Pistoia Basket’s new Special Edition kit is a hymn to nature, culture and sustainability

Nature, art, creativity and the cultural symbols of Pistoia – a city with a rich history where flowers and plants play an important role in the identity and economy of the entire community. These themes are all splendidly represented on the ‘special edition’ kit designed for Pistoia Basket by Macron, technical partner to the Tuscan club that plays in the top series of Italian basketball. The new kit features a design dedicated to nature, developed by the students of Pistoia’s Petrocchi Art School under the guidance of the internationally famous illustrator, Jonathan Calugi.

Presented today at the headquarters of the Pistoia Museums Foundation, the new special edition kit is a hymn to sustainability and nature and the perfect complement to World Earth Day which falls on 22 April this year. More than anything, the kit represents an original and perhaps even unique idea in the field of Italian basketball, as it is the result of a project involving a large number of participants. In addition to the students who worked on the design for the kit, the project also involved the Pistoia Museums Foundation, the city’s most important cultural institution, and the students of Gonzaga University’s “Sport Marketing” course who produced a case study covering the design, production and communication of the kit. A clear message of care for the environment is conveyed by the kit itself, which is made from ecologically sustainable materials. The kit’s makers, Macron, see the application of green policies to the production of sportswear is a core aspect of their business philosophy.

The shirt really has to be seen: a mere description is not enough. The white background of the shirt and shorts is embellished by a woven pattern of flowers and grasses in different shades of green, along with profiles of birds and woodland animals. The floral motif is repeated in white on the vertical green bands that appear on the sides of the shirt and shorts. The design is inspired by one of the symbols of Pistoia, the Arazzo Millefiori or Arazzo dell’Adorazione, a Flemish tapestry that depicts a refined garden of flowers populated by wild and fantastic animals. The tapestry is preserved in a dedicated room inside the Palazzo dei Vescovi Museum.               

The new Macron kit is made entirely from Eco Micromesh, a polyester fabric 100% derived from recycled plastic and will be worn on court for the matches that Pistoia Basket will play against Brindisi at home and against Trento away, on 21 and 28 April respectively. The kits will then be auctioned off and some of the proceeds will be donated to the Pistoia Safe House for women who have been victims of violence.