Fulham’s away kit design has attracted plenty of discontent from the fans.
The Cottagers released their away kit on August 1, leaving almost every fan dumbfounded regarding the choice of colors.
Away from Craven Cottage this season, Marco Silva’s men will sport an all-pink kit.
Apart from the shirt, the shorts and socks are in the same shade too, with black piping and the iconic Adidas stripes also in black.
The same shade of pink, referred to as shock pink on the club’s official website, covered the London side’s badge as well.
Most of the responses to an image of the away jersey being sported by Harry Wilson, Joao Palhinha, and Kenny Tete wondered if this kit was inspired by the film Barbie.
The joke associated with the picture is that Wilson, with his platinum blonde hair, looks like Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, while there is a Ken nearby in Netherlands international Tete.
That train of thought led the fans to nickname their club Barbie FC.
Barbie was released theatrically in the United States on July 21 and actress Margot Robbie, who played the eponymous character, happens to be a big Fulham fan just like her husband.
It was the most anticipated release of the summer according to IMDb users and has gone on to become a phenomenon ever since.
Positive responses to the away kit have been few and far between, with the design said to be derivative as it resembled Peterborough United’s away kit made by Puma for the 2020-21 season.
A few lamented the choice to not time the kit release with the film Barbie as the club missed out on the marketing opportunity of a lifetime.
The strongest response was the prediction that the Cottagers would be battling relegation this campaign.
There might be something to that as most of Fulham’s players will see their current contracts expire either next summer or the following one.
Talismanic forward Aleksandar Mitrovic was priced out of a move to Saudi Arabia and did not train for a while with the squad.
Manager Silva’s future was also uncertain at one point of time during the summer but that has since been resolved.
Only time will tell if Fulham are successful at retaining their Premier League status at the end of the season and if the new kit brings them any success.
