Episode 9: One of us consulted on a kit design!

Welcome to the ninth episode of the Kit Nerd Corner podcast! It’s been too long, friends. Three of us are back: Kristin was probably out walking in the nature. Or starting a commune that Rich isn’t invited to.

We talked about the latest set of MLS releases – spoiler alert: they’re pretty good!

Then we took a bit of a deep dive into the MLS kit design process, because one of us (hint: his name rhymes with Bark) was involved in the design process for his MLS team!

Yes, that is super cool.

Up next, a couple of really nice new shirts made an appearance.

Then we talked about some shirts we bought, including one that will blow your mind!

And we wrapped up with a dig at Toni Kroos, a plea to Adidas, and some fond words for Italian goalkeeper Gianluca Paggggliuca.

And of course, images of all the shirts we talk about are below.

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Episode rundown, with times bolded:

0:00 – INTRODUCTION – Kristin was too busy tearing down the capitalist state. Mark washed his socks. Rich washed socks. Brenton also washed socks just kidding he ran around on a field for 3 hours.

3:25 – MLS KIT RELEASES

7:04 – Whitecaps hoop with red, Montreal has no new shirt, but maybe there’s a good reason for it?
10:38 – Seattle Bruce Lee in red / black / yellow; San Jose diagonal crystals / mountains in black and blue; Real Salt Lake’s golden honeycombs.
20:30 – Colorado light blue shards; Minnesota Northern Lights on white; Nashville’s boring black.
29:09 – Portland disappoints with the ugliest back of a shirt in recent memory.

31:05 – TORONTO FC ONYX KIT REDUX WITH KIT DESIGNER* KIT NERD MARK!
* Consultant

33:03 – The process of this TFC kit design as told by Mark
41:45 – How Adidas rules the MLS kit design process
47:20 – Rich sparks a rant: Mark addresses the haters and we offer him some catharsis;

Brenton: “We are going to try to zip through the rest of this one, gang.”
Gang shakes head, says no.

54:07 – A COUPLE OF LOVELY SHIRTS WE SAW

54:27 – América de Cali’s 44-year anniversary (?) non-playing shirt by Le Coq Sportif
58:00 – San Diego Loyal’s new home and away by Charly; includes the quote “but like the worst part of communism”.

1:03:44 – WE BOUGHT / WON SOME SHIT!

Brenton: Arsenal 2009-10 away by Nike; Arsenal home 2012-13 by Nike, because nostalgia and because he has a crush on Santi Cazorla.
Rich: Japan 2022 World Cup home and away by Adidas, great stuff; Netherlands 2022 World Cup away, okay… ; NETHERLANDS 2022 WORLD CUP HOME KIT?!?!? We thought he hated it!
Mark: Mark won a Torquay United 1993-95 away by Matchwinner!

Note: Matchwinner made some wacky fucking shirts back in the 90s. See some examples below, or just explore them all here:

Football Kit Archive – Matchwinner

1:13:37 – OTHER THINGS THAT CAME UP

Rich waxes lyrical about Italian goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca’s adventures as a kit lover, despite not knowing how to pronounce his name.
Adidas released their ICON series, throwbacks to the mid 90s EQT line, and Rich has a demand / request.
Brenton fights the good fight for the absent Kristin, and excoriates Toni Kroos, who recently stated that he hates collars on soccer shirts. Not cool, Toni.

1:21:53 – OUTRO

Holy shit that was a lot. But at least we finished in time so Rich could go sous vide his dinner.

Intro music: Definition by Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli)

Outro music: Personal Jesus by that man in black, Johnny Cash

See below for images of all the shirts we talk about, and jump on over to twitter to let us know what you think about all our blathering.

The podcast: @KitNerdCorner

Mark: @kitnerdmark

Kristin: @kzknowles

Rich: @teaathalftime

Brenton: @capsoffside

Shirts we discuss in this episode

MLS 2023 releases, all Adidas

Mark’s picks: Seattle away, San Jose home, Real Salt Lake away

Rich’s picks: Colorado away, Nashville away, Minnesota away

Brenton’s pick: Portland home

Toronto FC

Toronto FC’s 2023 home in red, onyx and grey by Adidas and Mark

Some shirts we noticed

Rich brought this lovely América de Cali 1979 anniversary shirt to our attention. Unfortunately it won’t be worn on the pitch.

And Mark loves this San Diego Loyal 2023 home and away set by Charly; below is the stellar 2022 third.

We bought some shirts!

Rich bought Japan’s 2022 World Cup home and away, as well as Netherland’s 2022 World Cup away and … also the home shirt that he hates.

This is likely the end of World Cup shirts for us.

Brenton bought two more Arsenal shirts! The 2009-10 away by Nike, and the 2012-14 home, also by Nike, as modelled by Santi Cazorla.

Mark is a winner. A Matchwinner, that is. He won this Torquay United 1993-95 away, over the protest of two Torquay fans.

Here are more Matchwinner shirts from the 90s. Marvel at them. (Their 80s stuff is more tame.)

Top: Swansea 93-94 away, Greenock Morton 93-94 home and away
Bottom: Bournemouth 93-94 away, Hull 92-32 home, Doncaster Rovers 95-96 away

Kristin doesn’t believe in the capitalist systems that underpin the soccer shirt industry and so didn’t buy any shirts.

Other things we noticed

Italian goalkeeping legend Gianluca Pagliuca wore some really interesting shirts in his career, including a lot that weren’t from the shirt manufacturers his teams wore:

“I Wore a Spurs Kit at Inter”: Legendary Keeper Gianluca Pagliuca Talks Football Shirts

Here he is wearing a Reusch shirt with an Asics logo and Sampdoria crest sewed on, and a Tottenham shirt with Inter crest and sponsor sewed on.