Football Features

    Hit or miss? Every new Premier League kit for 2022/23 released so far

    By Ben Green

    Published: 15:20, 8 July 2022 | Updated: 9:05, 19 December 2022

    The Premier League season concluded in dramatic fashion, but thoughts have already turned to 2022/23.

    The dust has still barely settled from the climatic epilogue, and already fans are eager to know who will be lining up for them next season — and in what.

    Yes, it’s that time of the year again, where new Premier League kits are getting released left, right and centre.

    Some threads are announced to much fanfare, while others provoke derision from football fashionistas worldwide.

    Below is our own two cents on the Premier League’s latest garms (so far).

    Arsenal

    Just three days after Arsenal lost to Newcastle and all but conceded Champions League football to eternal rivals Tottenham, the club released their slick new design for 2022/23, possibly hoping to gloss over the turmoil from Tyneside. Top four. What top four? Check out our new threads for next season. The Europa League badge should complement Arsenal’s ‘Visit Rwanda’ emblem on the opposing sleeve nicely.

    “Unmistakably Arsenal”, is the slogan on the Gunners’ website promoting the shirt, and it’s hard to argue with that — a club badge and the traditional colours tend to do that. In fairness to Adidas, this is a solid take, finding the right balance between modern and old-school. The retro collar offers a throwback without spilling into 92/93 away kit territory with an overzealous splatter effect. Think more Ian Wright 96/97.

    Verdict: Hit

    You can purchase Arsenal’s new home kit for the 2022/23 season through Fanatics Store, who are offering a range of shirts for the upcoming Premier League campaign

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    Aston Villa

    Aston Villa have kept it very simple in terms of shirt design, sticking with their famous claret base with some blue on the sleeves. The variation this year is that there are two thin lines of blue on the side and faint Vs (or chevrons if you want to be posh) across the front and you know what, it’s doing something for us. When you stay true to your roots it can be tough to come up with an exciting design but Villa may have done it.

    Verdict: Hit (just)

    Bournemouth

    Bournemouth are back in the big time and they’ve gone for a funky twist on their red shirt with black stripes. According to the club’s website, the design is “inspired by and reflective of the club’s architectural stadium pillars” while also giving a “nod to the past in the style of the iconic kits from the early nineties”. But for us, there’s something just not working. It could be the faded, reversed zig zags underneath the main zig zags that scream 2005 PowerPoint presentation. Sorry.

    Verdict: Miss

    Brentford

    Look familiar? Well it should, as Brentford are set to wear their exact same kit from 2021/22 next season. There really isn’t anything to write home about with this kit. It kind of just exists, without evoking any form of dewy-eyed nostalgia, or emotive response. A classic striped kit so synonymous with English football jerseys, Brentford’s shirt would be a hit were it not for the shirt sponsor dominating too much of the front. A three-tiered logo was never going to sit well in these fashion rating systems. Cue a proverbial wag of the finger.

    I would like to take this opportunity to commend Brentford on prioritising fans over ‘the brand’ by retaining their shirt, but from a purely aesthetics stance (which this article is), it is just a little bit meh.

    Verdict: Miss (on the look)

    Brighton

    Brighton brought Fatboy Slim (AKA Norman Cook) out for the unveiling of this new kit which is sadly not our Weapon of Choice. To the designer of this one, we’re hard pushed to Praise You, because the white stripes are far too big. That said, it does have a nice yellow outline that stops it being a total mess.

    Verdict: Miss

    Chelsea

    Before we start, let’s just say there is something about a football shirt with a button that just works (for some of us at least). There is absolutely no need for a football shirt to have a button but that’s what makes it so good when they do have one. But, Chelsea’s button is ruined by the fact that it is attached to that collar. Sure, there’s a good story behind the colour, referencing a change made by Ted Drake — a man intertwined with Chelsea history — to the club’s badge introducing the ‘lion rampant regardant’ but you can barely see that it’s parts of a lion on a collar. And the colour…

    Verdict: Miss

    Crystal Palace

    A kit that is guaranteed to divide opinion, so already I’m hooked, though it’s not the pitchfork I’m reaching for, but rather my proverbial cap to doff this design. Some may argue it looks like a five-year attempting a colouring book, inevitably straying over the guided lines, but for me this finds the perfect balance between daring and sleek. It’s weirdly therapeutic to look at and I’m a huge fan of the matching collar and sleeve.

    Verdict: Hit

    Everton

    Everton’s home kit last season was ruined by the four chevrons on the shoulders and arms, a design synonymous with Hummel. That has been cut down to two on each arm and it’s not too bad. The main story behind the kit is the pattern across the shirt of Prince Rupert’s Tower, the central element of the Everton crest. According to the release, the pattern and white flashes on the side and neck will create an “eye-catching visual that is further enhanced when seen under floodlights at Goodison Park” to celebration the stadium’s atmosphere. We’ll have to wait and see for that, but it’s a nice effort.

    Verdict: Hit

    Leicester City

    Not for me this one. The oversized collar looks too comical, almost fancy dress, and I’m really not sure what they’re attempting with the badge. The classic logo is exactly that, a classic, whereas the now all mouldy gold colour scheme just looks like a rusty sheriff’s badge from a distance.

    Verdict: Miss

    Liverpool

    Some may argue it looks more like a training top than the home kit of Liverpool, but this no-nonsense shirt has the hallmarks of a classic. There are no experimental colours like Nike’s debut 2020/21 kit with a daring green trim, nor any ‘progressive’ patterns like Manchester United’s zebra design a few years back. The darker crimson hue is a subtle yet welcomed touch. Crisp, clean and simple. What’s not to like?

    Verdict: Hit

    You can purchase Liverpool’s new home kit for the 2022/23 season through Fanatics Store, who are offering a range of shirts for the upcoming Premier League campaign

    Manchester City

    Contrary to my point about Liverpool’s experimental green trim, the burgundy hue on Man City’s home kit for next season pays exquisite homage to Colin Bell. The City immortal strutted his stuff in the 60s and 70s when the club donned that famous claret colour scheme on their socks; think reverse West Ham.

    In a fitting tribute to the club legend, Puma have moved the burgundy upstairs and made it the central theme of their home jersey. Of course, this being Puma, they had to ‘think outside the box’ once again and have moved the City emblem into the centre of the shirt (and their own insignia) — they didn’t learn from the 2021/22’s disaster-class third kit scandal.

    Still, the “Colin the King” inscription inside the top adds another level of class to complete a kit that by and large passes the eye test.

    Verdict: Hit

    You can purchase Man City’s new home kit for the 2022/23 season through Fanatics Store, who are offering a range of shirts for the upcoming Premier League campaign

    Manchester United

    Hmm. Man Utd have had a handful of iconic kits with a polo collar on it, and that was the main point of the promotional videos. Everyone remembers, or has seen footage of, Eric Cantona playing for Man Utd with his collar turned up – and Dwight Yorke was known for it too. And a polo collar can look lovely on a football kit, but Man Utd have ruined theirs with the geometric design which apparently references the “symbolic ‘M’ detail” seen on Man Utd’s third kit from last season and the snowflake jersey of 1990-92.

    As their tweet said, it’s just the collar.

    Verdict: Miss

    Newcastle

    I’m honestly torn here. On the one hand, it’s a massive improvement on last season’s grandad collar, evoking memories of Alan Shearer in the late 90s…

    …on the other hand the shirt sponsor design is pretty tragic.

    Clean look, a marked improvement from 2021/22 and an excellent touch matching the collar with the sleeve hem.

    Overall this just about goes down as a hit. Just.

    Verdict: Hit

    Nottingham Forest

    It’s red. That’s pretty much all you need to say about the Nottingham Forest kit. There is some design on the sleeves and sides but they only really come out when the shirt is viewed at an angle – far too subtle to take away from the nothingness of the front. We can’t believe we’re saying this, but this shirt needs a sponsor to fill the space. Then it might be a hit.

    Verdict: Miss

    Southampton

    Bold is brave. That was the tagline for Southampton’s kit release and they were definitely brave to see if they could get away with stealing Ajax’s shirt. This shirt doesn’t feel very Southampton, moving away from the red with white stripes to a predominantly white kit. It’d work as an away kit (and probably should be considering what Southampton actually have as their change strip) but it’s not home.

    Verdict: Miss

    Tottenham

    Genuinely can’t work out if Spurs have bought out a new kit here or just pulled a 2019/20 shirt from the stockroom for Ivan Perisic to try on for size.

    Neat but painstakingly unimaginative.

    Verdict: Miss

    West Ham

    ‘Made for massive moments’. We’re not off to a good start here are we? The West Ham PR team really are going to suck that buzzword bone dry, aren’t they?

    As for the important stuff. I’m not so sure about this kit. On a first glance it’s daringly experimental with the sleeves, almost like someone thought about going down the nostalgia route before giving up halfway — and we’re now left with this sort of ‘is it modern, is it early 90s?’ hybrid.

    I could have perhaps let it slide as it’s a tribute to the great Billy Bonds, and that ‘BAC’ shirt from the club’s promotion-winning campaign in 1993 was a bit naughty, but then I went on the website and saw that they’ve not gone with white shorts.

    For me, a classic West Ham kit has always had white shorts, otherwise it just looks a bit ‘Scunthorpy’. Are you Burnley in disguise??!

    Verdict: Miss

    Wolves

    An improved collar from last season and a less prominent shirt sponsor on the front, but the sleeve sponsor pretty much cancels that out. It’s hard to find any major flaws in this design, which may be a flaw in itself, with Castore very much going down the ‘play-it-safe’ route.

    Verdict: Miss

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