Clean and accessible water is crucial, yet 1 in 3 people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. To help address this challenge, PUMA has partnered with Cityzens Giving and the Club’s Official Water Technology Partner Xylem to deliver an innovative global program, blending football-based education on water, sanitation and hygiene, and clean water access for communities in need.

The ambition is to reach over 10,000 young people in 3 continents, focusing on Manchester, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Mumbai. The program has just kicked off with the creation of a clean water tower in Mumbai, producing a safe and long-term supply of fresh drinking water for 1,800 people per day.

Tom Pitchon, Director of City Football Foundation said: “We are proud to be able to use the Club’s Away kit to raise awareness of water issues around the world, creating a platform to provide much needed support for communities in need. Empowering our global network of Young Leaders to use football as a platform to tackle social issues in their communities is at the heart of what Cityzens Giving does and the work we are embarking on with our partners PUMA and Xylem will help to enhance the lives of thousands of people around the world. Our playing kit is an expression of what our Club stands for and we are delighted that this season’s kit will be used to highlight the vital issue of clean water access.” 

The striking new jersey features water droplets throughout the design, highlighting the safe water program and Cityzens Giving. The club’s crest, PUMA cat, Etihad and Nexen sponsor logos feature iridescent colors, resembling the effect of light breaking through water droplets.

In addition to increasing access to clean water in communities, PUMA is reducing the amount of water waste and consumption during the manufacturing of the kit. The company has utilized an innovative Dope Dye manufacturing process to drastically reduce the amount of water and dye used during production.

“The Manchester City Away kit is a special project at PUMA, we are working with Manchester City and their partners to support communities and continue to increase our level of sustainability,” said Heiko Desens, Global Creative Director and Innovation at PUMA. “Along with supporting safe water programs, we have utilized an innovative Dope Dye manufacturing process to significantly reduce the level of water consumption when compared to traditional ways of dying materials. The Dope Dye process allows us to color the raw materials before it is spun or knitted to a textile allowing us to skip the water-intensive dying process of coloring the yarn or knitted material. An added benefit to this method is it improves color fastness by reducing the fading of the colors after washing or light exposure, which is important for performance products."