I’ve always thought that a sports team jersey can be more than jersey. What if the purchase of the kit triggered some sort of meaningful action. True story is that I’ve pitched this concept to many teams across many different leagues, but it just didn’t go anywhere… till now.
Canadian Premier League outfit Atlético Ottawa debuted the Community First kit before the 2024 season kicked off. It was a collaboration with front-of-kit partner Maple Lodge Farms and local community support centre Caldwell Family Centre. The cause: battle food insecurity in the capital.
So what does this actually mean? Here’s a snippet of some of the material used to describe this collab: Atlético Ottawa and front of jersey sponsors Maple Lodge Farms came together to change lives in 2024. The Caldwell Family Centre is one of the most forward-thinking community hubs in the nation’s capital and has been supported by Atlético since 2023. This year, the ‘Community First Kit’ initiative saw 30 meals worth of frozen chicken products delivered to Caldwell Family Centre with each jersey purchased. Deliveries continue to be made as 15,000 meals have been allocated to date.
The jersey is made by Macron in Italy. Each jersey is made from 13 recycled plastic bottles. Already off to a great start. Here’s a snapshot of the design: Shout out to Mediaplus in Ottawa for the incredible design…
And then we launched the jersey with this wonderful tease video made by Chris Hue, Videographer and Social Media Lead for Atleti…
Launching the kit at the Caldwell Family Centre seemed the perfect location. Plus including the club’s Season Seat Members along with players from the club, made for a memorable event.
Below is a link to an article on the halfway point of the campaign, when we delivered the 5000th meal.
Many talented hands on deck for this to work. The result was over 15,000 meals delivered so far and a record number of jerseys sold. A win/win. Also proud that this initiative won a Canadian Premier League Business Award this year. Read about that below…
