Every season the debate comes up – which Premier League team has the best (and worst) football kit? With a total of 60 kits between the 20 teams, this is a topic that many football fans have an opinion on.
Inspired by London Fashion Week, we set out to answer the question for the 22/23 season. We weighed up the data from Football Kit Archive, along with insight from Ryan Brockbank at The Fashion Retail Academy. Here’s what we learned.
The People’s Choice: Which Kit Do Football Fans Love The Most?
Arsenal features twice on the top 5 list with their away kit (rated 4.4/5) and their home kit (rated 4.1/5). Newcomers Nottingham Forest come in second place with their third kit (rated 4.2/5). The Crystal Palace third kit featured in the third place (Rated 4.2/5) making it the second kit Macron manufactured in this lineup. Adidas got featured three times with the third being the Manchester United Away Kit (rated 4.1/5) which ranked at number 5.
The People’s Choice: Which Kit Do Football Fans Hate The Most?
People seem to dislike yellow with both the Wolves home kit (rated 2.7/5) and the Everton third kit (rated 2.6/5) ranking in the bottom 5. Everton also have their away kit (rated 2.5/5) in the bottom 5, which makes them the only team with two kits in the bottom 5. Unlike the white Manchester United away kit, Newcastle’s white third kit (rated 2.4/5) has not been as well received. In last place, we have Tottenham’s away kit (rated 1.9/5) which takes the title of Most Hated Kit Of The Season.
The Critic’s Choice: Which Premier League Kit is The Most Fashionable?
We asked our fashion expert to rank his top 5 kits so we can compare them to the public’s most loved kits. These were the results.
In the first place, fashion expert Ryan Brockbank ranked Arsenal’s home kit, unlike the public that preferred the black third kit. He highlighted the kit’s great collar and the classic shoulder 3 stripes which gives it a retro feel.
In second place he opted for Manchester United’s home kit rather than the public’s choice of white away kit. He said: ‘This kit has a great collar with woven tipping which makes it stand out and gives it a retro kit feel.’
For the third to fifth places the public and our fashion expert went very different routes. Brockbank went for Aston Villa’s away kit, Leicester City’s home kit and Nottingham Forest’s no sponsor home kit. This shows that while the public enjoyed the crazy patterns on the Arsenal Away Kit and Nottingham Forest’s third kit, when it comes to fashion, nothing beats a simple kit.
The Critic’s Choice: Which Premier League Kit is The Most Unfashionable?
We asked our fashion expert to rank his worst 5 kits so we can compare them to the public’s most hated kits. These were the results
The only kit to appear on both the public’s list as well as our fashion expert’s list was the Tottenham away kit. Our fashion expert Ryan Brockbank said “The kit just does not work. The colours do not blend well together and the central crest design looks odd with the sponsor.”
In last place Brockbank placed the Liverpool home kit which he described as “too simple”.
He also said “ It could be just a red t-shirt. It needs at least a contrast trim on the collar and cuffs to make it stand out.” Comparing it to the Manchester United home kit you can see exactly what he means.
Adding details could also backfire as with the West Ham Home Kit. Brockbank said: “The new details spoiled the kit. The classic umbro strip across the sleeve would have made it much better.”
In 54th & 56th place we find the complete opposite of simple with the Brentford Third Kit described by Brockbank as “a Jackson Pollock print” and the Southampton away kit described as “not wearable anywhere outside of the house”. This shows the importance of taking risks with kits, but also maintaining harmony with the design.
Methodology
Ticket Compare gathered all the premier league kits from the official Premier League website and then asked our expert Ryan Brockbank from Fashion Retail Academy to comment on each of the lineups and rank the top 5 best and worst kits. We also asked him to explain his decisions from a fashion perspective.
We got the general public data from the Football Kit Archive where hundreds of people vote for each kit out of 5.
Our Fashion Expert’s Bio: Ryan Brockbank
Ryan graduated from Brighton University in 2017 and was voted one of the best 25 collections of graduate fashion week.
He went on to work at the Brighton and London Tailor Gresham Blake, and then Nicholas Oakwell, whilst freelancing for Anthony Symonds.
During this time, he had my own menswear label, Tailored Casuals, a fusion of classic menswear tailoring and classic football aesthetic.
He moved into the education sector a few years ago and is now the Programme Manager for Fashion Design at the Fashion Retail Academy.
