MLS Kits 2021

[LaGrandeOrange]

Especially when BFBS seems to have largely run its course elsewhere in North America!

[shaydre1019]

1 hour ago, Rockstar Matt said:

Why is the MLS, as a whole, really pushing this BFBS bs? It seems like every team that had black as it’s secondary color, has promoted it to its primary color. 
 

It’s a shame too because that crest is really lovely and would look amazing on a blue shirt. 

 

TBH white and black probably sell better, but it is a shame there are so many now. 

[rmackman]

4 hours ago, Digby said:

 

On top of everything else, BMO using the no-wordmark logo is somehow even more intrusive. Early leader in the Kit Wooden Spoon rankings.

 

Given that Inter Miami CF is basically using the same look as last year per Footy Headlines (https://www.footyheadlines.com/2021/01/leaked-inter-miami-cf-to-carry-over.html), you can barely tell the difference between Miami and Montreal. A little shade of pink vs. a little shade of blue. In all honesty the biggest difference is the giant BMO Harris Bank logo.

 

 

[SSmith48]

2 hours ago, Rockstar Matt said:

Why is the MLS, as a whole, really pushing this BFBS bs? It seems like every team that had black as it’s secondary color, has promoted it to its primary color. 
 

It’s a shame too because that crest is really lovely and would look amazing on a blue shirt. 

I now have a running theory that the MLS is trying to "Americanize" the uniforms and simplify the system. No more colored clashes, less emphasis on stripes/hoops, more monochrome. Maybe they think it makes teams easier to identify. It is getting pretty ridiculous at this point though. Everything looks the same. 

[TenaciousG]

20 minutes ago, SSmith48 said:

I now have a running theory that the MLS is trying to "Americanize" the uniforms and simplify the system. No more colored clashes, less emphasis on stripes/hoops, more monochrome. Maybe they think it makes teams easier to identify. It is getting pretty ridiculous at this point though. Everything looks the same. 

Ugh. You may be right, but I really hope not. At least the NBA is pushing color vs color (although they are starting to creep into increased advertising, which is very bad).

[PaleVermilion81]

23 minutes ago, SSmith48 said:

I now have a running theory that the MLS is trying to "Americanize" the uniforms and simplify the system. No more colored clashes, less emphasis on stripes/hoops, more monochrome. Maybe they think it makes teams easier to identify. It is getting pretty ridiculous at this point though. Everything looks the same. 

 

I'd more put my money on MLS is trying to be as cheap as possible.

[WarriorFight]

I think the MTL kit is hot.

 

Look at other leagues. Historically, if you obscured the crest on West Ham United and Aston Villa's kits, you couldn't tell them apart. I don't think that's a fair nor reasonable criticism for kits. 

[EricSpratt]

On 2/17/2021 at 5:54 PM, Digby said:

Kansas City started it! The first useless rebrand of MLS; I guess come to think of it they owned the Chelsea-ish blue for the MLS of the aughts. The Sporting-era owner seems like the kind of guy who owns 34 light blue Oxford shirts, so I’ve always assumed that’s why they changed their color scheme.

To be fair, it worked out really well for them, to the point where it's considered one of the most successful rebrands in North American sports. Sold out games for 9 years straight and a stark increase in merchandise sales.

 

One of my favorite stories from their creative director was that they were 17th in merch sales during a time where there were only 16 teams, behind generic merch with only the MLS logo. After their rebrand, the club has done a complete 180. Sometimes these pseudo-European rebrands work for MLS teams. Also, I'll take any of their kits from the rebrand over those boring kits from the cobalt blue days as the Wizards.

[damnyoutuesday]

1 hour ago, EricSpratt said:

To be fair, it worked out really well for them, to the point where it's considered one of the most successful rebrands in North American sports. Sold out games for 9 years straight and a stark increase in merchandise sales.

 

One of my favorite stories from their creative director was that they were 17th in merch sales during a time where there were only 16 teams, behind generic merch with only the MLS logo. After their rebrand, the club has done a complete 180. Sometimes these pseudo-European rebrands work for MLS teams. Also, I'll take any of their kits from the rebrand over those boring kits from the cobalt blue days as the Wizards.

Honestly sounds like something out of Moneyball

[Digby]

10 hours ago, WarriorFight said:

I think the MTL kit is hot.

 

Look at other leagues. Historically, if you obscured the crest on West Ham United and Aston Villa's kits, you couldn't tell them apart. I don't think that's a fair nor reasonable criticism for kits. 

 

This is one of those things where building a league now ought to be different than building a league a century ago, IMO. English clubs are limited by tracing their history to times where there were like 5 colors of cotton fabric available, Aston Villa's sphere of influence was enormous and black kits were reserved for referees. MLS is at the point where teams will share colors, sure, but I'd rather see an emphasis on using colors in distinctive ways -- patterns, unique trim colors, etc. -- to set off teams' looks. Doubly important in MLS since you don't even have the unique trim elements to offset teams the way the other Big Four leagues do.

[Digby]

17 hours ago, SSmith48 said:

I now have a running theory that the MLS is trying to "Americanize" the uniforms and simplify the system. No more colored clashes, less emphasis on stripes/hoops, more monochrome. Maybe they think it makes teams easier to identify. It is getting pretty ridiculous at this point though. Everything looks the same. 

 

16 hours ago, PaleVermilion81 said:

 

I'd more put my money on MLS is trying to be as cheap as possible.

 

I think there's a lot of factors at play -- MLS brands being very risk-averse, the presumed easy popularity of a black shirt, desire to establish one brand before confusing the marketplace with a second color scheme, kit clashing and contrast issues when third kits aren't an option -- some of these I can agree with and some not. 

[shaydre1019]

20 hours ago, PaleVermilion81 said:

 

I'd more put my money on MLS is trying to be as cheap as possible.

But they're still using custom kits. If they were all plain black and plain white kits with a screen printed badge than you'd have a point, but they're still using custom details/patterns/secondary colors. Just not using a wide color palette. And Adidas templates happen to currently be very simple (which I am personally a fan of). 

As far as the KC rebrand, I would tweak their badge a little, but I think they've consistently put out some of the best uniforms in the league. 

[PaleVermilion81]

15 minutes ago, shaydre1019 said:

But they're still using custom kits. If they were all plain black and plain white kits with a screen printed badge than you'd have a point, but they're still using custom details/patterns/secondary colors. Just not using a wide color palette. And Adidas templates happen to currently be very simple (which I am personally a fan of). 

As far as the KC rebrand, I would tweak their badge a little, but I think they've consistently put out some of the best uniforms in the league. 

 

Custom is different than following a template. Custom is like what Philly did this year. Having a black kit and only changing the stripe color and using a different sublimated pattern over it is the same concept/template. 

[Corvus]

5 hours ago, Digby said:

 

This is one of those things where building a league now ought to be different than building a league a century ago, IMO. English clubs are limited by tracing their history to times where there were like 5 colors of cotton fabric available, Aston Villa's sphere of influence was enormous and black kits were reserved for referees. MLS is at the point where teams will share colors, sure, but I'd rather see an emphasis on using colors in distinctive ways -- patterns, unique trim colors, etc. -- to set off teams' looks. Doubly important in MLS since you don't even have the unique trim elements to offset teams the way the other Big Four leagues do.

 

Fabric of choice was probably wool no? 

 

Anyhow, I feel like while  all the sublimated, subtle graphics they are using on kits this year are interesting to design nerds like us, but are basically going to be invisible on the field of play, and are largely going to look like plain white or black jerseys. This seems like a negative for the viewing experience. 

 

Montreal's other kit has leaked:

 

 

 

[PaleVermilion81]

10 minutes ago, Corvus said:

Anyhow, I feel like while  all the sublimated, subtle graphics they are using on kits this year are interesting to design nerds like us, but are basically going to be invisible on the field of play, and are largely going to look like plain white or black jerseys. This seems like a negative for the viewing experience. 

 

I feel like they are over using this technique, too. It feels like a lazy approach to try to make a uniform more unique without actually doing anything. 

[Digby]

1 hour ago, Corvus said:

 

Fabric of choice was probably wool no? 

 

Anyhow, I feel like while  all the sublimated, subtle graphics they are using on kits this year are interesting to design nerds like us, but are basically going to be invisible on the field of play, and are largely going to look like plain white or black jerseys. This seems like a negative for the viewing experience. 

 

 

 

Good point on the wool, ha. 

 

I'm of two minds on the re-emergence of these sublimated graphics. I actually like them overall, I guess, and prefer that as the standard design element over, like, the superfluous colored panels of the mid-00s. I'm glad this year's crop of jerseys seem to be going more toward bespoke patterns instead of the recycled/teamwear ones so many MLS teams had last year, but yeah, just doing them all tonally kind of lessens the effect when you're watching an actual game. (I'm gonna start posting that Barcelona teal/black training top in this topic as often as the yellow LA Rams painting in the NFL thread.) And maybe subtle is good not just for us design nerds but also for the average fan, gives them SOME reason to drop $100 on a shirt, but it doesn't help the MLS Generic-ness for TV looks.

[upperV03]

Few more of this season’s travel hoodies:

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I was first going to say Minnesota looked best because I couldn't see the ass, but then I saw the sleeve.

 

I do like that Sounders sweatshirt though. Wonder when they're going to share their 2021 shirt? Surprised to not even see any leaks at this point.

[TacoCat83]

3 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

I was first going to say Minnesota looked best because I couldn't see the ass, but then I saw the sleeve.

 

I do like that Sounders sweatshirt though. Wonder when they're going to share their 2021 shirt? Surprised to not even see any leaks at this point.

Rumor has it that the unveiling was pushed back a bit due to a bunch of moving parts. (was supposedly early march, now late march)  Id expect them to be the final team to officially unveil.

 (Gotta save the best for last)

 

As for the hoodies, i just got mine. They run large, I bought a small normally a medium and have plenty of room to breath.

[upperV03]

Leak of the new Nashville away shirt:

Nice to see another custom pattern, although I wish it was a bit more pronounced. Certainly better than last year’s away shirt on the EQT template. I’d really love to see them go with a navy/yellow/navy kit combo, with the inverse as the home option.