PUMA and St. Pauli unveil the home jersey

For the 2024/2025 season, St. Pauli has chosen to partner with PUMA, moving away from the in-house brand DIIY. The new home jersey was unveiled today and marks St. Pauli's return to the Bundesliga 1 after 13 years of absence. St. Pauli is one of the major surprises of the upcoming Bundesliga season, a historic German club known not only for its extraordinary values such as social responsibility, political commitment, tolerance, and respect, but also for its brown home kit, a rarity in European football. There is no official explanation for why St. Pauli chose white and brown as its colors, but these colors remain a strong point of the brand's visual identity. For the season set to begin on August 23, 2024, PUMA has opted to play with brown in a distinctive way by dividing the front of the jersey into four square panels, alternating light and dark shades of the color. Another unique feature is the panels themselves, which are a homage to the 1991/1992 season, incorporated into PUMA's new oval template to form a shield shape.

The partnership between PUMA and St. Pauli, which returns with an extraordinary kit, effectively rekindles the club's past as it reunites with the German brand after 24 years. There is curiosity about the future of DIIY, the in-house kit brand that played a significant role in St. Pauli's remarkable achievements. Since 2021, the team has worn kits produced by its own brand, which will not be entirely replaced by PUMA. DIIY will continue to be used for special occasions such as promotional events, special jerseys, or even collaborations with PUMA. The merchandise produced by DIIY has been very successful over the years, with around 30,000 jerseys sold each season, highlighting the strong attachment of fans to the club. However, the approximately ten million euros distributed over five years as part of the partnership with PUMA is an unmissable opportunity for the Kiezkicker.

The notion that St. Pauli might avoid choosing brown as the main color for the home jersey was well justified. The last time PUMA was the club's technical sponsor, between 1997 and 2000, St. Pauli abandoned brown in favor of white jerseys with brown accents. These three jerseys, very similar to each other with polo collars and two-button closures, became cult classics due to the Jack Daniel’s logo in the center. Although Jack Daniel’s is no longer the main sponsor, nearly 25 years later, the collaboration between PUMA and St. Pauli was anticipated to produce a highly successful jersey, a sentiment that has proven to be well-founded.