Ipswich Town already have one up on the rest of the footballing world. No other club on the planet can say they're sponsored by one of music's biggest stars, or that he has an official squad number with the team.

Well, now Town can add something else to that list. Because that particular global star, Ed Sheeran, has just helped design a kit for them too.

Sheeran lent his Equals album artwork to the historic blackout third kit, launched yesterday, which features a tonal pattern inspired by it on the sleeves and shorts.

Paul Macro, Town's head of retail operations, explained: "When we sat down about a year ago or so, we had the concepts for the home, we had the concepts for the away, and we wanted something really strong because it's the first time we've been able to do a third kit for a long time.

"We always wanted to do a blackout style, we were keen to do that - and then we thought, can we get Ed involved?

"He was keen to get involved as well, and then it was a question of how we balance that - how do we bring a product to market which is an Ipswich Town kit, still functional, but have that influence from Ed as well?

"We had the idea of taking the colours from the Equals (album) artwork and turning that into a tonal charcoal colour and then running that through the sleeves.

"So we did that with the shirt and the short panel and had a few emails back and forth with Ed and his team - and they loved it, so we went with that."

Macro added: "He came to a game just after he'd seen the final design, and that shirt was all he could talk about - so he loved it!"

As well as the Sheeran album artwork, the kit features a greyed out Town badge - the first of its kind in club history - plus a grey sponsor logo (Sheeran's world tour) and Umbro badge.

"The whole thing works really well together," Macro said. "It's like a charcoal colour, which blends in really well with the shirt, and we said let's do that with the sponsor and the Umbro badge as well.

"It looks like a really strong, smart third shirt."

Of course, having presided over a trio of what are set to be record-selling Town shirts this year, the pressure is now on for Macro to come up with something even better for next season's encore, a year everyone hopes will see Town return to the Championship.

"I'm really scared of what we can do next year to be fair," he laughed. "I'm really pleased, it's been a year-long project.

"When we spoke last time (in May) we were just working on next year's kits - we do work far in advance - so to finally get them all out there to fans is just great, and I think they are three really strong shirts that work well together."

Of next year's kit, he added: "We're hopefully having that signed off pretty soon and then we'll be planning on what we're going to do for that."

As Macro said, the man who helped inspire the new kit is also pretty happy with it.

Sheeran said: "I wanted to make something with a subtle homage to the album but also be a cool bit of clothing people around the world would want to wear. I love it."

And what about those who have to wear the kit to do their job? Well, according to striker Freddie Ladapo, it's already proved to be a hit with Town players.

"I think the fans will be very happy with it," Ladapo said. "It feels nice, it looks nice and I'm sure they'll be very happy.

"I love it. We tried it on and took a few pictures - me, Marcus (Harness) and Leify (Davis) - and I think they all love it."

He added: "I do like kit launches. I think for every player, when you go into a new season, you're excited to see what kit you're going to wear - and I think the boys are going to be excited with this one especially."

Of Sheeran's involvement with the club in general, Ladapo added: "He's a huge part of this club. During my signing they showed me around, took me to his box, he's a huge part of this club and sponsors it as well. He does good things for us, so we're very happy.

"He's doing a lot to let people know how much he loves Ipswich. I think at one of his concerts he wore the home shirt and it was good to see, it will bring a huge following back to Ipswich as well."

That didn't stop Ladapo initially being baffled when he saw the squad number list for the new season, however.

"To be quite honest, when I saw the squad list come out and I saw 'Sheeran 17' I didn't know who that was," he laughed.

"I was thinking 'I'm sure I know who that is' but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was a dumb moment, but funny to realise it later.

"I enjoy his music - I don't think anyone can not enjoy it, he makes good music and he makes it with a lot of great artists that I listen to."

Of the new kit, Ladapo concluded: "I think fans are going to buy this shirt as soon as they see it. You're going to want something that not a lot of people have - I think a lot will buy it!"