It isn’t unusual for Football kits to tap into the bizarre and consult some strange sources for inspiration, and sometimes these unconventional approaches even work out.
A Football strip is prime real estate for creative freedom and unique artistic choices, which makes the run-of-the-mill designs we see these days all the more ironic.
Fortunately, some clubs still swing for the fences with their kits and allow for displays of unconventional ideas.
For instance, here’s MLS side Philadelphia Union’s latest efforts with Adidas, which ended up reminding fans online of a beloved animated sitcom.
Created by German sportswear brand Adidas, the kit itself is the team’s away strip for the upcoming MLS season, it follows their recently released home kit.
For the primary threads, Union and Adidas opted to stick with last season’s iteration: a sleek blend of navy, light blue and golden accents.
The sublime design worked and both parties clearly don’t feel the need to introduce any changes.
Nevertheless, the away kit has been reworked, with a specific theme guiding the design.
The secondary strip has been named the ‘For Philly Kit’, and it gathers inspiration from The U’s 2019 MLS Cup playoffs run.
It was a memorable year for the Union as it marked the club’s first postseason win, the team were even backed up by the emphatic motto of ‘Philly or Nothing’.
Inspired by the camouflage look the club wore that season, 2023 away kit utilizes a tan shade and light blue to recreate the essence of its predecessor.
It features black-coloured logos and accents which contrast well with the 2 lighter shades.
The graphic present on the base has an almost hand-drawn quality to it, featuring edges that closely resemble pencil scribbles.
The whole design radiates a very cartoon-like vibe, and it even had fans online drawing comparisons to a classic cartoon sitcom.
After taking a look at the design, many fans felt that it looked very similar to the clouds from ‘The Simpsons’.
The idea behind the skyscapes from the TV show is a pretty standard, blue background with tan-shaded clouds, and the kit seems to share that primary concept.
While it’s unlikely that the kit was designed with The Simpsons in mind, the end result certainly looks pretty close to the skies above Springfield.
Despite the odd discovery, fans seemed to dig the kit overall, although they certainly couldn’t help but call it the ‘Simpson’s shirt’.
