Ireland Rugby World Cup 2015 Jersey

The Irish Rugby World Cup 2015 jersey offered a new take on the classic  green jersey. It’s made out of Canterbury’s Vapodri technology and has a 3d Injection Moulded crest.

The use of injection moulding is a relatively new advance for rugby jerseys and it means the crests on jerseys can be 3d shapes rather than stitched in like traditional crests.

Injection moulding is a popular technique for shaping plastics. It involves forcing molten thermoplastics into a shaped mould. The plastic then cools and hardens into a negative of the mould. Injection moulding is popular for mass production because of its speed and accuracy.

A mould for injection moulding is usually made from steel or aluminium. Steel moulds are expensive to manufacture, with one mould costing up to hundreds of thousands of Euros but once made they can be designed to last for over a million uses. Aluminium moulds are more suitable for lower volume uses as they are cheaper to manufacture but don’t last as long.

The Vapodri technology used in  the fabric of the jersey is designed to keep the wearer cool and free of sweat.

Here is a video of highlights from the Ireland game against Italy in the Rugby World Cup 2015.

Sources: www.canterbury.com, Wikipedia.org

   Video source: World Rugby Youtube Channel