When Major League Soccer and Adidas came under fire for releasing a bunch of white kits that could only be differentiated by subtle accents or team-specific Easter eggs, it was not that long ago. That is no longer the case, with the offerings of 2022, bringing a lot of bold designs and unique identifying features.
Evaluating jerseys is subjective. There is no science in this list, but there are plenty of elements to be graded. Many of the kits tell a story, often taking inspiration from a local landmark. They lend an authenticity to the shirts, something that has not always been the case, and those teams are vocal in calling out those inspirations with an origin story.
That is something that will be judged in the year 2022. Has your club's jersey been inspired by your favorite tourist attraction or local haunt, or has it been given a generic pattern to create the illusion of authenticity?
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Here are all the threads of the 28 team, ranked top to bottom on their beauty, their originality, and their ability to tell the story.
LAFC's club crest and branding was a huge hit when it was revealed. The style that became synonymous with Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s has been returned to by the club. The club that got the soccer world talking is still being shouted at from the rooftops. I could do without the Adidas logo in favor of more traditional locations, but even that works.
Let's put the controversy surrounding the Portland Timbers to one side and focus on the most unique jersey of 2022. The floral print of the Heritage Rose kit is a bold, but beautifully executed, way to pay homage to the Rose City, and the Vapour Pink and Victory Crimson make for a colorful experience within the league. The Portland Thorns revealed a rose shirt of their own in 2020, to great praise. The rest of the soccer community will eventually trod if they haven't already, thanks to a special shout out to the women wearing those shirts for blazing trails.
If you are a fan of Old School, I know what you are thinking. Denver. The thought that counts is that, yes,Luke Wilson was wrong in his assertion that the sunshine state was Colorado, but it was the thought that mattered. The kit from Orlando is gorgeous. The shades of orange, gold and purple seen in the front of the jersey pay homage to the sunrises and sunsets that bring so many to Central Florida.
I fell in love with the kit once I accepted that Atlanta was known as the city in the forest. The Cool Mint chevrons, symbolizing the city's treeline, feel so fresh and clean, and the Deep Green collar and cuffs keep this top from looking like a neon sign outside the Palms.
The revelation of this pink kit still feels like a Finally! moment for Inter Miami, who have only played two seasons. It was better late than never. The Heartbeat kit is clean and has a touch of class and nostalgia that sets it apart from the rest of the league. There is an EKG graphic shaped like a heart running along the sleeve cuffs, which is said to represent the fans being the heartbeat of the club. We could do without that.
There is no arguing with this jersey. The hoop is a hit year after year, the blue looks deeper and more beautiful than ever, and those colors look sharp on the collar and sleeves. I am not mad that this borders on inversing 2021's jersey. The Hoop x This City kit has a story. What makes our city special? This season, we are asking you, and introducing you to the creators of the kit, but no one has answered what makes the city so special or how it is incorporated into the kit.
The Juncta Juvant, the strength in unity, and the city of Cincinnati have been crying out for an orange uniform from the very beginning. There are waves that represent the Ohio River in the chest of the shirt, but they are combined with the club crest to recreate the city flag of Cincinnati. It is bold, crisp and fun.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was the only public building left standing after the Chicago Water Tower, which the club named itself after in remembrance. The intricate detailing of the building's facade can be seen in the pattern running throughout. It is a strong first shirt after the club's rebrand which took inspiration from the city's flag and colors.
For the first time in club history, the Crew didn't have a yellow jersey in 2021, so let's take a moment to appreciate Columbus The MLS original club's original color can speak for itself because it's clean, with no silly graphic gimmicks, and that lack of fuss. I think the Isometric Checkerboard pattern on the front of the shirt is a subtle and smart touch.
I'm going to pretend that the lightning bolt in the kit is inspired by Aladdin Sane, rather than the fans, because David Bowie lived in New York for more than 20 years. City fans, no offense. The subway does run on electricity, so there is an organic thread to tug at here, and it also makes mention of the rumbling and clatter of the city's trains during rush hour. Just about.
The burgundy-and-sky-blue color combo is near the bottom of my list, but the Rapids have successfully told their story for the second straight season. The jagged peaks and cliff faces of the Rockies bring an authentic pop of creativity.
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At the time of writing, D.C. had unveiled its jersey on social media. There is no story the club is telling beyond a video featuring fans dressed in club colors around the District. The ghost stripes are very sharp, breaking up the monotony that can threaten an all-black kit while also allowing the red collar/sleeve trim to pop, but I really wish there was meaning to it all.
According to Sounder at Heart, Seattle's Legacy Green kit takes inspiration from the mosaic tile that covered every section of Lumen Field before the MLS Cup triumph. That is the sort of origin story the club should be telling, rather than a vague notion that the pattern is indicative of the connection between the club's players and its fans. The geometric pattern still feels a little off from a club that was personified by Jimi Hendrix.
The kit works on different levels for me. Since moving from San Jose in 2005, orange has been an in-your-face element of Houston's uniforms, and it's nice to see it take a back seat as an accent to the black and Championship Silver. A plausible visual reflected in the jersey design is the idea that the water flow along the bayous reflected in the moonlight.
The Union will have a stripe on their kit for the first time in over a year. Signal Blue, rather than gold, livens up the jersey and reminds you of the attention-catching away shirts of 2012 through 2014. The stripe is now off-center and over the club crest, which makes for a neater presentation while still being true to Philadelphia's roots. The team says the placement of the crest over the heart of whoever wears the top shows the emotional link to the city and their fans.
The template for Nashville is shared among a few clubs, each with a contrasting color panel running down the sides of the torso. It is hard to not think of every other team that uses that design. NSC have put it to good use, better than anyone else in the league, by printing acoustic waves from the third-year club's logo in a nod to the Music City.
The Sentimiento kit is more than just a green one, it is also a journey. This particular shade of verde is cool. I don't like the origin story, but I do like the color. I might take a picture of Austin's jersey and blend it up with some paint for my bathroom.
The area codes of the Kansas City area are 913 and 816, and they follow the same pattern as the state line that divides the city between Kansas and Missouri. It was a pattern that was central to the club's rebrand in 2010. Beyond the hometown touches, the kit neatly plays Sporting Blue accents off the Dark Indigo base in a way that is subtler and sharper than many of previous years.
The hoops on Dallas red kits have been so abstract, so subtle, and in some cases so absent in recent years, that I had forgotten they were a staple of the team's look following its 2005 rebrand. There is no story beyond the jersey and the movement. I guess? The impression of movement will be given by diagonal patterns. It is a nice looking top that fans should feel good about wearing.
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The Wonderwall has been singing about Minnesota black and blue for all but one of the five years it has been in MLS. This rights are wrong. The Minnesota Night kit has irregular gray pinstriping and the light that fills the North Star State's skies after the sun goes down. Code from the Matrix is what I see.
The Red Bulls state that the 1Ritmo kit brings together and embraces the team's local communities and spotlights the cultures within them. If you think of all those communities and cultures as a patchwork quilt coming together behind one cause, represented by the jersey's checkerboard pattern, it is a beautiful sentiment and a passable origin story. It feels like a missed opportunity that there is no mention of the checkerboard flags that fly each and every game in the South Ward.
I don't know how the Carolina kit represents the bold and progressive philosophy of the club and embodies the pride and passion of Charlotte's community, but I should probably cut the new kids some slack. They have something more tailored than off-the-rack jerseys for both home and away, which hasn't always been the case for expansion teams in MLS. I feel like I accidentally stumbled into a rebroadcast of an NHL Color Rush game when I saw this blue.
Grayscale kits have an appeal and can be striking. Few pull them off. Has silver ever been a Quakes color? It was subtle at some points in the history of the team. The graphic patterns adorning this template's panel running up the sides of the torso is interesting, and I could have gotten behind it being sold as a play off the club's current crest. The story behind this design is that it is inspired by the steel structures of PayPal Park, the street art of San Jose and the tectonic plates on which it sits. It feels like a stretch.
I want to apologize to you. I am always hard on your kits, not without justification, but hard nonetheless. Finding a way to combine claret, cobalt and gold is difficult because they are bold colors. The design team took inspiration from the MLS Cup-winning team of 2009, but the strip running from the torso to the arm is unnecessary and detracts from what could have been a clean shirt.
The front of the home jerseys have a sash on them for the past 10 years. The club notes that the jersey design pays tribute to our history of jerseys over the years, but it does not make sense to remove the sash without an explanation. The City of Dreams kit features quasars on the collar and sleeves, and I am a big fan of them.
The Revs will no longer be the first thing people think of when they think of them, now that they have a new look. New England's new crest confirms that the 90's are long gone, as much as I hate to admit it. We got a Liberty kit that was made out of bars and blocks and was said to be inspired by the Freedom Trail in Boston.
The club and culture, city and community are represented by the split design of Toronto's Community kit. I have a hard time seeing that story in this design. I can see some white-and-silver striping that is magnified by this top, if I look closely at TFC's crest. It would still be mildly disappointing if the club told that story.
Is this the away shirt for the 2020-21 season? The new secondary jersey in Montreal is gray instead of white, but the patterns are the same. The Impact wore a striped design that mimicked the jerseys of AC Milan in 2019. How? Why?
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