MLS Kits 2021

[JayMac]

50 minutes ago, dannykraft said:

Yea haha one of my favorite union kits, picked one up at modells a few years ago when it was like 50% off. 

I kicked myself for not getting it then

[WarriorFight]

Does anyone know if they're still going to do a proper "kit week"? And when that is? I know Philly has already teased a reveal for the 5th I'm pretty sure, but I've heard bupkis out of any other club. Guess if the season is starting in April there's that extra time to get them out.

[WBeltz]

3 hours ago, WarriorFight said:

Does anyone know if they're still going to do a proper "kit week"? And when that is? I know Philly has already teased a reveal for the 5th I'm pretty sure, but I've heard bupkis out of any other club. Guess if the season is starting in April there's that extra time to get them out.

I think it’s been an unstructured time period recently. I remember reading somewhere that they weren’t doing any more Jersey Week reveals because clubs wanted to do them at their own pace.

[upperV03]

5 hours ago, WarriorFight said:

Does anyone know if they're still going to do a proper "kit week"? And when that is? I know Philly has already teased a reveal for the 5th I'm pretty sure, but I've heard bupkis out of any other club. Guess if the season is starting in April there's that extra time to get them out.

RSL is revealing their new secondary on the 12th and the Timbers are revealing their new primary sometime in the middle of this month. Not sure about other clubs, but it definitely seems like teams are free to unveil at their own pace this year. 

[Magic Dynasty]

Orlando hasn't even put out any teasers yet. We'll be getting a new purple kit this year, and judging by what they've put out since 2018 it'll probably will be another super plain purple and white look with no gold whatsoever. 

[Gothamite]

NYCFC hasn't teased anything yet either.  And those two clubs are both due for new home uniforms.

[TacoCat83]

1 hour ago, upperV03 said:

RSL is revealing their new secondary on the 12th and the Timbers are revealing their new primary sometime in the middle of this month. Not sure about other clubs, but it definitely seems like teams are free to unveil at their own pace this year. 

Wouldn't surprise me if Seattle waited until last minute again. Last few years they have been the last ones to unveil.

[TacoCat83]

And now the hopes and dreams for everyone except Atlanta gets dashed away. Atlanta United to have the only 3rd kit this year. https://theathletic.com/2362407/2021/02/02/atlanta-united-third-kit-mls/

[90reds]

So after all that excitement Atlanta is the only team getting a third jersey this year

 

https://theathletic.com/2362407/2021/02/02/atlanta-united-third-kit-mls/

[TacoCat83]

It's important to remember even 3rd jerseys are decided 2 years out. So this would of been right after ATL won the cup. So of course their jersey sales were up there.

[4_tattoos]

How much longer is the kit deal with Adidas? Between the league wide shoulder stripes in 2020 and only one team getting a third this year, Adidas soccer has been pissing me off when it come to MLS. At this point I'd rather see a lower tier manufacture like Champion/Russell/Wilson/New Balance/etc get the next contract than for Adidas and it's ways to continue. I'd rather have the league be a top priority for Wilson than an afterthought with Adidas.

 

Oh yeah, there's Nike, Puma, Umbro and Under Armour too

 

SN: no clue whether Champion, Russell or Wilson even makes soccer kits 

[TacoCat83]

1 hour ago, 4_tattoos said:

How much longer is the kit deal with Adidas? Between the league wide shoulder stripes in 2020 and only one team getting a third this year, Adidas soccer has been pissing me off when it come to MLS. At this point I'd rather see a lower tier manufacture like Champion/Russell/Wilson/New Balance/etc get the next contract than for Adidas and it's ways to continue. I'd rather have the league be a top priority for Wilson than an afterthought with Adidas.

 

Oh yeah, there's Nike, Puma, Umbro and Under Armour too

 

SN: no clue whether Champion, Russell or Wilson even makes soccer kits 

I believe 2024  (confirmed)

[WarriorFight]

1 hour ago, 4_tattoos said:

How much longer is the kit deal with Adidas? Between the league wide shoulder stripes in 2020 and only one team getting a third this year, Adidas soccer has been pissing me off when it come to MLS. At this point I'd rather see a lower tier manufacture like Champion/Russell/Wilson/New Balance/etc get the next contract than for Adidas and it's ways to continue. I'd rather have the league be a top priority for Wilson than an afterthought with Adidas.

 

Oh yeah, there's Nike, Puma, Umbro and Under Armour too

 

SN: no clue whether Champion, Russell or Wilson even makes soccer kits 

 

Umbro and Macron have been making very good kits recently too (edit: saw you mentioned Umbro up there and I just missed it, my bad). I think the league just isn't in a place where clubs can negotiate worthwhile deals, there's more bargaining power league-wide. As I imagine would be the case with every possible manufacturer, it is very hard to make home and away (and now third) kits for 27+ clubs and have them all be original and interesting. There's just not enough time and money to be made for manufacturers to find that worthwhile. So as much as Adidas hasn't been the best, and I definitely agree they have not been, I think it would be much the same case with every possible manufacturer. I know the CPL has had pretty good kits, this year excepting, but they also only have 8 clubs so it's much easier for Macron to make interesting kits when they're only making 16 of them. 27 clubs, soon to be 30, means at minimum sixty kits not counting potential thirds. Anyone would struggle to make that many kits all be unique unto themselves even just from a design perspective let alone financing it.

 

So my hope is that the league gets to a point where it's popular enough that clubs can sign kit deals with individual manufacturers rather than a league-wide deal. Cause that's the only way I see this "problem" getting better. It'd be the same exact issue with every possible manufacturer in a league-wide deal scenario.

[WBeltz]

5 hours ago, TacoCat83 said:

And now the hopes and dreams for everyone except Atlanta gets dashed away. Atlanta United to have the only 3rd kit this year. https://theathletic.com/2362407/2021/02/02/atlanta-united-third-kit-mls/

That’s definitely a let down. Hopefully it means that next year we see Seattle, LAFC, and some others get them. I think there are at least a handful of clubs who would get them and benefit from them. It’s a shame that Atlanta is the one benefiting in the first year they come back

[Gothamite]

20 hours ago, TacoCat83 said:

Wouldn't surprise me if Seattle waited until last minute again. Last few years they have been the last ones to unveil.

NYCFC tends to unveil theirs the first week in February, so...

[njdevs7]

48 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

NYCFC tends to unveil theirs the first week in February, so...

Pure speculation but I have a feeling nobody is going to to an official kit reveal until the CBA is agreed. Austin FC is a new team so that's different.

[upperV03]

13 minutes ago, njdevs7 said:

Pure speculation but I have a feeling nobody is going to to an official kit reveal until the CBA is agreed. Austin FC is a new team so that's different.

Philadelphia is revealing their new secondary today.

[KitLeakBoi]

22 minutes ago, upperV03 said:

Philadelphia is revealing their new secondary today.

 

[Digby]

Nice! A home run from Philly. I woulda liked that scheme as stripes, but anyway you use it it’s excellent and relevant. 
 

Normally I wouldn’t like a team to have two blue jerseys. But they can probably wear this against the navy teams and the home against the sky teams. They’d run into problems against a middle-blue team, but seems SJ, MTL and CIN have all abandoned that ship anyway.

[MJWalker45]

15 hours ago, WarriorFight said:

 

Umbro and Macron have been making very good kits recently too (edit: saw you mentioned Umbro up there and I just missed it, my bad). I think the league just isn't in a place where clubs can negotiate worthwhile deals, there's more bargaining power league-wide. As I imagine would be the case with every possible manufacturer, it is very hard to make home and away (and now third) kits for 27+ clubs and have them all be original and interesting. There's just not enough time and money to be made for manufacturers to find that worthwhile. So as much as Adidas hasn't been the best, and I definitely agree they have not been, I think it would be much the same case with every possible manufacturer. I know the CPL has had pretty good kits, this year excepting, but they also only have 8 clubs so it's much easier for Macron to make interesting kits when they're only making 16 of them. 27 clubs, soon to be 30, means at minimum sixty kits not counting potential thirds. Anyone would struggle to make that many kits all be unique unto themselves even just from a design perspective let alone financing it.

 

So my hope is that the league gets to a point where it's popular enough that clubs can sign kit deals with individual manufacturers rather than a league-wide deal. Cause that's the only way I see this "problem" getting better. It'd be the same exact issue with every possible manufacturer in a league-wide deal scenario.

If Australian A League teams can negotiate deals, MLS teams can to. The problem in the US is that the league controls the uniform contracts, not the teams. It's also why adidas would probably cover parts of Lionel Messi's salary if he picks a MLS team to play for in the future. That's why they prefer dealing with one company instead of multiple companies. Garber came over from the NFL and they are of the same mind of limiting the amount of companies that deal with certain things, except when it comes to sponsorship. That's why coke and Pepsi, Budweiser and Miller all are official sponsors of the NFL. 

13 hours ago, WBeltz said:

That’s definitely a let down. Hopefully it means that next year we see Seattle, LAFC, and some others get them. I think there are at least a handful of clubs who would get them and benefit from them. It’s a shame that Atlanta is the one benefiting in the first year they come back

Does anyone know why MLS keeps kissing up to Atlanta? Does Blank own the MLS offices or something? 

18 hours ago, TacoCat83 said:

It's important to remember even 3rd jerseys are decided 2 years out. So this would of been right after ATL won the cup. So of course their jersey sales were up there.

So MLS didn't think fans in LA, New York or Seattle wouldn't want to buy more merchandise? 

And can anyone tell me why MLS is so dumb as to send advertisements for this jersey to Columbus Crew fans' emails? Some of the folks were sent these mocked up with their last names on them.