcoming the odds to pip Tottenham to a fourth-place finish.