I’ll be adding a full page of 10-11 kits as soon as they’re done, but in the meantime I will be posting each PL club’s new kits separately. First, Arsenal…
Arsenal home kit 10-11
Great to see the traditional Arsenal white sleeves returning to this superb Nike shirt. I think they’ve got the jersey bang on (although to be fair it would be pretty difficult to mess up such a timeless design) . Traditional, simple and yet modern at the same tim I love the pretty hefty cuffs as well (cuffs making a big comeback this year!). On inspecting the shirt in JJB, I noticed a very subtle variation in fabric composition – almost resembling shadow stripes. A simple red trim adorns the shorts. The classic 70s kit on which this is based was actually worn with red socks although for this version Nike have stuck with white. It will be interesting to see how the kit looks when a socks clash forces a change.
Arsenal away kit 2010-11
Another strong design from Nike and most Arsenal fans will be glad to see yellow back as their club’s primary away colour. But paired with redcurrant (which has been added to the Arsenal palette since they prepared to leave Highbury) ? I’m not sure – it almost seems to rich a colour combination. The design is elegant though and comprises pinstripes and the same ‘shadow stripe’ fabric as the home. Worn with redcurrant shorts although its first outing in the Premier League this season saw the shirt worn with yellow shorts to avoid a colour clash at Anfield.
The club’s 2009-10 navy blue away kit is retained as a third kit for 2010-11.
I like the home kit, but I can’t help but wonder why Nike pair Arsenal with white socks? Only a couple of home kits have featured the more traditional red socks. Tradition notwithstanding, this kit would look far better balanced with red socks.
The away I quite like; I’ve been quite impressed by Nike’s Arsenal away kit designs, they strike me as being very innovative. The recurrent theme of the redcurrent (it had to be said!) is a winner in my view. It’d be good if this kit becomes the third strip next season, and all of Arsenal’s kits have a two-year lifespan once again.
I just don’t see why the cuff is twice the width of the collar, it really jars with me and makes the kit look odd when close up. Also a shame they didn’t return to red socks.
I think we’re going to see more and more prominent cuffs over the next couple of years (eg England away) with them possibly getting tighter as they were in the 70s/80s. White socks seem to be much more popular with clubs these days – possibly because they are more visible?
I think the home socks would have looked better with red tops as the away ones have the purple. Overall, I like these kits and the away they wore against Liverpool looked rather smart.
Last season’s Manchester City home strip looked quite smart with white socks, but this season’s looks so much smarter with the more traditional sky blue.
Agree with Rich that the white socks should at least have had red tops, although perhaps since the 06-08 strip had these Nike wanted to differentiate?
I’m not sure about the Arsenal away kit, I think, as John says, it’s just too rich. Maybe black or navy blue would have better as the second colour…
On the flip side, the home kit is stunning! And, I’m one who prefers to see the white socks.
I was a little surprised to see Arsenal wearing change shorts at Anfield. I thought the Gunners were against changing their shorts? They never change their home ones, anyway…
On the subject of Arsenal’s new kits. They have a pink goalkeeper kit. I assume it’s the third kit, after the grey first choice – and turquoise second choice.
It just got me thinking, when will they wear this? Surely they can’t wear it when they are wearing their outfield home kit, as red and pink are too similair.
And when they are wearing their outfield yellow and red away kit on their travels, presumably they are doing so because the opposition are in red, and, once again, red and pink are too similair.
Strange…
Here’s a pic, not a very good one, but the best I could find – http://i33.tinypic.com/2nq6q6p.jpg
On the redcurrant, its supposed to be the same colour as was used in the kits before the white sleeves came along, but I belive it has more to do with the corporate colours of Stan Kroenke than the history of Arsenal, as Arsenal played in Garibaldi red before the adoption of white sleeves. I think the adoption of the redcurrant had more to do with the new stakeholder than tradition
http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Arsenal/Arsenal.htm
Personally, redcurrant is a nice colour, but I wish Arsenal would not try to link it to the sides of Herbert Chapman, as that side never played in the colour.
Eric – Arsenal often change when playing away to teams in white, so the pink GK top could be worn then.
Re the shorts change, it was odd as they did not change shorts in either game at Anfield at 2007-08, despite the away kit having redcurrant shorts then too.
Good point, Denis, I never thought of that.
It’s not just teams in white either, come to think of it, they wore their away kit at Molineux last season, when there was not a clash.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/92880130/Getty-Images-Sport
The home shirt is a real classic.
The away is starting to grow on me. When arsenal stated that the kit will be yellow i was wuite hoping for a remake of the 70’s away.
i think the home shirt is great,’Proper Arsenal’ i would say,but why didnt they have red socks? such a shame. as for the away strip,not that keen really, the yellow/blue away kit of 2003 was the best nike have produced.
Both shirts look good on paper but this years Nike kits seem really cheaply made in the flesh. Man Utd’s home kit is so shapeless and baggy necked it looks like a counterfeit.
Kit of the season for me is once again Everton away.
By the way John, any chance of finishing last season before getting carried away with the new stuff. Cheers.
I like both kits and think the wide sleeve trim looks really good. Too thin and I think it makes kits look a bit cheap.
Can’t help but think the away looks more suited to Liverpool and that had the trim been navy it’d be more traditionally Arsenal. Also, hooped socks would have looked great with that home kit.
Sorry Mark!! Will do
What i don’t understand is instead of wearing those hideous yellow shorts why not just “borrow” the blue shorts from the third kit. Otherwise as people say the kit on Sunday just looked like a Villereal home kit or Liverpool/Tottenham away kit
Re: 15. Nick
Surely the navy blue shorts would have jarred with the red currant trim?
Eric, I think the main problem would have been that referees and kitmen like teams to wear contrasting shorts, one dark, one light. It’s not just about the colour.
I agree though, the navy shorts would have looked rubbish with that kit.
terrible home kit especially with white socks. So simple and cheap looking.
Love the yellow design and the red shorts are an excellent touch.
KEEP THESE KITS FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS AND STOP RIPPING OFF THE FANS
White socks are said to be/been proven to be more visiable under floodlight/night games but during day games not sure hence spurs white euro shorts and man u’s white euro socks have good reason to change other than tradition! much prefer londons origanal francise team woolich arsenal in red socks at home but hey who cares im a spurs fan! also remember newcastle changing to white home socks a few years back with poor results in both senses of the word!
Yeah they would but at least they are part of another kit rather than having to actually produce new shorts.
Nick that’s what’s so good about the Umbro Manchester City kits: they make the shorts interchangeable with different kits, avoiding the unecessary production of new shorts.
Although in this case I happen to think that Arsenal looked quite smart in all-yellow. You know what the more I see this yellow kit the more I dig it.
Nice away colours!
Nice one Willie! I think your boys wear them better though
discodave – Spurs wear all white as a nod to Real Madrid and have done so since the sixties. Nothing to do with being more visable. Also Newcasltle switched to white socks during Ruud Gullitt’s reign as it was a superstition of his I believe.
heard the same thing about Uniteds white european socks, cant stand them to be honest,if visibility was so important leeds would be in the premier league and real madrid would be european cup winners!!
So, how long have Manchester United been wearing white socks in Europe? I’ve often wondered that, and since they have been brought up…
By the way, Re: 18. Fred…
You do you know that the fans don’t HAVE to buy the new kits, don’t you?
The “ripping fans off” thing with new football kits always has me laughing…
Yes EricGeneric, we do realise this and often subsequently don’t buy new kits every season!
However, your argument detracts from the fact that releasing two, three new kits each and every season is unecessary.
Apart from anything, kits that have a two-year shelf life often become more iconic, and I’m sure clubs would reap far more goodwill kif they just released kits in alternating years.
If you find it “unecessary” Nick, then that’s fine, but Fred claimed that kits not having a two-year lifespan is “ripping off the fans” – which is just ludicrous. That was the issue I had. It’s the sort of thing you usually read in the letter section of the Daily Mail, or something.
Fans don’t have to buy every kit their club releases, do they?
Maybe, you have a point though, Nick, maybe it’s not necessary for clubs to release a brand new set of three kits each and every season, but, who does really? I mean, just take the kits we are talking about here as example. The third kit is last seasons away kit.
As for “kits that have a two-year shelf life often becoming iconic” – which is a fair point – but, on the flipside, maybe kits that only last for one season have that “place and time” type of thing.
For instance, I’m a Birmingham City supporter, and have been since 1996. Now during my time as a fan, we have changed our home kit every season. So, it’s nice that whenever I see some footage or a photo from a match, I can tell, quite quickly, what season it’s from. Providing, of course, that they are wearing out home kit.
Now, I’m not saying that every kit should only last season, all I’m saying is that I wouldn’t like to see a “every kit must last for two seasons” type of rule – which a lot of posters on this blog seem to want.
Personally, I like the way teams do it these days, with some kits lasting for one season, and some lasting for two.
Here’s a question, for those with a little time on their hands, who were the last team to have a kit lasting for THREE seasons?
To narrow it down, lets just use the current 20 Premier League teams.
I don’t know the answer, by the way – I’m hoping to find out! 😀
Regarding the kit cycle, my team, the uber successful Cov City, have changed both home and away kits every year for pretty much the last decade and I’m happy with this, mainly because I don’t buy any of them and therefore it satisfies my desire to see new designs…On top of this, they’ve released a ‘limited edition’ kit for the last 2 seasons…one for their 125th Anniversary and one to celebrate the World Cup this year…which has to be one of the lamest reasons ever for a one off shirt!
However, this has led to an interesting scenario…it’s pretty difficult to come up with fresh designs every year for something where the colour palette can never really vary too much (away kits can be discounted here as they’re seen as fair game for the anything goes approach). Ergo, we end up in the situation whereby you either get a kit that looks similar to last season or something completely different…and the reverse the following year so CCFC’s kits seem to waver between all sky blue one year and stripes the next, which soon gets rather tiresome and to be honest, incredibly uninspiring. It also leads to the replica kits being sold at half price by christmas!
That said, this year’s Puma effort has added a nice change in the form of horizontal pinstripes and white shorts, giving the whole kit a fresh look.
The one major drawback with changing every year is if a club hits on a great design (i.e. Man City last season), it has so little time to be regarded as such…the irony being the Man City one was clearly based on what is regarded as a classic design from the past…but will any of the 1 season kits ever establish themselves as classics given the short exposure time they get? Unless a particular success can be attached to that kit, will it just become yet another forgotten strip along with all the rest?
On another note, looking back through TC2 the other day, it’s interesting to see clubs who have struggled with their identity to such a degree that there seems to be almost no inconsistency in their home colours whatsoever…Wigan being a prime example…thier kits have only really taken on a consistent feel in the last 15 years…
EricGeneric – to answer your question re the most recent team to have the same kit for three seasons – I do believe it is (perhaps ironically!) Manchester United, who wore the all-white kit with black and red pinhoops in 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06
Thanks for that, Denis.
I actually looked it up on Getty Images, and the kit was actually worn in all three seasons also! Not just retained…
In 03/04, against Liverpool – http://preview.tinyurl.com/2wj6ep4
In 04/05, against Villa (with change shorts) – http://preview.tinyurl.com/3x9hxnz
And, 05/06, against Lille – http://preview.tinyurl.com/38mg2pq
I really like that kit, by the way. 🙂
One more thing, the time stamp on the posts in these blogs are all an hour behind, you know. Always bugged me, that…
Well done Denis! The one I’d found was Liverpool’s white/navy away kit from 01-02. It was also worn officially as a third kit in 02-03 but made one early appearance against Barcelona in the UEFA Cup in 00-01.
Man United started wearing white socks in the 98-99 season in european games,for some reason they started wearing them in home domestic games against newcastle,chelsea and arsenal and a few others,i think nike were producing the strips so from 2003 onwards.They wore them in the sixties too for a few seasons.
sorry it was 97/98 as as part of a ‘european kit’ which lasted 2 seasons.
Ironically, given EricGeneric’s question above, that European kit actually lasted three seasons too, it was also worn in 1999-2000!
I wonder what the last kit worn for four seasons is? Again I can recall a white United kit, worn as the away in 1988-89 and 89-90, being used as an emergency third in 90-91 and 91-92 (even though a special white kit was used for the 1991 ECWC final)
I totally forgot about the Man United Euro kit, yeah that was 1997-2000.
On the four season thing, wasn’t the Manchester United blue and white stripes kit in the 90’s for four years? I’m sure it was something like an away kit for one season, then the third kit for two seasons, and it was then “discontinued” but they had a kit clash against Southampton at The Dell the following season and wore it? I may have got that wrong…
This is the kit I’m talking about – http://bit.ly/aCTjjm
Also, didn’t Tottenham have a kit that last for four years in the early 90s? I’m sure I remember seeing it in True Colours 1 and found it odd because it was like a third kit for two seasons and THEN an away kit for two seasons.
I should just dig out True Colours 1 and check these out, but I moved house recently and I’m not sure where anything is really!
The United blue and white kit was always a third kit, but it was worn in 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97 although it was replaced with a new third kit half way through the season and they were both worn just once that season.
EricGeneric: How many teams release three kits per season?
Off the top of my head; Spurs, Everton, Chelsea and (with the exception of this year) Man City.
Liverpool did it this season Tim.
Eric, re the Spurs kit, I think the one you’re thinking of was the first away kit after they changed to Umbro in 1991, yellow with what looked like birds**t on the shoulder.
It was worn every season from 1991-92 to 1994-95 inclusive, though it was an away first and then a third
Tim, my point wasn’t that clubs never release a new set of three kits, ofcourse they do (look at Liverpool and Spurs this season) – I meant, it’s not something clubs do each and every single season.
To be fair, haven’t Liverpool and Spurs changed sponsor? The usual thing is to have a set of new kits, isn’t it?
You have included Everton on the list, who I’m sure have only released a new home and (pink and navy blue) away kit.
Also, Man City have retained last season’s third kit (white with a black and red sash). And, didn’t Man City also have a home kit that lasted for two seasons not that long ago?
But if you look at the list, Man United and Arsenal have also retained a kit from last season. So have Bolton and Blackburn.
Also, a lot of teams didn’t even have the option of retaining a kit because they changed kit manufacturer. Quite a few have – Newcastle, Birmingham, Wigan, West Ham, and I think Wolves.
Chelsea do seem to change all three kits each season, I’ll give you that.
So, it’s not like all 20 Premier League teams have released a set of three new kits. Not even close.
Oh, and yeah, i dug out True Colours 1 and I hold my hands up – I was wrong about the Tottenham and Man United kits in the 90s.
EricGeneric: I didn’t mention Liverpool as although they released three kits this season, they usually bring out a new away and third every year and a new home every other year. Their home kit is always retained for two seasons.
I mentioned Everton and Spurs sepcifically because they have released three new kits every season for several years. Everton have done so since 2002 (26 kits in 8 years – with another third kit expected soon) and Spurs have done so since 2004 (22 kits in 6 years – including a fourth kit in the 2007/08 season).
United have changed sponsors twice in the last four seasons and on each occasion the away kit has been retained as a third kit with only the sponsor’s logo changed. It’s not really a justification for changing a whole strip.
City’s last two year home kit was in 2004-06. They’ve had three new kits every year since at least 2007-08, although you are right, this year they kept the third kit.
I’m not saying all teams bring out three new kits every season – most bring out two, but the ones I mentioned have a policy of producing three new kits per season. Several lower league teams do the same. I think it is totally unnecessary and often results in some appalling designs – City’s orange third kit from 2007/08 for example. It also appears to be becoming more common for clubs to do this as others have paved the way.
re: 39 Dennis Hurley, it was definitely described as “Ice Effect” in the catalogue not Birdsh!t
Lol !
Red socks v Blackburn yesterday, looked nicer in my opinion though I don’t mind the white either
Arsenal’s new home kit is a welcome return to the classic Arsenal look, after that horror show they had for the last two seasons. The only bit of the shirt I’m not keen on are the oversized cuffs. I think red socks would have been better to really evoke the memories of the double winning ’71 team. The away is quite a smart kit, though a Gooner mate reckons the redcurrant should be swapped for blue. He’s a bit of a traditionalist so I can see where he is coming from.
If Arsenal want to be trully tradional maybe they’d care to return to Woolwich!
i just bought two pairs of previous season’s arsenal shirts from ebay (the blue away and the white 3rd shirt), and i just realise that there is a small “registered” mark next to the badge (the capital R in a circle). Ive checked my other arsenal shirts, and couldnt find any of them with the “registered” mark. Have i been cheated here?
many thanks for ur help guys
Funnily Arsenal didnt play in all yellow today vs leyton orient who wear all red like Liverpool but, they did do against Liverpool earlier this season.
That was the first thing that crossed my mind when I watched the game David
Where can i get arsenals red socks they wore against birmingham??