Okay. Four kits for one team? That is a pretty obscene number of kits. Two of these are pretty unnecessary for footballing reasons but from a business and marketing perspective, they’re smart. Kit collectors will love seeing as many kits as possible come out and enjoy basking in their glorious designs. But those designs aren’t necessarily always on the money.
Nike started crossing over their iconic Air Max sneaker into the football shirt world by producing football shirts inspired by some of the classic trainer designs a few months ago. This is an absolute hybrid of streetwear and football, something which Nike has been boasting doing for a while. The Swoosh dropped a range of third shirts across their teams of Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Liverpool and more, using their streetwear prowess to develop them. However, they have now revealed some ‘fourth’ shirts, again, inspired by the Air Max silo. Despite not being called ‘fourth kits’, it is pretty obvious that they are. Sponsors on the shirt, badge and swoosh in the standard places.
Is a ‘fourth kit’ too much?
A lot of issues arise from this release, in my opinion. First off is the concept of a fourth kit. Does a team need a fourth kit? When does it stop, six kits? This treads the fine line of corporate exploitation of dedicated fans and creative expression across football shirts. It depends on your viewpoint of modern football to construct your opinion on football clubs selling four kits a season. My opinion is that it is unnecessary to have so many kits for sale, especially when not all of them will be worn by the team. An opportunity for the brands of football to cash in on loyalty of fans in order to drive profits.
But there is a counter-argument to the argument made above and it is centred around the difference between a fourth kit and standard merchandise every club sells. Merchandise has been a large part of football for a while with clubs selling random items to drive revenue to invest back into the club. And football shirts fit into that. Another item for a fan to wear with pride representing their club.
I don’t see anything wrong with owning a football shirt from your club but the question that I ask myself is ‘when does it stop?’ A home and away shirt is normal. A third shirt is, more recently, normal. A fourth shirt is a step too far.
Not many fans can afford to pay for four shirts a season, each at around £65 a pop too. And to pay that fee for a shirt that won’t even be worn on the pitch? Madness.
A swing and a miss
It isn’t just the financial and corporate aspect of this new drop that has ruffled me. The execution of the shirts is not very good at all. The Tottenham shirt is a standout poor one, with the colourway being dull and the very bad Air Max logo as the sponsor. I am not a fan at all of the Tottenham shirt or any of the others as of that. Liverpool’s shirt looks like a
baseball shirt finished off with the horrible Swoosh and ‘MAX’ typography combination on the chest.
Another alarming thing from this release is the creative around it. On the surface, the attempt at photographing the kit is lazy and unimaginative. Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Tottenham’s Eric Dier are pictured standing in their kits in front of a white wall whilst posing.
The photos look like they’ve been taken on a low-spec iPhone camera by the nearest person to them. I was enraged when I saw this, claiming laziness and a lack of commitment to creativity. I dived a bit deeper and found out these shots were produced over FaceTime by the photographer after Nike told them to do it this way. Now, one thing you might be thinking is that the lockdown in England has caused them to do it this way but there are many ways around this.
One, get a COVID test prior to the shoot and wear a mask and socially distance when shooting it. Or, Nike gets in touch with the club photographer who is still working to do the shoot with. Instead, the Swoosh opted for shooting over FaceTime and sending out some images that look half-arsed.
This is not an attempt to throw shade at the photographer, however. It is more so a dig at Nike for fumbling it. When looking into the photographers work on this shoot a bit more, the photos they have shared are actually decent for the circumstances they found themselves in. However, when Nike dropped these shirts on their socials with the images, they had an awfully contrasting feel about them compared to the photographers Instagram post.
Two steps backwards
I don’t know what the general consensus around these shirts is.
Will they prove a big hit? Will they get roasted by the fans? My suspicions are that the second question will be answered with a big, fat ‘yes’ by many people reading this and that is purely based on the designs alone.
I think all of these shirts, whether they’re ‘fourth kits’ or just lifestyle t-shirts, are poorly designed and lack imagination. A release put together to secure the bag for Nike, playing on fans’ loyalties to their club whilst tapping into the very popular streetwear icon, the Air Max trainer.
Quite often, I get a ‘one step forward, two steps back’ vibe with the kit industry. We see something innovative, something wonderful. For example, the 2020 Olympic kits Nike released for Nigeria, South Korea and the USA. They came with a commitment to offering bespoke designs. That was a step forward.
But then we see other brands reveal sub-standard kits that miss the target, most of them being templated. And then we see this release. Those are two steps back.
It’s safe to say, I am not a fan of this latest drop. Whether they’re called fourth kits or not, the football shirt scene took an L with this one due to the poor aesthetic, the fumbled creative from Nike and the step backwards. I hope these take a dive, leading to Nike rethinking their strategies although I won’t hold my breath.
Luke is a football culture wunderkid with a love for football shirts and their history. Founder of @theculturedivis and a creative focusing on all things football including photography, writing and design. He sees football as art, so keep your stats and give him a Hatem Ben Arfa silky dribble any day.
