MLS Kits 2021

[PrimalCookie]

OCSC has opened preorders of the shirt, and I'm shocked at the price.

 

$150 for authentics? $100 for replicas?

 

Just 4 years ago the replica was $60! That's ridiculous, especially when the shirt itself will almost certainly be worse than the 2017 beauties. I'm not sure what the price was from 2018-2020, since I haven't bought any jerseys since then, but I can almost guarantee it wasn't this high.

[Digby]

What’s really wild is how much better that graphic looks, to me, than 2020. I’ll take three normalish collar designs over one single ostentatious one for everybody. (The bar has been so lowered.)

[MJWalker45]

2 hours ago, Magic Dynasty said:

OCSC has opened preorders of the shirt, and I'm shocked at the price.

 

$150 for authentics? $100 for replicas?

 

Just 4 years ago the replica was $60! That's ridiculous, especially when the shirt itself will almost certainly be worse than the 2017 beauties. I'm not sure what the price was from 2018-2020, since I haven't bought any jerseys since then, but I can almost guarantee it wasn't this high.

Only reason I bought the new Crew jersey was the silver league patches and the two stars. Otherwise I would've waited for 2 years or bought off Poshmark. The most annoying bit about replicas are all of the details and even colors in the Columbus shirt's case, that they omit.

[MJWalker45]

20 hours ago, Digby said:

The old Houston home jersey did have that jagged stripe pattern (almost as a precursor to the new Philly kit).

 

but, I guess as comparing the above action pic to the below promo pic shows, it WAS so subtle as to appear plain in the wild.

 

That's the Tigres pattern I believe.

10 hours ago, aawagner011 said:

I’ve acknowledged it once or twice in this thread, but seeing all of the shirts in a single graphic really drives home the point about sublimated graphics. That method of design shouldn’t be the primary way of introducing flourishes to a kit.

 

 

I agree on the sublimation. Looking at these here's what I've got:

New England/FC Dallas - Better off as a plain jersey than using a 2 year old pattern that was supposed to be used by teams in international competitions last year. 

Portland - The darker green stands out too much and that's before you realize that's the color of the entire back of the shirt. Making the right sleeve match or making the sleeves both white would have been a better choice. 

LA Galaxy - Should have used their new away shirt last year, not this year.

NYCFC - Add more navy and orange on the cuffs and collar. 

Columbus - the shirt should be yellow! The pattern is okay, it actually mimics part of the stadium, but it doesn't really stand out. 

San Jose - They should have gone with white sleeves and a look similar to the shirt they won MLS Cup in. 

Vancouver - Good look.

Seattle - It looks ok, but does it really contrast enough from Portland? It really doesn't.

Atlanta United - Calling themselves 5 stripes, but it looks more like 5 strings which would work better for Nashville. 

Nashville, NYCFC, - Nice pattern, hard to see on the field though

Inter Miami - Just wear pink! P/B/P and W/B/W should be the primary looks for a team in Florida. 

22 hours ago, cajunaggie08 said:

The Dynamo sister club the Houston Dash also released their new uniform look. The orange doesn't match at all between the Dyanamo and Dash. I dont know if this was because Nike didnt have the ability or cared to match the shade of orange that Adidas uses for the Dynamo or if it is intentionally done to give a bit more different to look between the two clubs.

 

It a Nike vs adidas thing, they don't like using the same colors. 

 

[upperV03]

Surprised there’s no yellow option, as it’s seemed like the yellow Adidas ref shirts were the most frequently used colorway. Also a little surprised there’s no red option, either.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Each one of those is in the greater Sounders color family, and pretty adjacent to the new Timbers as well. Really curious not to see a yellow option at all.

[TacoCat83]

I gotta think they add some more options. There is like 30 different colors to choose from last I check.

 

[TenaciousG]

6 hours ago, Magic Dynasty said:

OCSC has opened preorders of the shirt, and I'm shocked at the price.

 

$150 for authentics? $100 for replicas?

 

Just 4 years ago the replica was $60! That's ridiculous, especially when the shirt itself will almost certainly be worse than the 2017 beauties. I'm not sure what the price was from 2018-2020, since I haven't bought any jerseys since then, but I can almost guarantee it wasn't this high.

This is total B.S. I bought 4 Sounders replicas in the first several years of the franchise. I’ve bought one in the years since the cost went to $90. I see less people around town wearing them even though we’ve won two titles since then and the team is still as popular as ever.  This isn’t some luxury lifestyle brand, it’s a g-d soccer kit. It has a HUGE SPONSOR LOGO on it. Bring the damn price down. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

58 minutes ago, TenaciousG said:

This is total B.S. I bought 4 Sounders replicas in the first several years of the franchise. I’ve bought one in the years since the cost went to $90. I see less people around town wearing them even though we’ve won two titles since then and the team is still as popular as ever.  This isn’t some luxury lifestyle brand, it’s a g-d soccer kit. It has a HUGE SPONSOR LOGO on it. Bring the damn price down. 

 

I think a lot of people reacted pretty negatively to the change in sponsors and it also doesn't help that the last two home green shirts have been incredibly ugly.

 

It's great they won a title in this set, but that doesn't make it not look constantly dirty!

 

Also, I didn't care too much about the switch to Zulily, but I think they'd have sold more pink/black shirts if they had said XBOX across the front. Just a hunch.

[KitLeakBoi]

Orlando 

 

[upperV03]

Some still shots here:

I’m glad it doesn’t feature the miTeam graphic that I used in my prediction mockup. The dark to light “fade” is a fine effect here, but I really don’t understand why they aren’t emphasizing the gold more. This would look ten times better with gold adidas stripes and cuff piping rather than white. Still, I’d call this an upgrade over their last home kit that had a recycled graphic and tonal adidas stripes and trim.

[Digby]

No strong feelings on the graphic, but I really do not like this henley(?) collar Adidas pushing this year. Looks odd and cheap.

[upperV03]

46 minutes ago, Digby said:

No strong feelings on the graphic, but I really do not like this henley(?) collar Adidas pushing this year. Looks odd and cheap.

It looks to me like it would be more comfortable for playing in, but it doesn’t look as nice as Adidas’ past henley collars. I still like it, but I’m a sucker for pretty much any henley collar. I will say, though, that I think it works much better on the new Timbers primary than this new Orlando shirt.

[hendocfc]

Orlando looks like adidas teamwear from 2015/16, just vertical instead of horizontal lines splitting the colours

 

 

 

[upperV03]

4 hours ago, hendocfc said:

Orlando looks like adidas teamwear from 2015/16, just vertical instead of horizontal lines splitting the colours

 

 

It’s similar, but the lines on the Orlando shirt are tapered and come to a point:

[upperV03]

Couple teasers for the new SKC primary:

 

I think the collar is either a crew neck or the Condivo collar that’s used on Atlanta and Cincy’s new primaries. 

[PrimalCookie]

I don’t know why Adidas/club management have such an aversion to using gold on the jerseys. Since the 2017 kit, which are still the best in team history and the clear fan favorite, there hasn’t been a single bit of gold anywhere on any of the four jerseys that were released since then. 2019, 2020, and now 2021 had it only on the logo and MLS badge, while 2018 was strictly white and purple with no gold whatsoever. It doesn’t make sense.

 

If the Adidas stripes and cuffs were gold instead of white, there’s a decent chance I’d bite the bullet and buy it even at the much higher price. Now, I’ll wait a few years for the lower prices, if I get it at all.

[upperV03]

Here are some good actual pictures of three of this year’s keeper shirt colorways:

[Digby]

Does Philly have two blue outfield kits and a blue GK kit? 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

That faux collar on the orange shirt is adorable. Is the pattern unique to MLS or more template stuff?

 

I've been generally positive about this year's MLS shirts, but on the whole they feel unnecessary. But at least not as unnecessary as the NBA City program; teams are at least staying in their general lanes.

 

Perhaps sales volumes aren't enough to make it worthwhile, but it would be interesting to see and MLS with home/roads that stay consistent over a five-year period coupled with yearly clash kit changes. That's not really the model of soccer, but could lead to some more interesting looks.