Nike Clearly Lead Against Heat: Puma 2022 World Cup Kits Have Breathability Like Plastic Bags

Since 2010, the world has known that the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in the always-hot Qatar. However, Puma have apparently created a kit that is not suitable for heat.

Puma Ultraweave 2022 World Cup Jerseys Offer Much Too Less Breathability in Heat

As visible in many pictures and during the broadcast of the 2022 World Cup, practically all players wearing Puma jerseys had problems with the shirt sticking to the skin.

Indeed, for some players and kits (like Switzerland's red World Cup jersey), it looked even like a black plastic bag.

But why are Puma's kits apparently not suited for the heat of Qatar? Let us go back into the details of the Puma Ultraweave kit technology.

Puma Ultraweave - Lightest-Ever Football Kit

Pictues via @FutbolShIrTALIA.

The Puma Ultraweave was launched in the Fall of 2021. It is the brand's lightest-ever football kit at a weight of just 72 grams (officially). Important features are a minimalist two-panel construction (reduces weight, offers endless design options, makes production extremely easy, and lowers costs), a new light woven fabric (makes it very light), and a 4-way-engineered mechanical stretch (no ribbing).

However, it seems like Puma pay too much attention to the weight of a brand-new, dry jersey. When getting wet, we are sure that the weight increases heavily.

Data reveals that a footballer sweat around 1,5 Liter per hour at high intensity and in hot conditions - both apply for Qatar, and are apparently too much for Puma kits.

In fact, the Puma jersey weighs less than half of the authentic jerseys from Adidas and Nike. But more importantly for athletes, both authentic kits of Puma's rivals offer much better breathability.

When analyzing pictures and videos, it appears that Nike is on the top level regarding breathability. Adidas follow with a remarkable gap. For some players, there are similar problems as Puma have.

In fact, we could not find a single picture in which a Nike kit looked "sweaty".

What do you think of Puma's Ultraweave kit technology? Do you think the brand will update it for next season? Comment below.