Its surprising how many new season kits have been launched already. Here are just four – more to follow over the next month or two in the build up to 09-10.
Chelsea Home Kit 09-10
One of the first big launches just prior to the end of the season this adidas strip has caused some controversy – primarily to its supposed similarity to a sports bra! The jersey, which actually closely resembles a tight fitting cycling top, does indeed have an innovative combination of fabrics around the chest area are designed to enhance freedom of movement. It also creates a nice clear space for the sponsor logo. Other features of the top include a fake zip effect by the collar and interrupted three-stripe trim on each sleeve. The shorts are similar to last season’s with the adidas logo appearing on the back only. Personally, I love this kit. Like the Umbro England kit it redfines the whole concept of a football shirt.
Aston Villa Away Kit 09-10
Another strong but simple conceptual design from Nike. The shirt commemorates the record-breaking 67 Villa players who have had the honour of playing for England – hence the borrowing of the familiar (until this season!) English colour scheme of white shirts and navy shorts. The whole idea is brought together under the banner of “When a Nation Calls” and is promoted by its very own Nike-powered micro-site www.whenthenationcalls.com. The shirt has a superb, elegant design with a half white/half grey fabric adorned with pinstripes. I would have liked to have seen some claret on the shorts as well though. Children’s hospice Acorns remain the club’s shirt “sponsor”.
Everton Home Kit 09-10
Everton have recently signed a new kit deal with Le Coq Sportif – their apparel suppliers during the club’s 80s heyday. To mark the fact and to commemorate the fantastic Everton side of the time that included the likes of Andy Gray, Kevin Ratcliffe and Graeme Sharp) a close facsimile of the design worn then has been reinvented for 09-10. The most notable retro design element is of course the unique Le Coq Sportif crew neck/white ‘v’ combo that dominates the shirt design. I like retro influenced shirts but somehow this is just too close to the original for me. Having said that, the more I see it the more it grows on me. Its certainly a massive move-on from the club’s past few kits from Umbro who seemed to be struggling to make each design different from the previous one.
Sunderland Home Kit 09-10
Nice and simple from Umbro here for the Black Cats. Gone are the increasingly fiddly and complex adornments that decorated Umbro’s recent kits and instead a good old fashioned wrapover crew neck tops off a strong rendering of the club’s red and white stripes. The shirt has drawn some attention due to the large club crest watermark that sits behind the embroidered badge on the left breast. Its a brave move from Umbro and certainly makes the design distinctive but I’m not sure of the thinking behind it. Maybe it is just to make the design distinctive! Black socks also make a return with this strip.
Looking at Umbro’s 09-10 kits so far, it appears that they have two clearly separate ranges of designs for next season; the tailored kits, with new diamond logo, and a regular range with the recent ‘stretched’ logo. Can anyone confirm this?
I had an email from Tottenham today they will unveil all 3 new strips on 25 June, The tagline for the launch is “Glory comes in 3 colours” and it looks like Navy away kit and a yellow 3rd strip.
I’m loving the kits released so far…maybe it’s the 80s theme, maybe it’s just the simplicity of a lot of them. Either way, I think the Villa away kit is great and as for the Everton kit; clearly a love or hate one…and I’m definitely the former.
I quite like the new ‘armour-plating’ on the Adidas kits. Kinda odd, but distinctive!
The Aston Villa looks quite good from what I’ve seen of it, despite the lack of claret anywhere.
I’m also with you on the Everton kit. It’s a nice nod in the direction of the original, but it needs something else to give it an original touch. It’s all very well doing retro kits, but you can’t just duplicate what went before.
I’ve seen the aforementioned Spurs kits for 09/10, the home kit is awful in my opinion – not so much for Puma’s new design which incorporates some kind of stylised “V” but for the overkill use of bright yellow, which just doesn’t look right with white.
Navy would have been much better in all honesty!
I’m still unsure about that Everton kit, the white “V” on the front is way too big to the point where it almost resembles a baby’s bib! Still at least it isn’t like Le Coq Sportif’s other famous kit for Everton from the 85/86 season and feature a white yoke (an inclusion which angered a lot of Toffees fans).
Still think Chelsea’s kit from last season was much better than this “cyclist’s top” effort. Still, think Villa’s new away kit is a quality strip, and Sunderland’s is pretty good too, better than last season’s.
Andrew, Jon these are the Tottenham kits you are talking about, they have already been leaked…
Awesome kit designs you have made here John, makes the Chelsea and Everton shirts look much better than they are in real life.
Hmmm…what’s with the yellow on the Spurs kit? Just plain odd. Wonder what made them choose yellow, given that most of the time, there’s usually a very specific reason for each part of a kit design. Unless it was a friday afternoon and someone knocked over the yellow paint…
As for that 85/86 Everton kit, I quite liked that, though that was the year I got into football so I have a certain nostalgia for kits from that era.
Thanks Rodney, its quite a compliment to say I made the Chelsea and Everton kits look better! I’m waiting for the Spurs kit to be officially launched before posting here – from what I’ve seen of the leaked pics its certainly different!
The 85-86 Everton kit? I still shudder at the thought…
I was talking to my cousin, a staunch Bluenose, about past Everton shirts and he said the 85/86 was the one he hated the most all because of the white yoke. I asked him what he thought of the new shirt and he said he won’t be buying it (he has every home shirt since the 86/87 season)… that’s saying something!
Meanwhile across Stanley Park I saw the new Liverpool away shirt in the flesh yesterday, the only question I have to ask is…… oh not yet another team with a black away kit? I preferred the grey one from last season to be honest.
As you know I have a problem with black kits – there’s just too many around and I think the whole concept has gone a bit stale. Other colours should also get a look in…
As for the Liverpool kit, I think the combination of red and gold lifts the design a bit above the norm. But, after seeing people wearing it down here in darkest Kent I have to say the colour looks more of a dark grey and black to me. It might be the red and gold creating a bit of an optical illusion but it definitely doesn’t look black to me.
I loved black kits when they firsy came out as they were so original…but nowadays it seems to be a fallback when inspiration’s run dry. Last season’s grey kit, while clearly a copy of the late 80s one, was at least something new in recent history ans it’s a shame to see it replaced by something so mundane. Coventry seem to favour the black away kit a lot…and speaking of Coventry, their 09-10 home kit is incredibly yamnsome…once again they’ve slipped into the year pattern of light blue stripes followed by all sky blue with dark blue trim. That said, does anyone care what Cov wear except me? 😉
I always struggled a bit with Coventry’s 00s kits – was it navy blue or black? I’d like to see them for for a two tone sky blue kit for a change.
The trim on the home kit was always navy and the away kits were black…Frankly, Cov have disappointed in the 00s, especially the latter half where the only half decent ones were the sky blue n white stripes. I did like the 03/04 one, though that was not a traditional one, featuring a lot of navy, but it was at least something different. Puma have played safe again this year, but navy is playing a larger part again. Still, my favourite Coventry kit of all time has to be the Hummel one alluded to earlier, even though it always looked more lilac than sky blue in photos.
I’ll always associate that kit with the FA Cup defeat at Sutton
THAT NEVER HAPPENED!!!! 😉 Good point though…It also graced our Simod Cup semi final defeat…good times!
Hey everyone, if you need a laugh find a picture of Newcastle’s new away kit, its laughable and woeful!
NO! That’s a joke surely????? Honestly that’s horrendous!
Fantastic isn’t it!! Right up there with the Coventry brown.
Gone down like a fart in a lift up in the north east by all accounts.
Im a Toon fan and I laughed at that shirt, for the reason that otherwise I would have cried. Without doubt the worst away kit we have ever had, I mean, just look at it…….if you can without being sick. Just who is going to buy it, its just awful beyond belief. What the hell are adidas playing at?
I just can’t quite believe it…someone at adidas is a mackem
What’s matter with everyone. I’ve just been onto the Newcastle website to see what all the fuss is about and its awesome. Most original kit colour scheme for years and Newcastle’s best away kit since 96/97.
We are talking about the same kit aren’t we? The yellow and white? 😉 Don’t quite know what it is, but something about it just makes me laugh…Just can’t picture the toon fans wearing it…
That’s the one. Retro touch harking back to the old yellow away kits, yet different with the white stripes. I can’t ever recall another yellow and white striped kit. – genius.
It’s not yellow and white though, it’s more like bright yellow and very pale yellow.
Re yellow and white, Dortmund had a kit like this a few years ago
I’ve just posted a pic of the NUFC kit on a new blog entry – full review coming soon – I’m just trying to choose my words!!
So it is Denis…Cov had an away kit with those colours in the 80s…and I quite liked that…but it just still doesn’t seem to fit NUFC.
Mark, how long ago did they have a yellow away kit? Can’t remember one in the last decade or so?
They always had yellow away kits the 1970’s to well into the 90’s with the exception of the two silver atrocities in the early 80’s.
Ah…missed the early 80s and had forgotten the yellow / green combos from the late 80s / early 90s…they weren’t exactly nice looking either.
Newcastle away – makes me think of Cheese Strings. Am unable to summon laughter however, as I am still recovering from Spurs’ unveiling of the worst home kit ever. At least NU have confined the dodgy yellow to their away kit…. 🙁
And what about Chelsea’s cunning new away kit in, er, dark blue? How on earth does that help with colour clashes? A decent enough kit but functionally useless.
As a toon fan, it pains me to say this, but the Mackems have a really good shirt this year, and the crest detail I think is a new design feature for a few umbro kits. Glentorans new all black shirt (the cock n’ hens have a tradition of all black kits) has the same sort of design on the crest as the Black Cats shirt
http://playingfortheshirt.net/page70_2009_2010_away.html
That is such a nice kit
As an Arsenal fan, it es surprising that I usually like Chelsea (adidas) kits. However this new one is AWFUL. I think adidas got the new design totally wrong, which features on the Chelsea home, Bayern Munich home, Liverpool third, and Russia home (which could be a wonderful kit had it used a better design). I do like the other style of adidas kits for this season though – the one featured in the Liverpool away and Ajax away, to name a few.
Thanks for your comments Charlie, seems I’m in the minority for liking the Chelsea kit. Might have been interesting to see the template in different colourways throught the league.