JOMA: Spanish trend-setters

In 1965, a success story started about 65 kilometres south-west of Madrid. A company by the name of JOMA was founded in Toledo, a small city with approximately 65,000 inhabitants, and at the time focused on the production of football boots. Thirty-three years later – during which the brand established itself as an equipment supplier – JOMA landed a coup and made an appearance on the biggest stage in the nearby capital city: the company signed the Spaniard Rafael Martín Vázquez, one of Real Madrid's big stars. He was followed by club legend Emilio Butragueño a year later. The next quantum leap came a decade later: in 1998, JOMA's campaign entitled "EL COLOR EN EL FÚTBOL" (English: "The Colour in Football") made a splash worldwide and revolutionised the global football boot market. Brightly coloured boots were now everywhere; star striker Fernando Morientes, for example, attracted attention globally by donning red boots in the white kit of Real Madrid.

Forty-eight years on from its founding, equipment supplier JOMA's partners include handball national teams, Villarreal, top Italian club Atalanta, RSC Anderlecht and the Ukraine national team. JOMA is also heavily involved in the Olympics, kitting out no fewer than 12 Olympic Committees for the Tokyo 2021 Games – including Spain, Portugal and Morocco – and enjoying strong representation in trend sports such as padel tennis and futsal.

TSG Hoffenheim have been wearing JOMA shirts since 2019. Hoffenheim became the first Bundesliga club to take to the field in clothing provided by the Spanish company. And the partnership is not exclusively limited to the senior side either, with all teams at TSG supplied by JOMA.

The planning process for the kits starts a year before their presentation; as the new shirts are hung up in the Fan Shop, the planning for the next collection is already getting under way. That means that the first preparations for the 2024/25 kit collection are already in motion. The managing directors, a team from the merchandising and marketing departments and the kit managers discuss and decide on colours, designs and stylistic elements, and a strategy is devised. A decision is made as to whether the jerseys should have a classic, unusual or completely new look. The team's ideas are then sent to JOMA, who draw up some initial proposals. The decision on the new jersey is usually made a year before its release. In September, the new collection is ordered to ensure that all the individual elements will be available in large quantities for the start of the season.

In the next few weeks, TSG will present their new jerseys – and, behind the scenes, put the finishing touches on the following season's kit together with JOMA.