2017/18 Soccer Kits

[thefridge15]

US soccer dropped the new kits late at night for some reason, but here they are, in typical Nike templated fashion. Meh.

[aawagner011]

Ok, gotta admit, these look quite nice. Yes, they are templated like the other teams. Yes, they use black trim instead of navy...but it's not a bad look by any means. Had no idea these were dropping so shortly after I posted that about the shorts and socks.

 

My main issue...they totally screwed with the badge (aside from color). Nike had a really awesome application for the crests on the white and black kits. They were the coolest material I've seen on a crest before:

 

 

Here's the best picture I can find of the crest for this kit and this is a shot of the authentic Vapor shorts. The application should be the same. It's just a heat applied fabric patch, not the cool rubber patch above with the depth in the stripes.

 

[Digby]

Could've been nice if Nike didn't insist on monochrome templates for its international "third kits" this year. Still, red always seems to sell well.

[VikWings]

8 hours ago, thefridge15 said:

US soccer dropped the new kits late at night for some reason, but here they are, in typical Nike templated fashion. Meh.

 

[flyersfan]

1 hour ago, VikWings said:

 

Wow. Didn't think of this, but it's a perfect match. I hate it, we need an identity that doesn't follow the templates

[aawagner011]

More pics. After sleeping on it, here are my updated thoughts: Do I like it..........? Yes. It has some style to it. It's bold and red, an actual color of our flag. Our black kit looks ok but is just plain dumb. Do I like it as much as I could have it they did it right? No. Normal crest with the right colors, drop the black, add navy blue trim (even if they kept the red shorts and socks), and this would be very nice, despite the template. As of now, it's decent, but could have been so much better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jezus_Ghoti]

It is truly embarrassing how many different looks US soccer has had. Just pick one and stick with it.

[aawagner011]

I miss the days where a US kit might have varied in style from year to year, but you KNEW you'd get red, white, and navy blue. Always looked American. Once they started tinkering with dark gray, black (current men's and women's and women's), neon (doubled down on black and neon!), royal blue, this kit with just red and no blue...they start to look unlike a traditional US squad. Like I've said before, I think the kit market is  oversaturated when we get subpar designs like this.

[Digby]

Just in the interest of seeing the full collection. All of Nike's international third kits -- do international teams play enough games to require a three-kit set? -- are the same shtick:

 

- monochrome

- in nontraditional colors

- a metallic crest

 

I actually think England and Brazil all look decent. Not the USA one, where the monochrome crest just doesn't work and the obvious benefit of navy trim too glaring, and not France's inexplicable black. But I'd prefer not to see them on the field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[njdevs7]

This has been an absolute disaster of a year for Nike. So many kits in the same, boring template. I wonder how bad their jersey sales were this year. 

[Digby]

The thing about a boring template is that it actually provides a decent canvas for bespoke designs... if you choose to utilize it as such, which obvi Nike hasn't. 

[aawagner011]

I'll say this: there's absolutely nothing wrong with the template. It's a traditional style with contrasting sleeves. It beats the heck out of this arbitrary and meaningless design.

 

 

But, I thought that shot above was an age where Nike and other manufacturers were trying to emphasize their tech and show what they can do with different materials and cuts. We're past that now. We know all these new designs are nice and lightweight and have mesh holes and all that stuff.

 

What's disappointing is that Nike can offer this template with custom designs. Granted, I don't think it comes with the mesh chest construction but they still offer custom designs for their premier teams.

 

 

 

Nike is clearly choosing NOT to bother with international kit design right now. Maybe the return on investment isn't there...I can't explain it. However, it's extremely disappointing that we don't get kits like these below every cycle now. This was peak Nike. Templates, yes...custom designs, yes. Win-win. Now Nike is more about promoting Nike rather than the squads. They actually look like the countries they are supposed to represent.

 

 

 

 

[aawagner011]

Looks like same numbers as the black kit...possibly silver like the crest and swoosh, but doesn't appear to be.

 

 

[JTernup]

The Rapids released their new kit. Here is a link for anyone who wants to watch the video and check out the reveal.

I really like this, it feels like a very natural progression from the 2015-16 Secondary yellow kit which didn't feature the blue sleeves. The rapids seem to have found a kit set that works for them and only requires small tweaks to each jersey which is rare in modern football.

 

Also of note, the Rapids and Transamerica have removed the pyramid from the shirts which will now feature just the wordmark.

 

 

[flyersfan]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4tL5oHXAAEhagT?format=pjpg&name=large

thank you bleacherreport

[rsaline]

Red button. Because, why not?

 

Actually I like it. The C jock tag should just be the flag, right now it looks like a Cubs knock off. The badge is poorly colored, the red and blue don't have enough contrast. Other than that it's good.

[MJWalker45]

53 minutes ago, aawagner011 said:

I'll say this: there's absolutely nothing wrong with the template. It's a traditional style with contrasting sleeves. It beats the heck out of this arbitrary and meaningless design.

 

 

But, I thought that shot above was an age where Nike and other manufacturers were trying to emphasize their tech and show what they can do with different materials and cuts. We're past that now. We know all these new designs are nice and lightweight and have mesh holes and all that stuff.

 

What's disappointing is that Nike can offer this template with custom designs. Granted, I don't think it comes with the mesh chest construction but they still offer custom designs for their premier teams.

 

 

 

Nike is clearly choosing NOT to bother with international kit design right now. Maybe the return on investment isn't there...I can't explain it. However, it's extremely disappointing that we don't get kits like these below every cycle now. This was peak Nike. Templates, yes...custom designs, yes. Win-win. Now Nike is more about promoting Nike rather than the squads. They actually look like the countries they are supposed to represent.

 

 

 

 

I'm holding out hope that since next year is the World Cup we'll see whose distinct country designs that we've seen before. Adidas has done the same thing nike is doing now, to include colors that don't belong (black for Mexico). They always seem to run the first cycle to show off the certain areas of the kit, then from there they allow more design specifics to occur. Look at the 2006 kits. They have maybe two different collars and the rest of the uniform is the same, save the shirt designs. The same was true for 2014 as well. The biggest issue for the US is that they can't use, more accurately refuse to use, the same colors and shirt design basics year after year. 

[Digby]

I'm actually seeing a lot of blog posts from the online media outlets pointing out the, uh, similarities with Portugal/England/PSG in coverage of the new USA red kits. Feels unusual. Wonder if that sort of mainstream coverage (all of it leaning negative) would be the sort of thing to get Nike to go back to actually designing.

[upperV03]

Here's a look at the shorts and socks of the Colorado kit:

Aside from the poorly recolored crest, this kit might have just moved into a tie for my number 1 spot in this year's kits thus far. Portland (my hometown team) is my other number 1. 

[gdu]

6 hours ago, VikWings said:

 

Don't forget: