MLS kits 2023

[WhitecapsForLife11]

On 2/21/2023 at 10:49 AM, aawagner011 said:

When I saw the customized side stripe a few MLS teams had, I wished Atlanta went with a red and black striped design instead of the gold. I like the gold on the collar and cuffs but it sticks out too much on the sides. It bothers me how the gold doesn’t match with the red trim on the shorts. Those two elements look like they are supposed to match. It would make things much more cohesive and wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb when viewed on TV.

 

 

The 17/18 design that this is trying to emulate let the stripes be the focal point with minimal gold details. By contrast, the design above has a bit too much visual clutter. The eye doesn’t know whether to look at the stripes or the gold. It’s still a nice shirt, but could have been a touch better.

 

 

Not sure why, maybe it's because the cut feels/looks sharper at the shoulder, but the bottom template with the three stripes that don't go along the upper arm looks way better in my opinion than the typical Adidas look with the drooping three stripes from above. It feels more modern and less cluttered with logos on the side of the arm and the design as a whole. I'm fairly certain that was also the case in 2019 (at least, the first Whitecaps hoop kit) and it looks fantastic. I wish they went back to this style and made it their permanent template/style for kits.

[upperV03]

I’ve noticed several teams have matched the color of their sponsor logo to the adidas logo on the new keeper shirts:

 

It’s definitely not a league-wide thing, as I’ve seen just as many examples so far of teams just using black or white for the sponsor logo. Plus, the green, blue, and black colorways already have white accents. It looks nice, though, so good on the teams that have decided to do that little bit extra. Would be even better if the names/numbers matched, too.

[MJWalker45]

On 2/22/2023 at 8:02 PM, WhitecapsForLife11 said:

 

Not sure why, maybe it's because the cut feels/looks sharper at the shoulder, but the bottom template with the three stripes that don't go along the upper arm looks way better in my opinion than the typical Adidas look with the drooping three stripes from above. It feels more modern and less cluttered with logos on the side of the arm and the design as a whole. I'm fairly certain that was also the case in 2019 (at least, the first Whitecaps hoop kit) and it looks fantastic. I wish they went back to this style and made it their permanent template/style for kits.

Looking at my authentic shirt, the material for the three stripes aren't the same as last year. They're stitched in, but lighter than what's used for last year's replicas. The MLS/Apple TV logos look to be one patch application as well.

Here's a look at the side stripe as well. I actually like this but I'd have preferred they kept the Ohio logo on the jack tag area where hey placed "The Crew" this year. 

[upperV03]

Seems like MLS won’t be posting the kit matchups this year, or at least not this week. They didn’t post them at all during the playoffs last year, so not a total surprise but still disappointing. In any case, expect a lot of teams to debut their new kits today/this weekend. Based on what I’ve seen on social media and on some of the teams’ sites, here’s an idea of what to expect.

 

(* indicates a new kit)

 

*Nashville (all-black) vs. *NYCFC (all-blue)

 

*Atlanta (stripes/black/red) vs. San Jose (all-gray)

 

Charlotte (blue/white/blue) vs. New England (all-navy)

*Cincy (royal/navy/navy) vs. *Houston (all-orange)

 

DCU (all-black) vs. Toronto (all-white)

 

*Miami (all-black) vs. Montreal (all-gray) 

*Orlando (all-purple) vs. *NYRB (all-yellow)

 

*Philadelphia (tan/blue/blue) vs. *Columbus (all-black)

 

*Austin (stripes/black/black) vs. *St. Louis (all-gray)

 

*Dallas (white/?/?) vs. Minnesota (all-black)

 

*Vancouver (all-white) vs. *RSL (yellow/blue/yellow)

 

Seattle (green/blue/green) vs. Colorado (burgundy/blue/blue)

 

*Portland (all-green) vs. *SKC (all-light blue)

[WBeltz]

From a presentation standpoint I’m not a huge fan of the Apple TV + presentation. The score bug is a little bland, I don’t know what their MLB bugs looked like but it could use some creativity.

[PaleVermilion81]

Minnesota looks to be black over white? They showed black jerseys on Twitter, but in warmups they have white shorts/socks.

[PaleVermilion81]

[WBeltz]

Dallas is wearing black shorts and socks I believe

[WBeltz]

After watching some of the games:

 

- Austin’s home kit has grown on me. I don’t know if it’s the wackiness or what but seeing on TV has made me

like it more.

- St. Louis looks nice, wish they would’ve had a bit more color on their away kit to pop.

- Some teams should’ve worn their aways because I wasn’t a fan of CLT/NE as an example

[upperV03]

I actually found myself disliking the Austin kit more and more while watching last night. I didn’t like it that much when it was unveiled and seeing the full package in action didn’t do it any favors IMO. I do like that the back of the shirt is green, but the kit absolutely screams out for some green below the waist with how green-heavy the shirt is. Green socks would do wonders. I also hate the white side/back hem stripe on the shirt and shorts. The shirt is already incredibly busy and those two elements just end up standing out too much and cluttering it further. Ditto for the Adidas stripes. Make those and the side/back hem stripe black on the shirt and they would’ve blended in nicely with the stripeception design (exactly why Adidas and/or the club probably avoided that option). 

[smarisca03]

15 hours ago, WBeltz said:

From a presentation standpoint I’m not a huge fan of the Apple TV + presentation. The score bug is a little bland, I don’t know what their MLB bugs looked like but it could use some creativity.

at least the MLS ones have colors

[Digby]

16 hours ago, WBeltz said:

From a presentation standpoint I’m not a huge fan of the Apple TV + presentation. The score bug is a little bland, I don’t know what their MLB bugs looked like but it could use some creativity.

 

Yeah, the Apple aesthetic seems wasted in a sports context. It was too wide leading to wasted space, the typeface was hard to read, and it was missing useful match information (as well as any MLS branding). Hope that gets tweaked as the season goes on. 

 

Also hate the graphics bumpers around replays -- there's a TV name for those I forget -- with a harsh fade to black.

[GriffinM6]

Is there any reason why St. Louis doesn't have both kits on the World Cup template? I see they're using the template that was introduced in 2022 for their secondary. 

[tBBP]

22 hours ago, McCall said:

St. Louis City SC has never lost a game.

 

As my newly adopted #1 side (sorry, Minnesota), I really wish those change kits included more pin—um, "red". The only bit is in the collar and sleeve cuffs trim (aside from the crest itself). Even the socks are devoid of red. Perhaps that back panel trim would have been the way to do it...copy the same trim as on the collar and cuffs onto that and repeat it on the shorts—and socks. (Speaking of shorts, this change kit would have REALLY benefitted by having contrasting navy shorts.)

 

Oh and speaking of that used-to-be #1 side...

 

On 2/25/2023 at 7:43 PM, PaleVermilion81 said:

 

...I don't know that I want to see them do that again. Granted, their signature (?) blue pops off the black and white well, but still. And speaking of signature colors...

 

 

...It may just be because lately I've been studying one-color-plus-black colorways lately, but I'll give Austin FC credit for having created such a strong brand colorway. It may be simple, but darned effective. (And oddly enoenough, I don't even think St. Patrick's Day when I see this, for whatever reason that is.)

 

If green verde is Austin FC's thing, they join the pack of other clubs that have found their one-color- plus-black colorway:

 

 

 

 

 

The last one is a bit of a stretch since Houston has also used white so much, but it gets the point across. (And yes I'm aware that just about all those clubs use a third "trim" color, but you get my drift.)

[4_tattoos]

28 minutes ago, tBBP said:

If green verde is Austin FC's thing, they join the pack of other clubs that have found their one-color- plus-black colorway:

Why not use DC United here? Their nickname is literally the black and red

[upperV03]

1 hour ago, GriffinM6 said:

Is there any reason why St. Louis doesn't have both kits on the World Cup template? I see they're using the template that was introduced in 2022 for their secondary. 

Basically just to create uniformity with the rest of the league. This way St. Louis has one kit on the 2022 template and one on the 2023 template, just like every other club. It’s kind of been Adidas’ standard practice with the most recent expansion teams. When Miami and Nashville entered the league their inaugural primaries were technically on the 2019 template, while their secondaries were on the MLS 25 template with the large shoulder stripes. When Austin entered the league, their primary was on the 2021 template but their secondary was on the MLS 25 template with the large shoulder stripes. Charlotte last year was a bit of a departure from that practice, but there wasn’t much of a difference between the 2021 and 2022 templates. There have been some oddities with which kit the expansion team chooses to replace in their second year, but for St. Louis they’re replacing their secondary kit next year.

[tBBP]

1 hour ago, 4_tattoos said:

Why not use DC United here? Their nickname is literally the black and red

 

Dangit! Good point...AND they had it way before Atlanta. *facepalm*

 

 

[sky1324]

2 hours ago, tBBP said:

The last one is a bit of a stretch since Houston has also used white so much, but it gets the point across. (And yes I'm aware that just about all those clubs use a third "trim" color, but you get my drift.)

Not to tack on but I would drop Atlanta here and add Charlotte, who use "The Black and Blue" as a nickname frequently, I'm assuming like Montreal does as well.

[aawagner011]

30 minutes ago, CDCLT said:

Not to tack on but I would drop Atlanta here and add Charlotte, who use "The Black and Blue" as a nickname frequently, I'm assuming like Montreal does as well.

Seems a stretch when Atlanta’s home kit has consistently featured red and black stripes three out of four times, while the fourth was a reinterpretation of black with thin red pinstripes. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s primary kit is light blue and white with minimal black trim.  Though, I will say I quite like Charlotte’s home kit.

 

I have been begging MLS to continue establishing firm identities. Introduce more stripes, more sashes, more contrasting sleeves, more hoops, etc. There has been some progress lately. Atlanta has claimed the red and black stripes, Austin is making a concerted effort towards green and black stripes, SKC seems to be settling in with hoops of varying styles, Vancouver has established the thick chest stripe (hopefully Chicago reverts back to that in red next year, I suspect they will after the massive rebrand correction), the Montreal leak that was delayed suggests they’re getting back to blue and black instead of mostly black. I hope Charlotte makes the Arsenal look their signature.

[sky1324]

1 hour ago, aawagner011 said:

Seems a stretch when Atlanta’s home kit has consistently featured red and black stripes three out of four times, while the fourth was a reinterpretation of black with thin red pinstripes. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s primary kit is light blue and white with minimal black trim.  Though, I will say I quite like Charlotte’s home kit.

Yep, I misread what the post was saying. I thought it was about teams with color schemes that are color + white + black, not teams that are predominantly color + black. Atlanta's heavy use of gold, especially recently, still makes me hesitant to consider them trying just a red + black team but they fit the prompt more than Charlotte does.

 

I'm more than happy for Charlotte to keep a focus on blue and white - them not making their primary kit black was one of the best decisions they've made. I'd like to see either a checkered or pinstriped kit at some point to reference other Charlotte sports but the "Blue Arsenal" look should 100% be the standard for the team.