With the kit unveiling earlier this week, University of Reading Professor Ed Hawkins explained the reasoning behind the design and believes the benefits of the partnership between the club and the University forged this summer will impact the whole town.
The excitement of a new kit is always a key date in the diary for football supporters to look forward to ahead of a brand new campaign and we believe that our 2022-23 design will help spread the message of an issue that affects everyone of us.
“The idea is to talk about climate change in as simple and visual way as possible,” said Hawkins.
“When we were discussing the design of the new Reading kit, it was obviously very clear that the hoops are very important and needed to be kept. But the club also has red in its badge as well, so the stripes naturally lend themselves to the club’s colours and could be integrated into the club’s shirts.
“We came up with the idea for simple coloured stripes to represent the changes in temperature over the last 150 years since the club was founded so what we have done is recreate the stripes for Berkshire to represent the temperature changes in our local region.
“We have been taking measurements of temperature for the last 170 years and millions of measurements taken all over the world show very clearly that the world is warming up...and it is our fault.
“We wanted to distil the very complicated science into a very simple message. The world is warming and these stripes communicate that very effectively.”
The inspiration behind the stripes is to create conversation about how we can all make a difference as we look to limit the effects of climate change on our planet and Hawkins explained how the partnership came about as well as examples of where else the stripes have been making an impact.
“These stripes start conversations and make people ask questions about what they represent and what they mean, and that is exactly how this partnership came about.
“Reading Football Club saw the stripes on the university campus and asked the question ‘what do they represent, what do they mean’ and this partnership was born from that simple conversation.
“These graphics start discussion and have built some fantastic partnerships already; the stripes were used by fashion designers and were on the catwalk at London Fashion Week, we have seen the stripes used on the main stage at Reading Festival by a rock band Enter Shikari and even worn on badges in the US senate by politicians. So we have seen all over the world people are using these graphics to spark conversation about climate change.”
The hot weather and the issues that arose from those record-breaking temperatures experienced across the country in recent weeks is a reminder that the planet is changing - and Hawkins stressed the importance of creating this partnership with the kit bringing the stripes to national attention.
“The globe as a whole is warming but everywhere on that globe is showing the same warming trends. Reading is warming just as it is everywhere else and the responsibility for the challenges we face have to be both local and global.
“This is why these local partnerships are so important as we need action around the world to take the small steps in what is needed for us to reduce the consequences of climate change in the future.
“As I said, we need to have these conversations locally and that is why it is so exciting to be partnering with Reading Football Club because we are bringing the stripes to a whole new audience.
“This is the first time we have engaged with a professional sports club to spread this very important message, so it is fantastic our local club is adopting these stripes.
“This is going to be a journey for the football club, for the university and for the fans, we can all make small changes to make a difference, be more sustainable to reduce our own effect on the planet.
"And hopefully by starting these conversations amongst supporters we can enable people to have constructive conversations with the people sitting next to them at the stadium or their friends, or their family or their colleagues, discussing what they can do to make a difference.”