Seattle Sounders launch Jimi Hendrix-inspired kit

The Seattle Sounders, MLS franchise since 2009, presented the new adidas jersey for the away games of the 2021 season. The away version is a tribute to one of the great musical icons of the city: Jimi Hendrix. The Sounders have decided to celebrate a timeless myth by retracing one of its iconic styles and creating a jersey that the club has dubbed "Purple Haze". The secondary jersey design is psychedelic exactly like Hendrix's style, whose signature is reproduced at the bottom of the jersey almost as if it were an indelible mark. But the references to the artist who first brought together rhythm & blues, soul and hard rock continue: an excerpt from the song "Straight Ahead" is present throughout the neck with one of Hendrix's most recognizable lines ("We got to stand side by side").

The story of the legend begins right in the heart of Seattle, still influencing the new sounds of the city of Washington state but also the routines of the Sounders, who warm up to the notes of "All Along The Watchtower", a sort of of the team's unofficial anthem. "Jimi is Seattle and Seattle is Jimi" reads the club's social media, reflecting a deep fusion between two icons of the city.

The impact of the shirt is not only visual, aesthetic and stylistic but goes beyond the pitch. Revenues from sales of the first month of the jersey - which is part of the MLS "Community Kits" project - will be donated to 5 local non-profit organizations linked to both Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Park Foundation, Museum of Pop Culture, Northwest African American Museum , Fondation RAVE) and the Seattle Social Justice Framework program which funds BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) youth activities through sport, art and music.