There’s a lot of excitement happening in Philly next year, with the World Cup front and center for both local and global soccer fans. To amp up spirits early for the energetic affair, two local brands are now teaming up to create limited-edition soccer jerseys— and they’re meant to showcase a “statement piece repping Philly’s pride.”
Produced by Philadelphia’s Icarus Football, the designs are a result of a collaboration with Nik Greenblatt, Founder and CCO of Defy (an award-winning digital branding agency) and Daniel McLaughlin, Owner of Mission Taqueria, a popular Mexican restaurant in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse neighborhood. As the duo describes, the design of the soccer jerseys fuses street culture, Philadelphia’s love of soccer, and the vibrant energy of Mission Taqueria’s food scene. It’s meant to be “more than just an article of clothing.”
“Before we came up with the idea of creating these jerseys, I thought that Philadelphia was missing the opportunity to represent itself in a defined manner,” explains Greenblatt. “I didn’t see anything in the marketing for the World Cup and 2026 celebrations like I usually do, so I took things into my own hands and connected with Daniel to see how we could create something special. We reconnected and decided that a collaboration would be a great idea, and the jersey came to fruition. We did something that we thought Philly and the community would love. We set our standards high and are [now] part of the official Philly World Cup soccer jersey campaign.”
The limited-edition jerseys come in four different designs (with a special edition fifth in the works), and each iteration will be celebrated with a drop.
“Each drop tells part of the story – culminating in a special edition kit released when the first World Cup match is played on our home turf,” continues Greenblatt.
“This is about community. It was love at first sound from me after Nik came to me with this idea,” McLaughlin adds. “Mission is going to be celebrating its 10-year anniversary around when the World Cup comes to town, and I had already been thinking of ways to celebrate this stretch from our ninth to tenth year.
“I wanted to take Mission’s mission into Philly’s cultural placement for collaborations and branch out from just restaurants and into other Philly-founded brands like Defy. This helps start that conversation. This is how I see the future of collabs from Mission, specifically breaking away from tradition. This is not just a soccer jersey drop, but about bringing people together when Philly is on the world stage.”
The city of Philadelphia is not directly involved with the jersey drops, but the Philadelphia Visitor Center will host an activation for the jerseys, where people can purchase them in person.
The jerseys will also be available for purchase at Mission Taqueria (located on the second floor at 1516 Sansom Street), and online at wedefy.com/shop. As a release notes, during the sales, Mission Taqueria will host additional events to celebrate the jersey releases, and will donate a portion of proceeds from sales to love.fútbol (which mobilizes communities to redesign sports spaces for kids), while Defy will donate 10% of proceeds to CHYSC where Greenblatt has coached for close to a decade.
These special-edition jerseys are priced at $90 apiece through each drop (which will only feature 100 jerseys per design). The pre-order windows for the limited drops will be announced on Defy’s site. Those who purchase all four jerseys will additionally receive loyalty perks like VIP event invites, and guaranteed access to the special edition fifth jersey. Those who purchase at Mission Taqueria will have access to restaurant perks such as taco vouchers as well.
