31 May 2007

I can has away kits



So, I know these have been leaked for a while, but Liverpool officially launched their new away kit today. I've seen a lot of complaining about it, and I have to say, I don't get it. The red things on the top don't really bother me -- and really, has everyone already forgotten we're coming off of a season in which this monstrosity was the away kit? White isn't the most exciting color, I guess, but I'm a traditionalist when it comes to these sort of things, and yellow/orange/whatever flatters no one. My soccer team had orange jerseys this spring, and I absolutely hated them. (When you have red hair, wearing orange makes you look like a pumpkin. It's true.) So white, even with some little red squiggles, is fine with me. And I almost always approve of black shorts.

However. In that link to the order page, you know why Pepe's out of focus? Because that keeper kit is among the fugliest things I have ever seen. It's running this beauty a close second as the ugliest keeper kit ever, I think. Like, I understand that Adidas' new thing seems to be throwing red onto random places on the kits. But the stripes on the sleeves don't have to be red. Really. And if you feel compelled to insert those weird little white half-sleeves so you're not putting red on green, maybe that should be your tip-off that the stripes shouldn't be red. With all-green sleeves and white stripes, this would probably have been okay. But as it is, I agree with Footie Girl that this makes him look like "one of Santa's elves." Ugh. And with white shorts? Ew.

In other news, Tevez to Liverpool? Yes please.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A simple white shirt would have been classy. Those red arches on the shoulders a joke. It looks like a training top.

Thanks to adidas for saving me money, b/c now I don't have to buy this or the European kit.

An utter travesty.

Amanda said...

scott: I've heard other people make the training kit comment, and it honestly confuses me a little. Why does having those make it a training kit? And in terms of the third kit, I've always liked black kits, and it's better than the half-white half-green of last season (that was used all of five times, I think). I guess it all comes down to taste, but these don't really bother me.

Anonymous said...

I certainly agree about the green & white kit this season.

Hated it. (/Men on Film voice)

Training kits tend to be rather ugly with all sorts of needless color and designs splashed all over them.

Simply put, I depise the fancy shirts with the odd shapes and designs all over. For that very reason, I LOVED our past two home kits (especially the new adidas red).

Why can't we have a full assortment of clean and simple or retro-looking kits?

Away: White shirt, red three stripes down the sleeves, red Carlsberg logo and if they feel the need to splash more color, red collar, sleeve pipping and maybe something running under the armpit to the waist.

3rd: Black shirt. Same look, but they can use either red or white to augment it.

Instant classics. Plus, they'd move a lot of merchandise.

My favorite shirt now (outside of the home kit) is the retro adidas shirt I got from Eurosport: red, white three stripes, old school Liverpool crest and old school adidas emblem on either chest.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and +1 for the CHEEZBURGER reference.

badgerdaddy said...

Scott, I can answer the why-not-do-a-simple-kit question, my girlfriend answered it for me. I was wearing my Chelsea centenary shirt for the FA Cup final, and she - being a fashion designer - pointed out how incredibly complex the seams are in it, notably on the shoulders; then it dawned on me, making them so means they are all but impossible to copy, other than in ways which makes them look like a copy immediately. S'true - take the complexity out of the shoulders and it looks nothing like the actual shirt. The only way to copy that look is by printing it onto a white shirt, so forgeries are much more apparent.

And the fewer comments about my owning a Chelsea centenary shirt, the better...