News that Nike are set to become Liverpool’s kit suppliers from next season has been well received by the majority of Reds fans.
However, it may come as a surprise that the new kit designs could well be overseen by an Evertonian!
Pete Hoppins, who is Nike’s Senior Design Director of Global Football Apparel, is such an avid Blues fan that he recently opened a bar in Oregon - where Nike are based - which pays homage to the Goodison Park club.
According to a report from 2016 in Oregon Live: “The Toffee Club [is] a family-friendly soccer bar with British beer and English pub food.
“The new bar, which takes over the former Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard home of the Hawthorne Strip (now on Powell Boulevard, name intact), comes from general manager Niki Diamond; her brother-in-law, bar manager Jack Hoppins; and her husband, Pete Hoppins, a Nike design director.”
Niki Diamond confirmed beyond any doubt that her husband Pete Hoppins is, in fact, a Blues supporter saying: "The name ‘The Toffee Club’ is a nickname of the Everton team, which was my husband and brother-in-law’s local team back in England."
Reds fans should not worry, however.
It is highly likely that Liverpool’s shirts will be designed with the club’s enviable heritage directly in mind.
Speaking to Rivista Undici, an Italian culture magazine, Hoppins said in an interview published this week: “We work directly with clubs, and each relationship is completely different.
“Some teams are really easy to work with and trust us implicitly to do what we feel is the right design, while others are more conservative.”
Kopites will also be pleased to hear that heritage will likely form a large part of Nike’s designs going forward especially with so-called 'jersey culture' more popular than ever before.
Hoppins said: “It seems that jersey culture is here to stay. Nike has been a pioneer of kit design ever since we got involved in football. We have set trends along the way and, inevitably, today’s innovation is tomorrow’s retro.”
Over the last week, Liverpool and New Balance contested a High Court battle over the future of the club's kit supply.
New Balance believed they could satisfy a clause in their existing contract which allowed them to "match" any rival offer.
But the judge ruled that the deal on the table from Nike could not be matched - and the Reds are set to change over at the end of the season as they seal a five-year deal with the Oregon-based brand.
