As part of the team’s open practice Tuesday, Orlando City unveiled its new away kits. The white jerseys from last year have been replaced with a newer version, essentially adding only purple sleeves and a collar to the away kits.
The new jerseys have been met with mild criticism but generally fans seem to like them. They are reminiscent of the jerseys from the final year the team played in USL-PRO with the purple jersey with white sleeves.
Orlando City also promoted the holographic crest logo on the chest by the shoulder.
It is a simple, clean look that gets the job done.
Orlando City unveils new road uniforms during open practice https://t.co/MKK8AwGnv8 pic.twitter.com/m7H9W5OeSg
— Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) February 10, 2016
The only criticism has been the addition of the fake collar, something that is not on the home purple jerseys that remained unchanged for the 2016 season. For Orlando City, it could be a lot worse as some of the new jerseys unveiled ahead of the MLS season got a lot of head scratching and gawking.
Sports Illustrated though is among those that likes Orlando City’s new look. They call the new uniforms just about perfect — they would like to see the purple socks worn on the road and the white socks worn at home:
Purple is the defining feature of Orlando City’s brand, but the club blew it during its expansion season by rolling out a plain white away kit that looked too much like all the others. Now there’s progress in the form of purple sleeves, which add a welcome bit of color and make the new secondary uniform one that only Orlando could wear. The crest features a “3D” lion. The monochromatic home set stays the same. Swap the socks–white at home and purple on the road–and City would be close to perfect.
Orlando City’s purple look is unique and continues to be the defining marker for the Lions. They are probably not changing that any time soon, although some might want the team to get rid of the in-lain horizontal stripes.
Overall it is a good look and continues the generally positive marketing plans Orlando City has implemented in its second year in MLS.
