Back for its second season in 2014, MLS Jersey Week is happening this week from March 3rd-6th. In the buildup to the start of the new season on March 8, 17 clubs will be unveiling 18 new kits.
Each day of the week, I’ll be evaluating and assigning grades to each new kit. For the official Jersey Week unveiling schedule, head on over to MLSsoccer.com.
On Monday, I looked at the new kits of D.C. United and the San Jose Earthquakes. Yesterday, I examined the new uniforms from the Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy, Portland Timbers, and Seattle Sounders.
Today, I’ll be dissecting a busy day of kit unveiling that went down on Tuesday. A whopping eight clubs were involved, but on this day more new kits did not mean better ones.
Kit #1: Chicago Fire Home
Talk about a head scratcher.
The Chicago Fire have a great history in MLS, yet for the second time in a row they have thrown all of that away with their home kit. From their inception in 1998 up until the 2012 season, the Fire home kit was always red with a white horizontal stripe along the front. From 2012 to 2013, they changed the stripe from white to navy blue and caused uproar among fans. This year, they have changed the horizontal stripe to a never-before-seen multicolour pattern, and made the entire upper body of the shirt navy blue.
In other words, I hope the cops have their riot shields ready.
By far the ugliest part of the shirt is the new horizontal stripe along the front. Once again, I feel that Adidas was trying to go for a next-generation look. Once again, they failed miserably.
The stripe packs a one-two punch of both a colour gradient and a strange zig-zag background pattern. The zig-zag pattern makes the logo of jersey sponsor Quaker Oats harder to see. But the gradient does even worse, introducing three colours (two shades of blue and a purple) that have never featured on the Fire home kit.
And of course, what monstrosity would be complete without a lenticular crest? It virtually seals the deal. Where Portland’s away kit succeeded, Chicago’s home kit has failed.
Grade: F
Kit #2: Columbus Crew Home
Diamonds?!?! I didn’t know Rihanna was a co-owner!
But in all seriousness, if anyone can tell me who in the Crew organization thought of putting the faded diamond pattern on the bottom of their new home kit, I would be glad to know. Where they got the idea I cannot even imagine. How they thought it would look good escapes me too.
The above also applies to the person who decided to put a horizontal black stripe on each sleeve. Bad things come in twos you know.
Columbus doesn’t really have much of an identity to work with when designing kits. They want to step outside the box, but they never really have. For a club like the Crew, keeping things simple is a must. And contrary to common belief among kit designers these days, simple isn’t a bad thing at all.
The “America’s Hardest Working Team” motto should only apply to the guys on the pitch. The design team needs to realize that if they are to do better in the future.
Grade: C-
Kit #3: Montreal Impact Home
Do you ever get the feeling of déjà vu?
The Montreal Impact really didn’t change that much for their new home kit. Really, the cross made up of embossed Fleur-de-Lys was shifted and some of the white accents were removed. Oh, and a lenticular crest, the work of evil, was thrown on too.
To me this shirt is still underwhelming. I’d like to see Montreal use something other than the Fleur-de-Lys for once for a start. Apart from that, not making their home shirt look like a generic youth soccer jersey would go a long way in getting a higher grade from yours truly.
Grade: D+
Kit #4: New England Revolution Home
This kit is growing on me faster than Kelyn Rowe is growing into a darkhorse MVP candidate.
My first reaction to this kit was shock in that all the white had been taken away from the shirt. But if you combine the larger sponsor logo, and the white shorts as seen on the club’s website, there may actually be more rather than less. Even if they use the blue shorts as seen in the promo video, I don’t think this kit looks too shabby.
This kit is clean cut and simple. It doesn’t have any glaring mistakes or omissions, and if you look at it for a while the blue and red start hitting you head on.
Yesterday I would have put this in the C range. If I waited another day it might get an A. I’ll put a plus sign for potential improvement in the future and call it a day.
Grade: B+
Kit #5: New York Red Bulls Away
Something about this club tells me they are forever doomed to fail in the making of an away kit.
I can’t recall them ever having a great one in the Red Bull ownership era. They tried something different a few years ago with a black and red shirt that caught my eye, but destroyed it by throwing on a pair of yellow shorts below it. I remember watching the Red Bulls play against my TFC last season, and hearing at least ten different people near me voicing their displeasure of the shorts. Towards the end of the match, a rendition of “Yellow Submarine” broke out in the supporters section, but with the word shorts substituted for submarine.
In short, the shorts fall short of expectations. They stink. Really, REALLY badly.
The shirt isn’t great either. Particularly the back, where the “Red Bulls” and “New York” typefaces look terrible together and leave next to no room for a name and jersey number. It looks too Brazilian league to me.
Maybe one day the Red Bulls will do what Thierry Henry did with the captain’s armband and do a MetroStars throwback. If nothing else, they should do it for the sake of the shorts.
Grade: C
Kit #6: Philadelphia Union Home
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The Philadelphia Union had quite a nice home kit in 2012 and 2013. But in 2014 the Union were indecisive about making big changes or little ones to their existing product. The results weren’t great.
Gone are the sky blue accents in favour of tawny-gold pinstripes. Bad move. The pinstripes, along with a slight change in the sponsor logo, make this kit noticeably darker than its predecessor. It’s so dark in fact that it comes close to the all-black third kit.
Their new kit isn’t as bad as some of their eastern rivals, but it still isn’t great either.
Grade: B-
Kit #7: Real Salt Lake Home
The folks in Salt Lake benefit from a really sharp logo and colour combination. They have done pretty well for themselves in the kit department in recent years. But that isn’t the case in 2014.
Let’s ignore the lenticular crest for a second and jump straight to what’s on everyone’s mind: the yellow horizontal stripe. Apparently there is a crown in there somewhere, but to me it looks like a modified game of Where’s Waldo. What also catches the eye (in a bad way of course) is that the stripe is a bright yellow on the sleeves but looks faded on the chest. It’s almost like, wait for it, another lenticular crest.
If they put a real crest on the shirt and make the stripe a solid and consistent shade of yellow, this shirt is a must-have. Like Columbus’ shirt, this one suffers from overthought.
Grade: B-
Kit #8: Sporting Kansas City Away
Today’s review started on a horrible foot. Let’s end it on a stellar one.
Kansas City’s new away kit is a complete departure from the 2011-2013 version: original, striking, and professional. I have to admit that I did not at all see this coming. For that matter, I don’t think anyone did (this kit is the only jersey week release to have not been leaked). But this is beyond a pleasant surprise.
I will admit my personal bias in that I love hoop kits. I do not understand why they are going out of style. Having the eleven stripes makes the kit and the logo match up perfectly. On the home kit, the use of the Kansas-Missouri state line works to the same effect. Clearly a good thing was identified and maintained, and for that I salute the design team.
If I can find just one tiny problem with this shirt, it is the crest. It’s lenticular. It’s sad to see such a great organization contract lenticulitis (yes, it’s bad enough to garner such a name), especially with such a great kit.
But to end on a positive note, I have to say that of all the lenticular crests, this one looks the best/closest to a normal crest.
Grade: A
That wraps up Tuesday’s unveilings. Portland’s new away kit is still the best new kit, but Kansas City has now got the best overall kit line. Five more kits will come out on Wednesday and Thursday; on Friday I’ll review both days to conclude my Jersey Week Series. Let’s hope we end this thing with a bang.
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