MLS – Football Kit Geek

Time for Issue Number 9 of The Heat Press – a brief roundup of news in the Kit World and Kit Community, to catch up on Issue 8 click here

The Headlines

Torres’ Barcelona Shirt
PSG x Jordan?
Huddersfield Town – Colourblindness Support
MLS Kit Launches

Torres’ Barcelona Shirt

In the Europa League tie between FC Barcelona and SSC Napoli on Thursday 17th February 2022, there was a rare kit detail that kicked up enough fuss that it was even trending on Twitter. Ferran Torres making his first appearence in Europe for the Club took to the field in a long sleeved shirt that had no club crest or Nike logo on the shirt…

According to @fcbarcelonacollection.com this was due to an manufacting error…

“Many of you wrote to me yesterday about Ferran Torres’ shirt & why there is no crest of Barça and the swoosh of Nike on it.
I share hypothetical reasons why did happen. Now I can confirm it again with more information.
As I wrote last night & the radio cope confirm it.

The shirt at the time of production was in the phase of applying the crest and the Nike swoosh, unfortunately the glue that the shirt had applied, was not apply correctly on the fabric and the both elements peeled off easily & were not noticed

The shirt did not pass full quality control at the Nike factory. Someone who is responsible for control has allowed human error to happen. Easily done?

Nike sends sports equipment to the club two times during the season + add orders. The kitman and staff missed the error. They realized it on the pitch after HT. The player himself did not even notice that error.

F. Torres changed shirts at half-time. Many players do this because of the sweaty from first half and other reasons. Ferran had two long-sleeved shirts match prepared and one short sleeve. Two long-sleeved shirts for each half of the game. Short sleeve shirt was exchanged

Apparently the Club and technical staff didn’t feel good about this failure and the they going to take action to avoid the same things in the future“

The full thread can be found here – @fcbarcelonacollection.com

PSG x Jordan

The release of the 2021/22 4th Kit for PSG this month may be the last of its kind as part of the Nike Air Jordan Brand. It is reported that the deal with Jordan has ended and this kit will be the last of its kind seen, however the details are vague and this could be just opening the door to other teams seeing something similar.

However, given the success of the tie up I am sure we will something something similar in future seasons and likely with more than just PSG sporting the brand.

The Kit was used for the first time in the League game against Rennes and is the same design (template?) as the current home kit and heavily influenced by basketball uniform designs.

Huddersfield Town – Colourblindness Support

Communication is the key and this was proved by Huddersfield Town on 8th February when they let their fans (and of course all Kit Fans) that they would be in a “Kit Mash Up” for their game against Preston North End to support those fans with colour vison deficiency.

Their look for the night combined their away shirt with their home shorts and socks to give a descintive look and provide a contraist to their hosts.

MLS Kit Launches

With MLS kicking off it’s 2022 season at the end of February this week has seen many of the teams launch their new kits for the season. Historically MLS teams launch one new kit per season keeping either their home or away kits from the previous season. I will be doing a more in depth look at kits in the coming weeks but wanted to call out some of the new kits we have seen released this week

LA Galaxy – Home Kit

Philadelphia Union – Home Kit

New York Red Bulls – Away

As mentioned, I will be doing a more of deep dive into MLS Kits once all kits are launched, so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks.

And Finally….

Whats happening in the Kit Community.

I like to end each issue with some of the “going ons” within the Kit Community.

Tom at @TheShirtUnion has been putting the shirt updates in the last week or so, these updates are fantastic in keeping an eye on current shirt deals for English teams.

Championship Kits can be found here – Championship

League One can found here – League One

A wonderful collection of Cambridge United shirts was shared by @jamesdking76 from 1991 to 1993

Is Football Kit Wordle a thing… well I have given it go, here is my attempt at one… any kits you can create in this theme??

Let me know your thoughts and comments and if there is any content that you would like me to share in future issues, please message me and let me know the details or use the comments field below or contact me over on @Kit_Geek on Twitter

Happy New Year to you all….

Time to start the New Year with Issue 3 of The Heat Press, a brief roundup of news in the Kit World and Kit Community, to catch up on Issue 2 click here

The Headlines

Wrexham 3rd Kit
Teams leaving Kappa
Everton Rainbow warm up shirt update
Inter Miami colour change

Wrexham 3rd Kit

Wrexham AFC have released their 3rd kit which will be used in both 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons, the kit uses the traditional white / green / red welsh colours and is made from recycled polyester yarn with each adult shirt made from 13 plastic bottles and will be worn with white shorts and socks to give an all white alternative look.

Teams leaving Kappa

It is being reported that three top league teams will be moving away from Kappa from this summer, signing new kit deals with other manufacturers. The teams are Aston Villa who have reportly signed a new deal with Castore, Real Betis who will be moving to Hummel and FC Lorient who will equipped by Umbro from next season. These changes will mean there is currently no team in Premier League or La Liga with the iconic Kappa brand.

Full details can be found at Footy Headlines here

Everton – Rainbow Warm up shirt

The special edition warm up shirt which was produced by Hummel for both Everton and Southampton in their opening game of the 2021/22 season. The proceeds from the Everton shirt sales has raised just under £12.5K for Everton’s LGBTI+ charity and awareness workshops, the shirts popularity meant it was sold out within 20 minutes of being on sale online.

Full details on the story can be found here

Inter Miami in the Pink

The details of the new MLS kits should be released by the end of the month, one piece of confirmed news is that Inter Miami will changing the home kit colour from white which was used in their first two seasons, to pink.

Pink has been used as an accent colour in both home and away kits for 2020 and 2021 but will be the primary colour from 2022.

And Finally….

Whats happening in the Kit Community.

I like to end each issue with some of the “going ons” within the Kit Community.

There are some great kit logs out there this season, @ArsenalShirt and @VictoriaGooner are logging Arsenal’s kits this season, @BeesShirts for Brentford and @BatisCreativo for Atletico Madrid are some of my favourites.

I wanted to call out this midseason update from @BeesShirts as its fantatic and right up my Kit Geek Street.

There was a great thread from @Flying_Scotty which shows a collection of shirts worn by David Beckham through out his career, really worth spending a few minutes going through the thread.

Thread can be found here

Another wonderful podcast from Chris at Kitbliss, this time interviewing the equally wonderful Denis Hurley from Museum of Jerseys

Podcast details can be found here – https://www.kitbliss.co.nz/podcast/episode-special-02.html

And a final thank you to Luke at @KonceptKitz who sent me this fantastic concept shirt he designed, The “Fox in the Box” go check out Luke’s work on his Twitter Page, he has also seen some of his worked used on the pitch with Crewe Alexandra, Balham FC and Motorik FC Alexandria.