Key Points of a Good Kit

Hello everyone, Soccer season is in full swing and I figured I ought to have a say in soccer fashion. Now I really enjoy kits and all the fashion that comes with them and I just wanted to touch on some things that I always look at when piecing apart wither or not a kit is "good" or not in my opinion. Now before anything gets started there are a couple things that I will be looking at. I will be looking at the following: identity, colour, sublimation, gradient, the collar and the history of a kit. I will also show some of my favourite kits because, why not!

Identity

The main point of a kit is to distinguish your players from the other team's during a match. Your kit may get the job done for a single match, (you take black and we'll take white), but how does it stack up against every other team in the league. Can people just look at a color pattern or maybe even a section of your kit and know that it is your team. A very good kit is able to have fans just glance at the field or at the television and have them know who playing without having to look up at the score. With a good identity fans are able to identify with a color, or a pattern and just go crazy. You wouldn't walk into Old Trafford (Manchester United's Stadium) and see fans wearing purple or whatever they had on earlier that day. No! You see an ocean of red! In my opinion FC Barcelona has the most unique kit of all, at one glance you can tell who they are and guess what, it is easy to reproduce and you can see it on the television.

Color

That brings me to my next point. You should represent your colors that best identify with your city. I know this may seem weird and probably a bit mental to associate such arbitrary things such as color with a city or area of the world, but I do. So I guess I am mental. But it is a very big thing especially to me, when the club chooses to ignore history and identity when picking a color for a kit. That is a lot of what goes into this Paris Saint-Germain kit. It screams France, with the tricolor look and the vertical stripe that they have had for years, this kit taps into Paris's identity and represents it properly I feel. Also three colors is best. Three with two primary and an accent anything more and it just feels messy.

Gradient

Good

Bad

This is by far my favorite part about kits and living in this period in time. People can do crazy things with clothing now. They can make it change from purple to white and then to yellow in a seamless fade. That is what I will be calling Gradient (example on the left below) This is awesome for workout clothes and things like that, but I have to say I am not a fan of it on a football kit. In my opinion it makes the kit look sloppy and a bit too fake. I am a fan of crisp lines, it is like the kit has made up it's mind on what it wants to do. Like Portugal in the 2014 World Cup, their kit was amazing. It had that fade feel while still looking crisp. Plus you could totally see it on the television! (BONUS)

Sublimation

Now this one is tricky, it is a lot like drinking. With a little bit it is actually kind of fun and cool looking. In fact you might do this again sometime. It adds a bit of culture. But with too much it is kind of gross and messy and I might puke. Now I love sublimation, it provides something so the kit is not too boring and it looks really cool and professional up close. But if you try to make it a key point of the kit, there is a shocker here, you cannot see it from distance or on the television. Here are my thoughts, it has to be done right and tastefully, otherwise just don't bother.

History

Honestly this kit below is my least favorite of the bunch. When you are making a kit, never and I mean never abandon history. It is your identity.You are to not change this unless your are re-branding or sort of moving around to discover your own identity. This can be seen in younger leagues around the world like the MLS. Most teams in MLS are too young to have a very significant history, but if you have one, don't leave it. As to what I mean by moving around, I mean take for example the San Jose Earthquakes and the Impact de Montréal. They share the same color palate (black and blue) I will be interested to see what they do to establish their own identity. I know San Jose recently added red to there palate, so there is a move in the right direction. There is also a key part to adding red, it was their uniform in the days before the MLS. See never let go of that history.

Collar

I am never a big fan of fancy collars on soccer kits. I just looks a bit too old and unkempt. My rule is only put a collar on if it is the lightest color on the kit (or if the entire kit is white make it white). Then if you must accent it, only accent the front, much like the USMNT.