The collaboration will be exclusively available via the Parisian brand’s web store on May 27
It’s 1982 and Barcelona have just spent a world record fee on Diego Maradona. It’s been almost a decade since the club won La Liga, and people might not know it yet, but a new golden era is just around the corner. By the end of his first season, Maradona had won the Copa Del Rey and scored an El Clasico goal so good even the Madrid fans applauded him.
By the late ‘80s, Barcelona had finally won La Liga again – driven by goals from Steve Archibald, not the Napoli-bound Maradona – and soon Johan Cruyff would return to the club and assemble his golden generation. The team of Laudrup, Koeman, Stoichkov and a fresh-faced Pep Guardiola would go on to dominate La Liga, as well as securing Barcelona’s first-ever European Cup.
That 1992 European Cup final was also the last Barcelona game ever played in a Meyba kit – their bright orange away strip, if you’re wondering – and marked the end of a decade-long relationship with the local brand. Up until it signed a deal with Barcelona in 1992, Meyba had been best known for making swim shorts and beach wear for the people of the city. It’s relationship with the club catapulted it into a new world, and gave it a cult status amongst vintage football fans. After that final, though, Barcelona had moved on. Kappa took over the kit deal, before Nike won the rights to the iconic Blaugrana.
Since then, Meyba has gone on to collaborate with YMC, launch a project with Japanese label F.C. Real Bristol and sign a deal with the Las Vegas Lights to produce their kits. Through this partnership, Heard is getting closer to his aim of “making the coolest kits we can” for football teams around the world.
The brand’s latest release is another off-pitch project, this time working with Parisian skate label Rave Skateboards. The new collaboration is part of Meyba’s attempt to look to the future of kits by working with people from outside the football world. The kit itself plays up to Rave’s name, with a pink and navy tie-dye effect across the jersey and shorts that wouldn’t look out of place in the Haçienda. Detailing across the kit includes a Rave-style sponsorship logo, Medusa's head crest and, most importantly of all, the same Meyba logo that was once worn by Barcelona.
Meyba’s collaboration with Rave is due to release via the Parisian brand’s web store on May 27.