2017 Jersey Thread

Your Choice for the 2017 Primary Jersey Neckline...

  • A

    Votes: 10 12.3%
  • B

    Votes: 17 21.0%
  • C

    Votes: 10 12.3%
  • D

    Votes: 44 54.3%

  • Total voters
    81
The others were copied clones of Man City, so I was always underwhelmed. At last some originality in our shirt. For that, I'm thankful.

The black away and hypno were both originals. Only the home borrows from man city. And it's because it's hard not to look exactly alike when you use the same base color for the shirt itself. Unless we change our primary color or add leilanikali420 's favorite lace trim, there will always be a similar man city version of our home. But to be fair, our home also looks like SKC and a number of other teams who share our colors. So to summarize, I have no clue where you're coming from if you say all our kits are man city.
 
The black away and hypno were both originals. Only the home borrows from man city. And it's because it's hard not to look exactly alike when you use the same base color for the shirt itself. Unless we change our primary color or add leilanikali420 's favorite lace trim, there will always be a similar man city version of our home. But to be fair, our home also looks like SKC and a number of other teams who share our colors. So to summarize, I have no clue where you're coming from if you say all our kits are man city.
I'm about 85% with you, especially with regard to the away kits, but a couple of points based on comparing the CFG kits to SKC or others with a similar blue color palette.

1. SKC, or Vancouver, and many others with similar colors, usually have some pattern or design breaking up the solid blue. As a result I couldn't see confusing an SKC kit with ours except from a 1,000 foot distance. OTOH, we don't just share the same color blue with MC, we share a commitment -- usually -- to a solid sea of that color flatly rendered across the entire shirt, with maybe tiny accents on the edges like the bit of white at the collar MC had recently or the thin strip of orange at the end of our sleeves this year. MC actually broke the pattern this year with those fully grey sleeves (thanks Nike) which finally makes it easy to tell us from them so there's that. But back in November 2014 when they had that first kit reveal for us what disappointed me was the complete copy of plain, flat blue across the entire shirt. I had hoped for any variant in design, pattern, gradience of color, anything. Let's be cousins in the same family, or even siblings, but not twins.

2. The sponsor. Some people seem to ignore it because it's a sponsor and therefore doesn't count, but it is the largest and most prominently placed design element on the front of every shirt. And we have the same sponsor as MC. I know why, and I'm not expecting it ever to change, but if we had the exact same shirt and different sponsors it would look less like an MC clone, simply because the biggest thing on it is different. It dwarfs the team badges which is technically the true and singular difference. But it's hard to tell one from another from only a 100 foot or even 50 foot distance given their size. But the important thing this means is that the mutual sponsor situation makes other potential design differences more important.

But I'm completely with you in agreeing that our secondary kits have been completely our own.
 
The black away and hypno were both originals. Only the home borrows from man city. And it's because it's hard not to look exactly alike when you use the same base color for the shirt itself. Unless we change our primary color or add leilanikali420 's favorite lace trim, there will always be a similar man city version of our home. But to be fair, our home also looks like SKC and a number of other teams who share our colors. So to summarize, I have no clue where you're coming from if you say all our kits are man city.
The Black was original and fine considering how many sports teams feel they need a black jersey. The hypno was original and had nothing to do with the club - it was different for the sake of being different - and overall compared to the gambit of jerseys, it was a sucky farce.

I agree whole-hardheartedly with Acupofbeans, northernburbs, Tom in Fairfield CT , and Rimil that our primary jerseys are direct Adidas copies of Nike shirts. Your argument of "how different can they be with the same color scheme" is a fair one..... my retort would be the CFG braintrust should have had an ounce of smarts and realized that while the clubs may be under the same umbrella, the respective supporters want their own identity and do not want to seem like clones.

For me, the branding of our team was the first fckup CFG committed, followed by All-things Kreis, Lampard, the Stadium, the academy roll-out, our circumspect scouting, etc.
 
I'm about 85% with you, especially with regard to the away kits, but a couple of points based on comparing the CFG kits to SKC or others with a similar blue color palette.

1. SKC, or Vancouver, and many others with similar colors, usually have some pattern or design breaking up the solid blue. As a result I couldn't see confusing an SKC kit with ours except from a 1,000 foot distance. OTOH, we don't just share the same color blue with MC, we share a commitment -- usually -- to a solid sea of that color flatly rendered across the entire shirt, with maybe tiny accents on the edges like the bit of white at the collar MC had recently or the thin strip of orange at the end of our sleeves this year. MC actually broke the pattern this year with those fully grey sleeves (thanks Nike) which finally makes it easy to tell us from them so there's that. But back in November 2014 when they had that first kit reveal for us what disappointed me was the complete copy of plain, flat blue across the entire shirt. I had hoped for any variant in design, pattern, gradience of color, anything. Let's be cousins in the same family, or even siblings, but not twins.

2. The sponsor. Some people seem to ignore it because it's a sponsor and therefore doesn't count, but it is the largest and most prominently placed design element on the front of every shirt. And we have the same sponsor as MC. I know why, and I'm not expecting it ever to change, but if we had the exact same shirt and different sponsors it would look less like an MC clone, simply because the biggest thing on it is different. It dwarfs the team badges which is technically the true and singular difference. But it's hard to tell one from another from only a 100 foot or even 50 foot distance given their size. But the important thing this means is that the mutual sponsor situation makes other potential design differences more important.

But I'm completely with you in agreeing that our secondary kits have been completely our own.

I walked into a deli once wearing our home kit. Some guy pointed to it and said "Man City!" Long story short - this guy (who lives in the area, and is clearly somewhat of a soccer fan) now knows that NYCFC exists, and it's (probably) largely because the shirt I was wearing was so similar to Man City's.

So there's that.
 
I walked into a deli once wearing our home kit. Some guy pointed to it and said "Man City!" Long story short - this guy (who lives in the area, and is clearly somewhat of a soccer fan) now knows that NYCFC exists, and it's (probably) largely because the shirt I was wearing was so similar to Man City's.

So there's that.
More than balanced by all the people who see our shirt and never get corrected from thinking it's Man City. If they see a kit they didn't recognize and care about soccer they're more likely to inquire than if they assume it's MC.

But I'm gonna withdraw. I gave up on the kit wars long ago and don't want to let myself slip back in.
 
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ok, 2017 home kit dropped . . . check.

so that means with a 2-year cycle, we'll get a new away kit for 2018 . . . let the speculation begin!
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My feelings (FWTAW) about our jerseys can be summarized as follows:

The season 1 clone home jersey was a big blunder and a teaching moment.

Our new season 3 home jersey suggests that CFG learned something from the original blunder by making sure to incorporate some NYC touches (albeit minor), with the orange, flag, etc. The family brand remains important and it was improbable that our second home jersey would move too far beyond the vast sea (or sky) of blue. I personally don't love it, but I think that it is a reasonable design, all things considered. As we get older, we will hopefully move further away from the clone.

Our two away jerseys suggest that the strategy is to overcompensate for the home jersey baby steps. This, so far, has resulted in two objectively different/bizarre designs inviting a very wide range of opinions. I would avoid love-it-or-hate-it designs and prefer something that accomplishes different, without going for shocking, like the orange hoops design many of us seem to love. Some restraint is key.
 
More than balanced by all the people who see our shirt and never get corrected from thinking it's Man City. If they see a kit they didn't recognize and care about soccer they're more likely to inquire than if they assume it's MC.

Bt I'm gonna withdraw. I gave up on the kit wars long ago and don't want to let myself slip back in.

Nah I totally get that, and agree. Just pointing out another side of it that I witnessed firsthand. I do want us to have our own kits, and I think this year's, as much as it is still so similar, is the first step in that direction. Hopefully each iteration will gradually add differences until we're left with something to call our own.
 
Man. I can't believe that we are three years on and people are still complaining about how similar our branding is to Man City's. What exactly did you expect?

I think having a jersey that sort of reflects Man City is WELL worth the resources that CFG offers us. We are able to bring people in like Viera as coach. Our guys get to go to England and train at one of the best soccer facilities on earth. We are tapped into a global scouting network. CFG has set us up for great success in MLS in a way that other teams dream of. And people whine about our blue shirts. Get over it.
 
The Melbourne fans get a unique jersey - but they lucked into it because of a league technicality. I believe it was Falastur that discussed it, but I don't remember the story.
yeah but the latest update was that they will switch to the sky blue home kit next year as Sydney FC's protest was shot down. I expect they will retain the red change/away kit as a tie to their history as Melbourne Heart
 
yeah but the latest update was that they will switch to the sky blue home kit next year as Sydney FC's protest was shot down. I expect they will retain the red change/away kit as a tie to their history as Melbourne Heart
I hope so. Their alternate this year is beautiful.
 
Man. I can't believe that we are three years on and people are still complaining about how similar our branding is to Man City's. What exactly did you expect?
Here's my answer to your question, and my example can just as easily be The Coca-cola company, but I'm choosing to use whiskey.

Take a look at the Brand Johnnie Walker. They are a single umbrella that has a plethora of distinctly different products underneath them: Red, Black, Double-Black, Green, Swing, Gold, Platinum, Blue.

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Each is different and has its own identity while still subscribing to the JW Brand. The size and shape of every bottle is different (Swing is a radical departure based on trans-Atlantic ship travel - 3rd jersey?) and the color schemes are different. But when you see one bottle, you know it's part of a bigger story.

This is what CFG has missed, and it's a novice mistake. Their brand identity team, whether in-house or out-sourced, has completely missed the mark by not evaluating the products rigorously enough, and that has led to a homogeneous product - they took the easy way out.
 
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Each is different and has its own identity while still subscribing to the JW Brand. .
I'm going to have to disagree there. JW shapes the bottle and label to represent the brand. That way if you see any of these bottles on their own, you immediately think JW before anything else. That is the entire point of branding...

But we better change the subject or else NYCFC_Dan is going to come in and yell at us :)
 
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