Nike went the artistic route, quite literally, with the kits for the United States women’s national team for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
While much of the US slept, Nike revealed the new looks for the 13 federations under its umbrella. The schedule ran until Monday afternoon on the Australia/New Zealand tournament site afternoon.
The USWNT home kits feature blue-on-white paint splatters and are reportedly inspired by the Abstract Expressionism movement in the art world, which Nike says “started in 1940s New York and changed the epicenter art from Europe to the US, similar to what the US team has done for women’s soccer”.
The catch to these uniforms is that the paint method will cause each uniform to feature a unique dot pattern, intended to “highlight the energy of the USWNT and how diverse players and personalities they are.”
The shirts, accented with gold and the years of the country’s World Cup victories inside the collar, will be paired with blue shorts and white socks, and will debut on April 8 during the first of a two-game series against Ireland in Austin. Texas.
Meanwhile, the away uniform, which will also be worn by the USMNT, follows a different route with a blue abstract stripe pattern, a star-and-stripe print on the sleeve cuffs, and a neckline with red dots that look like spikes. of the stars It will be combined with blue pants and blue socks.
All kits will feature the usual smartwear technology Nike likes to ride and will be made from 100% recycled polyester from recycled plastic bottles, while the crests will come from manufacturing waste and recycled shoes.
The complete USA collection will be available for sale June 5 on Nike.com and the US Soccer store, with an early access window of April 3-12.
Did Nike get it right with the USWNT uniforms?
Nike had one major thing going for it when it began designing these uniforms: It couldn’t get much worse than the USMNT kits at the 2022 World Cup.
Those kits were basically dead on arrival, with the white home kit in particular somehow being awkward and terribly boring. They were widely ridiculed on social media, and even by some of the USMNT players. Hating USA kits has been something of a tradition, but 2022 took things to another level.
So when you think about it, paint splatters aren’t so bad. You can make all the Jackson Pollock jokes you want, but the upshot of these t-shirts is that they’ll likely appear as perfectly harmless white t-shirts from a distance and get more interesting the closer you get.
It’s basically everything you could want from a USWNT kit when the design has to change every few years.