In the pink over Messi

Portrait of a legend: An image of Lionel Messi wearing Inter Miami’s distinctive pink jersey on the wall by a sales counter at the Adidas store in Manhattan. — Photos: NYT

MIAMI: All of a sudden, after a single summer, the pink jersey is everywhere. It has become almost impossible to acquire, yet there it is, paradoxically, on the backs of thousands of fans thronging American stadiums, hanging from market stalls in Bangkok and Buenos Aires, Argentina, a vivid flash on almost every field where children gather to play football in England.

That the jersey has become, apparently overnight, the hottest piece of sports merchandise on the planet is a simple, capitalist equation: the result of an irresistible combination of one of the most recognisable and beloved athletes of his generation; a distinctive, exotic colour; and the ruthless efficiency of textile factories in South–East Asia.