In 1913, the United States of America Foot Ball association was born. A full century later, the governing body now known as the United States Soccer Federation is celebrating a huge anniversary and Nike is outfitting them with a classy new kit.
The new kit, in a word, is clean. It is heavily inspired by the kit worn in the United States' first match, a 3-2 win against Sweden, in 1916. It borrows many design cues from the 1913 original (worn in the 1916 Sweden match), shown below, but has been updated with plenty of modern flair.
The body is very white but features gorgeous navy blue accents on the sleeves and the v-neck collar. The stars and stripes are represented lower down as clever little triangular inserts near the hips. On the inside of the neck, supporters will find this year's special-edition centennial US Soccer crest.
Then, there's the main talking point: the new (old) crest. It's bigger, it's retro, and hot damn, it looks good. If you've been on Twitter, you will likely have seen the cries from fans asking USSF to replace the current flying ball badge with this beauty. The new crest is larger than previous versions (a throwback to the 1913 original again) and features 13 stripes and 13 stars, a detail found on the original and obviously referencing the 13 colonies.
Like other Nike kits of this generation, the shorts are made of 100% recycled polyester (the shirts use a minimum of 96% recycled polyester) with each kit recycling 13 plastic bottles in the process. They also use Nike's Dri-FIT tech to wick moisture away from the players' bodies with the construction being 23% lighter than previous years while maintaining a stronger knit.
It will be worn by both the men's and women's teams (with Clint Dempsey and Alex Morgan modeling, below) and features white shorts with blue trim as well white sock socks with blue trim.
The new kit is, in short, lovely. It's clean, classy, and sharp while paying respect to US internationals of years past.
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