MLS kits 2023

[aawagner011]

21 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

 

Also, all MLS jerseys this year will have an Apple TV logo in different colors.

My biggest takeaway from this is that I absolutely hate the stacked MLS and Apple TV logos. If that’s a league requirement (and I’m sure it is), it looks horrible. There are now 3 ads on the shirt. This is approaching MLS 1.0 levels when they had ads on the lower back and on the shorts.

 

Also, who applied the sleeve patches for the guy on the right? They aren’t even close to being properly aligned. Compare the stripes to the MLS patch and they’re way off centered.

[tBBP]

More shots of the new CITY kit:

 

 

 

 

 

 

From MLS.com:

 

Quote

The jersey features the club’s vibrant and signature CITY Red color with navy and yellow accents as an homage to the City of St. Louis flag – which is also displayed as a patch along the jersey’s bottom hem. It will be worn by St. Louis CITY SC players for the 2023 and 2024 MLS seasons.

 

The left-hand side features a geometric pattern echoing the steel plates of the Gateway Arch. Purina is the lead, front-of-jersey sponsor and BJC HealthCare is the secondary sleeve partner.

 

I love how they're calling their signature color CITY Red, when it's so very obviously pink, as referenced by the scarf, lanyard, and ballcap sitting next to me on my table as i type this (and the t-shirt hanging in my closet). I know, splitting hairs--but having been to CITYPARK and in their team shop which is swathed ceiling to floor in the color, dawg--that's pink. Of course I have zero issue with the color, as my hometown Wahoos have been using it since 2012 (they call it "Bright Rose") & because of that I've ve been using it in personal branding for a while myself.

 

13 minutes ago, BrySmalls said:

Maybe it's the lighting, but shouldn't the pink red be darker? Also, yellow, though not an official club color, was added to the jersey trim because of the city flag?

 

Yep--the yellow is one of their official club colors:

 

 

The inclusion of yellow is messing with me on this kit. I get the steel plate motif, and that's cool. I had somewhat high hopes for this, but now that I see it, this inaugural kit is gonna get a "pass" from me dawg. (Doesn't mean I can't swag out in some of their other apparel, though!)

[SSmith48]

24 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

 

Also, all MLS jerseys this year will have an Apple TV logo in different colors.

I think the yellow accents are a bit much (white would have looked better) but I’m pleasantly surprised. Glad to see they are embracing the red-pink color.

[BrySmalls]

2 minutes ago, tBBP said:

Assuming you meant to include yellow in your post, then yes it actually is an official club color, along with steel gray--do not ask me why:

 

 

The inclusion of yellow is messing with me on this kit. I get the steel plate motif, and that's cool. I had somewhat high hopes for this, but now that I see it, this inaugural kit is gonna get a "pass" from me dawg. (Doesn't mean I can't swag out in some of their other apparel, though!)

But why though?  All kidding aside. My guess is that the club needed to enhance their color palette by adding "neutral colors" and differentiating from the other red/blue clubs in the league.  I'm not a fan of the yellow trim either. 

[gosioux76]

1 minute ago, BrySmalls said:

But why though?  All kidding aside. My guess is that the club needed to enhance their color palette by adding "neutral colors" and differentiating from the other red/blue clubs in the league.  I'm not a fan of the yellow trim either. 

It’s not that complicated. It’s borne from the city’s flag. 

 

[Digby]

10 minutes ago, upperV03 said:

The yellow accents really make that shirt and elevate their entire branding IMO.  Strong effort for their inaugural shirt.

 

I agree, overall a smart and distinctive effort (not always a given in this league) -- my only complain is that I find the pattern to be excessively fussy, especially for a first shirt which I'd prefer to be simple. Also I generally find half/half looks ugly, subjectively. But generally pretty nice and the colors are nifty.

[aawagner011]

Another takeaway (in addition to my post above): now that we are seeing these kits on the new adidas  World Cup template, I am reminded that authentic MLS kits tend to exist in a weird hybrid between replicas and top of the line match authentics. Adidas always provides MLS clubs with the heat applied stripes (though this new template has moved away from that) and faux stitched plastic crests, but the materials are never the same as the materials used for clubs like Bayern, Real Madrid, or Juve.

 

For comparison, this is what the material looks like on the 2022 World Cup authentics.

 

[Digby]

1 minute ago, gosioux76 said:

It’s not that complicated. It’s borne from the city’s flag. 

 

 

I mean I've always thought the city flag is a pretty classic cherry-ish shade of red. A brighter shade, but not magenta and certainly not all the way into pink the way the team seems to be using.

 

Personally would like to see the shirt be, maybe, halfway between its real color and this flag color.

[VampyrRabbit]

It looks nice, though not a fan of the big navy side panels. The colour combination looks good and also really pops.

 

Any word on the shorts and socks colour? Navy would be my choice for both.

[tBBP]

14 minutes ago, Digby said:

 

I mean I've always thought the city flag is a pretty classic cherry-ish shade of red. A brighter shade, but not magenta and certainly not all the way into pink the way the team seems to be using.

 

Personally would like to see the shirt be, maybe, halfway between its real color and this flag color.

 

The only thing I can figure is that possibly the textile color was difficult to create with whatever they had on hand, so they (and by they I mean adidas) got as close as they could for the present with whatever color they have/had on hand, which happens with nontraditional colors such as this. And I'll have to see it in person to really gauge it, but yeah those kits, at least in that lighting, definitely appear on the lighter side of pink bright rose CITYRed. (As does the ballcap I have compared to the scarf, which would lend more credence to the difficulty in reproducing the thread color.)

 

All that said, and I suppose I better clarify itself: of course the yellow comes from the city flag; I personally don't believe that means it has to be a club color just because (though I can see the logical sense in it--you know, CITY theme and all). To me it just look out of place.

[BrySmalls]

36 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

It’s not that complicated. It’s borne from the city’s flag. 

 

 

I'm aware where the yellow comes from. I even stated that in my initial comment on page 1.

 

55 minutes ago, BrySmalls said:

Maybe it's the lighting, but shouldn't the pink red be darker? Also, yellow, though not an official club color, was added to the jersey trim because of the city flag?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

48 minutes ago, aawagner011 said:

My biggest takeaway from this is that I absolutely hate the stacked MLS and Apple TV logos. If that’s a league requirement (and I’m sure it is), it looks horrible. There are now 3 ads on the shirt. This is approaching MLS 1.0 levels when they had ads on the lower back and on the shorts.

 

 

Encroaching on Liga MX territory here. It's a bad look.

 

Can't even watch most MLS games without Apple TV; not sure what they get from their logo on the shirt too.

[MJWalker45]

7 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Encroaching on Liga MX territory here. It's a bad look.

 

Can't even watch most MLS games without Apple TV; not sure what they get from their logo on the shirt too.

 I think we all knew this was coming after the MLS is Back tournament let teams replace the league logos on the sleeves. 

[PrimalCookie]

17 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

 I think we all knew this was coming after the MLS is Back tournament let teams replace the league logos on the sleeves. 

I won't be surprised if they bring in sponsors on the shorts like a few teams did at MLS is Back in a few years as well. Then the only thing left to make MLS look like Ligue 1 would be sponsors under the number.

[Brave-Bird 08]

as much as I don't like the St. Louis badge, that shirt is gorgeous. Well done. We really need more kits that have contrasting tops and shorts instead of the monochrome that seemingly swept through the league. 

[VampyrRabbit]

23/24. So STL will be keeping the home for two seasons and changing their road after one. In that case, I wouldn't be surprised if the change looks like it was designed in 10 minutes and uses an old template.

[WestCoastBias]

I think it's fine, but it's a little underwhelming when you consider it's their inaugural home kit.

 

Then again, a lot of the recent inaugural kits have been underwhelming. Austin is the only recent one imo that knocked it out of the park with their inaugural kit.

[GriffinM6]

Kind of surprising MLS is getting the Adidas national team template while the elite European clubs don't have it for 2022/23.

[Foxxtrot44]

Calling my shot.

St Louis will have a year 2 brand tweak to make the colors a little more "standard."

Same thing RSL ended up doing

[Brave-Bird 08]

47 minutes ago, WestCoastBias said:

I think it's fine, but it's a little underwhelming when you consider it's their inaugural home kit.

 

Then again, a lot of the recent inaugural kits have been underwhelming. Austin is the only recent one imo that knocked it out of the park with their inaugural kit.

 

Atlanta's was perfect.