Here's How Adidas Created the Bayern 19-20 Away Pattern

The Adidas Bayern Munich 19-20 away kit hasn't really set the world on fire thus far, let's just put it that way. However, behind the rather dull first impression of the white and grey ensemble lies an interesting inspiration.

The gradient on the bottom of the shirt was creating using a dither, which is a technique that aims to retain a higher quality at low color numbers, something that played a bigger role in the early days of computers.

The specific algorithm used by Adidas is the one that's included in Photoshop as 'Pattern Dither':

All in all, it's a clever way to pay homage to the 1980s and 90s, a period that Adidas looks back on with fond memories. Back in the day, many computers could only use 8 or 16 colors, which made dithering an absolute necessity.

Different dither algorithms

Bayern München 19-20 Away Kit Released

Jul 14, 2019

Did you know this? Let's hear your thoughts on the inspiration behind and technique used for the Bayern 2019-20 away kit in the comments below.