England footballers will play the World Cup in second-hand kit to win

The Three Lions' new strip has been rustled up from scraps of old clothing and scientists reckon the recycled gear could give them a competitive advantage by helping players beat the heat England will play the World Cup in second-hand clobber - and it could help them win. The Three Lions' new strip has been rustled up from scraps of old clothing. Their tournament shirts and shorts will be made entirely from textile waste. And scientists reckon the recycled gear could give them a competitive advantage by helping players beat the heat. Fabric for the new kits - called Aero-FIT - was developed by team sponsor Nike over four years as a solution for sports stars increasingly facing rising temperatures and humidity. Elite athletes told boffins both changed the way they trained and competed. They moaned no existing material could keep them cool and comfortable enough. Nike has attempted to solve the problem for its stable of sporting superstars by making its own. Janett Nichol, the company's vice-president of apparel and advanced digital creation studio innovation, said the material 'performs and gets us to a really close virgin quality that we think could be a game-changer for the industry as well as for the sport'. The World Cup will be the first time the kits have been tried out at a high profile global event. If they are a success they could give Nike's teams - including Thomas Tuchel 's men - an edge at what is forecast to be one of the hottest tournaments ever. Nations clothed by rival sportswear giants Adidas and Puma do not have the tech. Previously football kits were made of recycled polyester from plastic bottles. But Nike's fabric is produced through advanced chemical recycling which converts textile waste back into its building blocks before rebuilding it into chips resembling virgin polyester. These are then spun into yarn engineered for strength, stretch and breathability. Exhaustive testing by hundreds of athletes yielded better than expected results, Nichol said. During trials in North Carolina, US, elite and U18 players trained in 33C heat and 90% humidity wearing prototypes designed to highlight sweat saturation. In photos the players appeared less sweaty than when wearing standard kits. More importantly they reported feeling cooler. Environmentalists hope the move could trigger a boom in textile-to-textile recycling which currently accounts for less than 1% of global fibre production but - unlike other methods - does not create plastic pollution. Only Nike-sponsored teams will wear Aero-FIT kits. So far 11 have qualified for the World Cup which starts in the US, Mexico and Canada in June. Unfortunately for England they include two giants of the game and rivals for the trophy - five-time winners Brazil and 2018 champions France featuring superstar striker Kylian Mbappe. But should the kits prove themselves world-beaters Nike will roll out gear made from the same material in the shops across its running, basketball, tennis and fitness training ranges.