dirtynine's Digest - The Thread for Kits

dirtynine

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Barca’s look is so iconic they have to shake things up every few years - a lot of people will get the distinctive kit, and then the return to the “classic” look will inspire another round of excitement. There aren’t many teams at that level of visual that don’t regularly play around with their signature look - maybe Celtic?

I do enjoy the thought of the Yankees coming out in plaid for a season.
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
I actually tried to buy that keeper shirt yesterday from the club online store and it's already sold out. Going to have to wait until they get more in stock.
 

SocrManiac

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I actually tried to buy that keeper shirt yesterday from the club online store and it's already sold out. Going to have to wait until they get more in stock.
I wore mine all weekend. I love the look (mirrors the Juventus CL kits from a few years back).

The gold on the sleeves is infuriating. It's essentially a graphic on the DryFit (or whatever the hell New Balance calls it) material. Whenever you fold your arm and your forearm touches the graphic material, it feels for all the world like your sleeve is wet.
 

Spacemans Bong

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Barca’s look is so iconic they have to shake things up every few years - a lot of people will get the distinctive kit, and then the return to the “classic” look will inspire another round of excitement. There aren’t many teams at that level of visual that don’t regularly play around with their signature look - maybe Celtic?

I do enjoy the thought of the Yankees coming out in plaid for a season.
Ajax is your team for this, Adidas puts out basically the same shirt every year with incredibly minor variations.
 

Zososoxfan

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Barca’s look is so iconic they have to shake things up every few years - a lot of people will get the distinctive kit, and then the return to the “classic” look will inspire another round of excitement. There aren’t many teams at that level of visual that don’t regularly play around with their signature look - maybe Celtic?

I do enjoy the thought of the Yankees coming out in plaid for a season.
This. Barca fans seem split pretty evenly on the checker shirt, but I like it although I fully admit I'm a sucker for checker football shirts. The real problem is that Barca haven't nailed their vert stripe design since 2010-2011.
 

Zososoxfan

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Watching USA Jamaica. I love the red blue combo (Spain, Atleti) but it would be so much better with blue shorts and red socks (duh). The light patterns on the shirt aren’t my favorite either.
 

Titans Bastard

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Watching USA Jamaica. I love the red blue combo (Spain, Atleti) but it would be so much better with blue shorts and red socks (duh). The light patterns on the shirt aren’t my favorite either.
I had a hard time making out the numbers with this color scheme.
 

Zososoxfan

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Brought up by @SocrManiac in the transfer thread, Juve's 2019-20 kit:

Juventus Home Football Shirt 2019 2020

So I was vocally against the Juve crest redesign when it came out and Juve has clearly stuck with an offbeat motif with their designs, but I actually kinda like the kit. I think the back needed to be symmetrical (balanced?) as well, and the shorts and socks need some more non-black to break it up, but the front of the shirt looks pretty great IMO. Kinda like the Barca 2008-09 home kit cross pollinated with traditional Monaco home shirt design.
 

SocrManiac

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Thanks for that, @Zososoxfan

I'm not a fan of the back- it's incredibly unbalanced:



Some fans have pointed out that when you see players together, it achieves a more traditional affect of stripes made up by the team. Something to wear individually, though... It's just not an iconic look to me.

There's a rumor that this design is to counter Americans' viewing their traditional look as a referee, but I can't imagine they'd be at all concerned about what Americans think.

I'd have loved to pick up a Gigi shirt with his new number (77), but by god the keeper kits are awful:

 

Zososoxfan

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Thanks for that, @Zososoxfan

I'm not a fan of the back- it's incredibly unbalanced:



Some fans have pointed out that when you see players together, it achieves a more traditional affect of stripes made up by the team. Something to wear individually, though... It's just not an iconic look to me.

There's a rumor that this design is to counter Americans' viewing their traditional look as a referee, but I can't imagine they'd be at all concerned about what Americans think.

I'd have loved to pick up a Gigi shirt with his new number (77), but by god the keeper kits are awful:

It's cool in the same way concept cars are--not in reality. Something is clearly up with these kit designers fascination with motif graphics (likely the wrong term). In other words, this reminds me of the Barca 'Eixample' shirts:




Image result for barca eixample kit


Two other Barca notes while I'm on the subject. First, the past few years Barca's away kits have been a crazy bright but monochrome head to toe kit. They've pretty much all been awful. But. BUT! Next year's edition is one for the collection:

Image result for barca 2019/20 away kit


Will be interesting to see what they do with the shorts and socks. Hard to mess it up, but they can do it if they try hard enough.
 

dirtynine

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It seems like Nike’s MO for new designs is “noisy/gritty textures”, which I have to say I’m enjoying so far. The pendulum is swinging back away from minimalism as well, towards demonstrative designs and semi-gaudy ideas. (Nigeria at the 2016 WC seemed to break open the floodgates there.) I can’t say I mind, even though I naturally gravitate towards confident understatement. The stuff coming out right now is just plain fun.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Everton have tried something new:






Everton have unveiled their distinctive new Umbro home kit for the 2019-20 season.

The new home shirt features a bold new design twist of distinctive criss-crosses, which are scattered across the chest of the royal blue jersey.

The new look is inspired by the criss-crossed steel from the upper tier of Goodison's Bullens Road stand, built by stadium architect Archibald Leitch.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7212573/Everton-unveil-bold-new-home-kit-modelled-criss-crossed-steel-Bullens-Road-stand.html
The steel grillwork in question is seen behind Richarlison. It's a well-known motif to Everton fans - sometimes seen on merchandise without any identifiers, so that the in-crowd recognizes it - much the same as, say, people wear merch with notorious design elements from Fenway, like the Citgo sign or LF scoreboard:



It's divided opinion. I like it a lot. I like both the allusion to Goodison and I like it as a design in its own right. Some people on Everton Twitter and message boards absolutely hate it. It's the best-selling kit in Everton's recent history, so on balance the public seems to be going for it.

dirtynine, what's your take?
 

dirtynine

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Everton have tried something new:








https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7212573/Everton-unveil-bold-new-home-kit-modelled-criss-crossed-steel-Bullens-Road-stand.html
The steel grillwork in question is seen behind Richarlison. It's a well-known motif to Everton fans - sometimes seen on merchandise without any identifiers, so that the in-crowd recognizes it - much the same as, say, people wear merch with notorious design elements from Fenway, like the Citgo sign or LF scoreboard:



It's divided opinion. I like it a lot. I like both the allusion to Goodison and I like it as a design in its own right. Some people on Everton Twitter and message boards absolutely hate it. It's the best-selling kit in Everton's recent history, so on balance the public seems to be going for it.

dirtynine, what's your take?
I love the idea of the reference. That white t-shirt is pretty great and I know an Everton fan who might need one. I also liked the look of the pattern even before knowing the details behind the tie-in. However - and this is picky I admit - now that I‘m educated on the reference, I wish they had gone a touch more literal and a little less deconstructed. Still, one of my top 2-3 favorites of the new PL season.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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I love the idea of the reference. That white t-shirt is pretty great and I know an Everton fan who might need one. I also liked the look of the pattern even before knowing the details behind the tie-in. However - and this is picky I admit - now that I‘m educated on the reference, I wish they had gone a touch more literal and a little less deconstructed. Still, one of my top 2-3 favorites of the new PL season.
I agree with this.

What are your other favorites?
 

dirtynine

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What are your other favorites?
Here are links to some visuals...

—— picks——

- Liverpool home at the top of the list. Classic look.
- City away is very interesting, it’s surprising but not over the top which is hard to do.
- Leicester has the classiest cumulative look across all shirts I think. No real statement pieces but all very well done.
- Chelsea away. Love the striped club collar look.

——other notes——

- City picked an interesting year to add claret accents to their sky blues. Villa, West Ham and Burnley are all in the league too.
- United away is intriguing but spoiled by the gold Chevy bow tie. If only it was a simple flat black...
- lots of “as expected” - Palace, Bournemouth, Arsenal.
- Brighton has their best home look of their current PL run, but I’m still not overjoyed with it. (Wider stripes, brighter blues please!). I’m cautiously into the away look though they will be mistaken as referees in the full kit. Maybe they’ll get some calls.
 

teddykgb

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I am not enamored with the intro of purple for the City kit but City are introducing a really classic 125 year puma kit that they probably needed to differentiate. It’s an awesome basic shirt but they probably felt a need to make a home kit that wasn’t similar to keep sales moving

The away is great in a weird way I’ve already got one on the way
 

Seven Costanza

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To piggyback off of dirtynine above, Chelsea home is so poor this year the away ALMOST makes up for it. I'm a sucker for any shirt with a collar, and man is it fresh this year. So clean.
 

Zososoxfan

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Here are links to some visuals...

—— picks——

- Liverpool home at the top of the list. Classic look.
- City away is very interesting, it’s surprising but not over the top which is hard to do.
- Leicester has the classiest cumulative look across all shirts I think. No real statement pieces but all very well done.
- Chelsea away. Love the striped club collar look.

——other notes——

- City picked an interesting year to add claret accents to their sky blues. Villa, West Ham and Burnley are all in the league too.
- United away is intriguing but spoiled by the gold Chevy bow tie. If only it was a simple flat black...
- lots of “as expected” - Palace, Bournemouth, Arsenal.
- Brighton has their best home look of their current PL run, but I’m still not overjoyed with it. (Wider stripes, brighter blues please!). I’m cautiously into the away look though they will be mistaken as referees in the full kit. Maybe they’ll get some calls.
Agreed on almost all fronts. Liverpool's home pinstripes look great. Love the collar/trim coordination on the Chelsea away. Claret/sky blue is one of the best 'shouldn't make sense but does' color combos in sports. Orange and lighter blue (think Netherlands NT) is another. Honorable mention here for Betis' third shirts which are pink and...forest green.

Elsewhere in Spain, I think Vigo got it totally right. Excellent trim on the home shirt and the away shirt is classic.

Already professed my love for Barca's first and second shirts. Likely getting one of each, pending results.

Not sure if the yellow Espanyol shirt in the link is accurate, but if so, it is really sharp.

Even though I don't like the 'not so light' pattern trend, I'll be curious to see Leganes' third kits (the purple).

Really like Sociedad's first and second kit. I guess I'm able to appreciate non-classic accents (first kit) and the second kit has real potential in a Belgium-WC kit kinda way.

Sevilla getting lazy with their second kit and just going with the Arsenal vest.

Valencia's second and third kit have potential to be epically bad. The first shirt is good.

Real Madrid - YUCK! I kid, I kid. Home kit is gross though and lacks any dark accents to balance the meringue. The away and third kits look very sharp and promising though.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
Here are links to some visuals...

—— picks——

- Liverpool home at the top of the list. Classic look.
- City away is very interesting, it’s surprising but not over the top which is hard to do.
- Leicester has the classiest cumulative look across all shirts I think. No real statement pieces but all very well done.
- Chelsea away. Love the striped club collar look.

——other notes——

- City picked an interesting year to add claret accents to their sky blues. Villa, West Ham and Burnley are all in the league too.
- United away is intriguing but spoiled by the gold Chevy bow tie. If only it was a simple flat black...
- lots of “as expected” - Palace, Bournemouth, Arsenal.
- Brighton has their best home look of their current PL run, but I’m still not overjoyed with it. (Wider stripes, brighter blues please!). I’m cautiously into the away look though they will be mistaken as referees in the full kit. Maybe they’ll get some calls.
Made even better by Vardy glowering at the camera like a mob defendant staring at the witness on the stand.

Contrast Salah, who's like "hey, where are the donuts?"
 

swiftaw

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So I saw the Arsenal friendly match last night. They are using yellow names and numbers, looks very weird.
 

Cellar-Door

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I like both West Ham kits, though I wished we went with the one color just outlines badge on the home kit, it looks so good on the away kit. Very curious for the 3rd shirt, as our 3rd lst year was decent, and the 2017/18 3rd was one of the best in many years
 

swiftaw

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I don't think it'll be too much longer before betting sponsorship will go the way of tobacco sponsorship and be banned (at least for shirt sponsors).
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Coming from the American sports perspective where they try to keep the gambling at a distance (even while hypocritically pouring cash into FanDuel type things), the sheer amount of gambling shirt sponsors blew my mind until I got used to it.
 

swiftaw

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Brought up by @SocrManiac in the transfer thread, Juve's 2019-20 kit:

Juventus Home Football Shirt 2019 2020


So I was vocally against the Juve crest redesign when it came out and Juve has clearly stuck with an offbeat motif with their designs, but I actually kinda like the kit. I think the back needed to be symmetrical (balanced?) as well, and the shorts and socks need some more non-black to break it up, but the front of the shirt looks pretty great IMO. Kinda like the Barca 2008-09 home kit cross pollinated with traditional Monaco home shirt design.
Watching Juve vs Spurs this Morning on ESPN2, the kit actually looks worse live.
 

swiftaw

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What ruins it is the all-black back.

Spurs solid navy looks like a training kit.
It might actually look better if the back was truly all black, but its basically a black square over the white/black halves. And yes, Spurs' kit does look like a training kit.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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This is just staggeringly good.

Coventry City’s third kit:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/cdn.footyheadlines.com/amp/2382605938699435861

The new Coventry City 2019-2020 third uniform was released yesterday, commemorating the 40th anniversary of 2 Tone, a music movement originating from Coventry in the 1970’s.
28005


2 Tone fused ska and reggae with punk rock and new wave, made famous by bands including Coventry’s The Specials and The Selecter, plus Madness, The Beat, Bad Manners and others.


28006


Coventry's new third strip commemorates its 40th anniversary and the impact 2 Tone had on society. At a time when racial tensions existed in Britain, many 2 Tone bands featured a mix of black, white, and multiracial people.

Coventry City's new 2019-20 third football shirt boasts a half-and-half design - white top, black bottom - separated by a checkerboard pattern.

28007

All logos on the new Coventry City 2019-2020 '2 Tone' third jersey are black, including a monochrome club crest on the left chest. The image of the 'Nutty Dancer', which appeared throughout the artwork of many 2 Tone releases, can be seen on the upper back.

28008




So, so good, just as a design, and the tie-in to the musical history makes this an all-time great kit IMO.
 

Seven Costanza

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That is incredible. I've played Coventry as my FM save the last few seasons and have been kicking around the idea of getting a shirt. Decision made methinks.