2017 MLS Kit Matchups

[upperV03]

And now here's what yesterday's games brought us:

RSL/Atlanta and Philadelphia/Montreal were both a bit drab for my tastes, but the rest of the matchups were all fairly nice. I've gotta say that the more I see of the Whitecaps' primary, the more I think it sucks. In person the triangle pattern is impossible to see and it just looks like an exceedingly plain white kit. Their last kit wasn't great but at least it was memorable. This new one is anything but.

[Digby]

No more shiny text? Has sanity prevailed?

 

 

[upperV03]

11 minutes ago, Digby said:

No more shiny text? Has sanity prevailed?

 

 

Makes sense for the gray kits since metallic blue names and numbers would've been almost impossible to see. I suspect Seattle will do the same. Orlando is still sporting the metallic/shiny purple numbers, as seen here on the shorts:

That image also shows that Orlando does indeed have matching white socks for the Parley kits (with the Parley logo on them), rather than the white socks from their away kit, which is what the league's graphic showed. Here's a look at the shorts and socks for NYCFC:

[Digby]

This is... not great.

 

[Jaffa]

I'd go so far as to say it's bloody terrible.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

It looks so, so stupid. And it was obvious that it was going to. I'd ask what they were thinking but the answer is obviously that they weren't.

[4_tattoos]

40 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

It looks so, so stupid. And it was obvious that it was going to. I'd ask what they were thinking but the answer is obviously that they weren't.

$

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Isn't it for charity though? Who's making money off of those dumb jerseys?

[upperV03]

They're being auctioned off in limited quantities and I believe the proceeds are going to the respective teams' charities.

[Digby]

33 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

Isn't it for charity though? Who's making money off of those dumb jerseys?

 

Maybe not directly a monetary thing, but it is a spirited PR grab for MLS and Adidas and the clubs involved.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The sun is especially bright in LA today, meaning the grey and white shirts have equally dramatic black shadows. Also meaning this gray/white idea was even stupider in the second game.

[pepis21]

In LA where sun shines strong this looks even worse. Good idea, bad realizations.

[Gothamite]

This was a miserable game. Really hard to tell the teams apart. 

 

 

Ironically, it got a little easier as the match went on and the New York City jerseys were darkened with sweat.  And then a sub would come on and they'd be virtually indistinguishable again. 

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, upperV03 said:

They're being auctioned off in limited quantities and I believe the proceeds are going to the respective teams' charities.

 

The game-used ones are.  After today's debacle I have a lot less interest in bidding, although gamers almost never become available, so I likely still will. 

[upperV03]

As has already been said, the NYCFC/Orlando and LA/Seattle matchups were both extremely hard to watch due to the grayscale Parley kits. The LA/Seattle game was even harder to watch at times (though it did get a bit easier as the game went on) because of the LA sun and the fact that the Sounders kept the metallic/shiny blue names and numbers rather than switching to white like NYCFC did. If Adidas and MLS decide to do this again in years to come (which they frankly probably will) let's hope they think about potential clashing issues and use team colors in a more prominent way than just the logos on the front and printing on the back.

Luckily the weekend concluded with a much-needed pop of color in the form of Colorado's secondaries and it set up a pretty nice and unique matchup with Minnesota's primaries.

[upperV03]

Here's this weekend's kit matchups:

First off, this weekend will see the debut of DCU's secondary, and Houston will be in their black kits for the first time of 2017. Both of those clubs had only worn their primaries leading up to this weekend, so now that leaves NYCFC and Vancouver as the only clubs to not wear their secondaries so far this year (in regular season play). Speaking of NYCFC, they'll be going up against Columbus, who has once again inexplicably elected to wear black at home when they easily could've gone with yellow. In other news, this weekend will see two more white vs gray matchups with NYRB/Chicago and Minnesota/SJ. Chicago's gray is pretty light so it'll be interesting to see how it contrasts with the Red Bulls' white kits. Lastly, Orlando/Colorado should be an interesting looking game with purple and gold matched up against yellow and blue. I kind of wish the Rapids had a pair of alternate yellow shorts for cases such as this one, but oh well.

[upperV03]

Just one match from last night:

I've gotta say, the more I see of Toronto's kit, the more I think it's a mess. I like the dark gray sleeves, but the side panels are just too much. Ditto for the gradient socks, as they don't go with the rest of the kit at all IMO.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

How are keeper colors determined?

[Gothamite]

3 hours ago, DG_Now said:

How are keeper colors determined?

 

There's a limited number of choices - four? - and I believe the home club gets to pick first. 

[upperV03]

2 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

There's a limited number of choices - four? - and I believe the home club gets to pick first. 

Yeah, from my understanding the home team chooses their regular kit first, then the away team chooses theirs, then the home team picks their keeper kit, then the away team, and then the referee kits are decided on last. There are probably some special cases where that order has to be shifted around due to possible contrast issues, but I believe that's the general order of how things are chosen.