U.S. Soccer unveils new blue-heavy away jerseys
The firecracker popsicle top is licked. The away kit worn by the U.S. national teams during 2014 has melted away, giving life to a new away design full of gradient colors dominated by blue.
During this, the year of the Women’s World Cup, the USWNT will don the new duds first in the Algarve Cup in Portugal, starting on March 4. The men will wear the kit for the first time on March 25 in a friendly against Denmark.
Nike
Both times we’ll see a new kit that has a gradient graphic on the entire front and back of the shirt. The graphic starts in white at the shoulders and blends with a series of “light rays,” as Nike creators call it, before intensifying to deep blue by the hem. Along each side of the jersey a wide white strips extends to the shorts.
The V-neck collar features a red triangle insert at the front to include all three of the nation’s colors in the kit. Inside the back of the neck is a pennant tab with 13 red and white stripes and the names and numbers on the jersey appear in a custom-designed angular font.
The new dark blue shorts include a white stripe to match with the shirt’s stripe.
Nike
The men and women’s kit differs in the socks. The men will wear a dark blue sock without a gradient design while the women will opt for a sock mimicking the jersey top, dark blue gradients with a wide stripe of chevrons on the calf at the back.
Nike
There’s one other key differentiating factor between the men’s and women’s uniforms: The women’s top features two white stars above the team’s crest to signify World Cup wins in 1991 and 1999.
Tim Newcomb covers stadiums, design and gear for Sports Illustrated. Follow him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb.
