NWSL Jerseys are Better than MLS Jerseys; Now Stock Them Accordingly
NWSL Jerseys are Better than MLS Jerseys; Now Stock Them Accordingly
The women's game has been stealing the men's lunch money for years. You'd think suppliers would figure out how to not sell out of them in one day.
To quote the premier philosopher of our day and age, Kendrick Lamar, I’ve got a bone to pick. NWSL jersey design is light years ahead of MLS. That’s not the bone I’m picking here, I’m just establishing one of the objective truths upon which my argument stands.
The Thorns dropped some absolute heat with these “Dark Rose” jerseys, a sharp look with the black and bright red monochrome crest, but adventurous and covered in club iconography with the all-over rose print. It’s something that almost all soccer kits strive to be: clean, but adventurous and interesting to look at at the same time. They’ll look great on the field. They’ll look great off the field. You’ll look good in them dressed up or down. It’s everything you want out of a jersey, really. The new white kits I don’t like quite as much, for… reasons…
But! I can respect the vision and a team willing to go out on a limb with its shirt designs. And this has become something of an established trend with NWSL clubs. Sorry Grandma, sorry Mom, sorry to everyone who needs to be said sorry to before I say this: NWSL has been fucking MLS’s shit up in the jersey game for a while now. Where MLS kit releases for the past several years has become more a game of finding diamonds in the rough, I now expect excellence from NWSL teams dropping new shirts. That’s what happens when one of your teams drops one of the best jerseys that sports has ever seen. Not best for the NWSL, not best for American soccer, not even best for soccer. The Chicago Red Stars “Elevated” kit is one of the best sports jerseys in history, period. And they didn’t disappoint with the follow-up “Neighborhood” jersey, either.
Many will claim Nike superiority over Adidas, and foam at the mouth about templates, but look, Nike uses templates in NWSL kits, and they’re still better than their Adidas counterparts. The Utah Royals’ yellow kit and Orlando Pride white kit is the same exact kit, and yet they’re still better than half the MLS jerseys out there. That’s not even to hate on the MLS jerseys! I like a bunch of them! The NWSL is just owning MLS. A few USL teams have lapped the top division as well.
Which brings me to the bone that needs picking: why are we still under-stocking jerseys for women’s teams, particularly in men’s sizes?
I like to think some of this is karma for teams only selling deep scoop neck women’s jerseys for men’s teams (“how can you tell it’s for a woman if you can’t see some chest business,” I can hear some CEO in his 60s chortle). But I know it’s not. I know some of it is a marketing ploy for these jerseys to seem both massively-selling and exclusive. I know these pre-order and re-stocks are printed in the numbers they are printed in such a way as to ensure a sell-out in a day or two. And I know that it’s also a product of suppliers and teams alike hedging their bets on just how much a women’s sports product can really sell.
I’m not the first person to point this out, nor am I the smartest or most interesting person to point this out. I suppose I just am tired of it already, and this being my newsletter, I have a right to write about whatever I so choose, and if I’m going to be J. Jonah Jameson berating the Peter Parkers of the world, today it’s going to be about women’s sports jerseys.
You knew the Thorns jersey was going to sell. You already had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to a leak. You know that the Thorns are one of the best-supported women’s soccer teams in the entire world. So stop putting a limit on how many shirts women can sell in the sports world. Because it’s clear your number is too low. And at this point, clubs are losing money that they certainly need just by virtue of sales that cannot be completed.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Speaking of New Kits Dropping
I expect this new Forward Madison drop to be heinously wonderful, and no, I’m not at all hurt that they did not select me as an influencer to which they could send their product (size Large, “Snavely 69” on the back, my birthday is July 13th if any of you want to send me one).
(I’d actually prefer “Snavely 13” but, you know. Branding, and all that)
Trivia O’Clock
Name the only MLS club whose jersey Hugh Jackman has been photographed wearing! (Don’t cheat, this is just funny to me and I want you to be surprised)