Top 5 New Kits in MLS This Year

NYCFC just dropped their new away kits for the 2022 season. The “Volt Kit” is a deviation from the previous colorways that earned them the nickname of “the boys in blue”, and features bright orange from head to toe with a striking dark-blue lightning bolt down the left of the torso.

The kit seems to have divided the fanbase a bit, with some seemingly suggesting that the bright orange is simply “too much”. But, others seem to be taking to the new jersey well, with some affectionately naming it the “bowie” kit, for the lightning bolt’s striking resemblance to the iconic face paint of late rock legend, David Bowie.

But, with each club releasing a new kit every season, where does NYCFC’s new kit rank among the rest of MLS? Find out in my extremely subjective ranking of the top 5 new MLS kits below:

5. La Galaxy:

"The City of Dreams” kit is a clean classic that would look good both on and off the field. The stars on the collar remind me of the palm trees that line the backdrop of Dignity Health Sports Park, but they probably could also represent the ridiculous number of MLS cups won by the original LA club. Not a lot to complain about with this kit, and its enough to land a spot in the top 5 for me.

4. LAFC

Next I have LAFC’s “5 Year Anniversary” kit, which was news to me as I can’t believe they’ve been in the league for 5 years now. It would almost be enough to just say, “Kellyn Acosta looks like a goddamn stud in this kit” But, if I had to offer some technical analysis, I’d say something like, “I'm fond of how they went bold with centered adidas logo and crest, and I think the patterned inlay is cool without being too distracting.” With all that said, I think it’s pretty much impossible to make a kit look bad when your colors are black and gold - that combo is just undefeated.

3. NYCFC

To keep a half-hearted sense of journalistic integrity, I didn’t put NYCFC’s new kit in 1st place. And I think that’s probably fair, but I still genuinely think this is a top 5 new kit in MLS this season. I think this especially when you look at it as a full kit, and not just as the top. The full orange from head to toe is striking, yet clean. It’s exciting, but not over-complicated. Where I think this kit fails is in the off-the-field aspect. While I think Talles Magno is going to look unreal in this kit on the pitch, I think I’d look goofy as hell wearing this around New York with a pair of jeans and some Converse. So, 3rd place feels like a nice happy medium for our new 2022 away kit.

2. Montreal

Unlike the rest of the clubs on this list, I didn’t really expect Montreal to come out with an a super exciting kit this year, but here we are. “Club de foot” dropped an absolute banger with their “Secondaire” kit. The blue veins running up and down the matte white top looks really, really nice. My only complaint is that this is literally the same kit that Arsenal wore last season, but in blue instead of red. But, who cares honestly? The blue looks better anyway.

1. Portland

I mean damn. The “Heritage Rose” kit representing the Rose City is just unreal. Easily the most head turning and unique kit I’ve seen in years in MLS. I also think this kit has what NYCFC’s lacks - wearability off the field. I can see people much cooler than me rocking this kit on a night out looking awesome. A huge part of why this kit looks great, in my opinion, is because they got the kit sponsor to adopt the color scheme of the rest of the kit, something that many kits are unable to do. This allows such a one-of-a-kind kit to avoid being soiled by some random brand that has nothing to do with the football club, which is pretty cool. So, Portland can take the crown of best new kit in MLS, but I think we, as NYCFC fans, are all just as happy to take home the prize of MLS CUP Champions, right?