Nike announced the unveiling of their 14 National Team Collections ahead of the Women’s World Cup, taking a new approach when it comes to kit design.

The multinational brand has spent the past three years focusing its attention on creating a kit which will benefit female players, using the latest technology to understand areas for improvement. This attention to detail has helped the brand to remain at the forefront of female footballers’ minds, tapping into the popularity of many of the world’s best-known sporting influencers.

Some of the advancements designed to suit women include v-neck designs to fit the head and hair through, without being low cut, as well as the rise of the shorts focusing on comfort for women. Research also determined that sleeves didn’t need to be short and that draw cords and side-seams are not beneficial to play.

Heat-mapping was carried out to understand the areas required for best ventilation, also researching into the least restrictive short fit. Designed to move with the body, the fit has been changed, with Nike Women’s Football Apparel Lead explaining: “The curve that comes up on the side hem and the short being slightly longer in the back than the front is a look that started in football, was popularized in running and now makes a modernized return to football for women only.”

These changes to the previous design are set to put a stop to what had become a common occurrence; women wearing shorts a size smaller and shirts a size larger than their measurements would indicate, due to poor fit.

Nike continue to make a name for themselves as game changers, having used more than six billion plastic bottles to create their kits since 2010, delivering peak performance with a lower environmental impact. Their high-quality apparel, alignment with sports stars and continuous innovation remain driving factors in Nike’s industry success.

The new women’s 2019 kits will make their debut this month, being available for purchase on nike.com in May.