On Wednesday, February 12, 2020, Reno launched their new kits for the 2020 season. These are the fourth set of kits to come from the team. Again, the kits are made by Adidas. There has only been one season when the team had a third jersey. That jersey was gold and blue. While I would like to see more jerseys come from the team I doubt that they will. I truly think that these jerseys are all that we will have for the 2020 season.
Dark Kit
In all four seasons, Reno has had a blue jersey as their dark jersey. In the past three seasons, the jersey has been blue with white highlights. This year the team has decided to add gold to the jersey. The jersey is primarily blue. It has a yellow pattern in the top left behind the crest. The jersey has three white stripes on the shoulders. The caller is yellow and white. The bottom of the sleeves are yellow and white. The Adidas logo and kit sponsor logo are white. The shorts and socks are blue with white stripes. I have not seen this kit with names or numbers yet so I don’t know what color they will be in I assume they will be in white.
The gold on the current jerseys isn’t like the gold the team has used in the past. Specifically, the gold color on the jerseys is not the gold color found in the logo. The gold color found in the team logo has more orange in it while the gold on the jerseys is more of a bright yellow. The colors of the jersey are the most obvious issue I have with the jersey. I think its poor design to have the stripes and Adidas logo white and to have two different shades of gold/yellow on the jersey. This could be more acceptable if the jersey was colored that way because of the kit sponsor. That’s not the case. If that was the case then why have the crest in different colors.
The San Jose Earthquakes did a good job with similar colors but they used those colors because of the sponsor.
Another issue I have with this jersey is the yellow pattern. I think it’s too dominant in the design because of the abundance of negative space in the design created by the blue. I think it could have looked a lot better if the pattern was in a darker shade of blue similar to the last two year’s blue jerseys. I think a jersey that had no pattern with turned all of the white elements into gold would have worked much better. I do like that they are continuing to have blue primary jerseys. I do like that they kept it simple with the shorts and socks.
Light Kit
Three out of four years Reno 1868 FC has had a better light kit than a dark kit. In the first season, Reno’s light kit was grey and white. In their second season, Reno had one of the best jersey designs ever with a blue and white kit that had a mountain pattern on the jersey. Last season Reno shocked everyone with a black and white jersey. They are going to continue to have a black and white kit for the 2020 season. They started to do the black and white jersey (as far as I’m aware) because of the kit sponsor. This year’s light jersey is cut from the same template as the 2018 Ajax FC away jersey. The kit is primarily white. The shoulders are black with a black stripe below the neck. The Reno 1868 FC crest is in black and white. The Adidas and kit sponsor logos are in black. The shorts are white with black stripes. The socks are only white.
I like this jersey. I like it a lot. When I saw last year’s white jersey for the first time it was love at first sight. I have always loved the Ajax FC jersey that shares the same template. While I do love this jersey, I cannot say that it is an improvement on last year’s design. I don’t think it needed to be. I think that if it did it might sell better or be received more positively. They could have done something as if they had black shorts. Something small like that could have helped separate it from last season’s kit. I also think the socks shouldn’t be all white. It creates a lot of negative space with both the shorts and socks being white.
Final Thoughts
I don’t think Reno 1868 FC should be using Adidas as their kit sponsor. Adidas is my favorite brand. I have a lot of Adidas stuff. Part one of why I think they should change is because Adidas isn’t paying the team to use Adidas. This means that the team is losing out on possible revenue. So instead of making money and having the uniforms supplied for free, the team and kit sponsor is paying for everything. Part two of why I think they should change is because the team doesn’t have as much creative control as they could. For example, the team is using Adidas templates when they could be designing a jersey that is unique to Reno.
Soccer kit manufactures:
- Nike
- New Balance
- Puma
- Umbro
- Errea
- Hummel
- Romai
- BLK
- Diadora
- Wooter Apparel
- High Five
- Inaria
- Joma
- Under Armour
- Champion
- Reebok
- Fila
- Mizuno
- Warrior
- Xara
- Uhlsport
I think soccer teams should branch out to have more jerseys similar to the NBA. For example, Reno could have a blue and white kit as their home kit. A white and blue kit as their away kit. A gold and blue kit as their alternate kit. A city flag color kit as their city (culture collection) jersey. A white and black kit as a retro kit. Grey or silver jerseys for the silver state cup. Nevada flag color jerseys for the donner pass derby. Specialty variations for when the team plays scrimmages (like Liga MX teams). Different kits for preseason. Specialty jerseys could be worn during warm-ups like in the NHL. My point is they have a lot of options that they are not exercising.
The last thing I want to say is what do you think? Am I being crazy? Do you like the new jerseys? What direction do you think the team should go in?
Zac Electrifly 