As excitement builds for the impending World Cup in Qatar, countries from all over the world have been releasing their new kits for the tournament.

England’s new home and away kit is hot off the press and has received a mixed reaction from fans. The new home kit has been a topic of much debate. Whereas, the general conscious has a positive view on the away kit.

  • Credit: Nike

The kit was officially revealed on the 21st of September and is available for the eye-watering price of £75 per adult shirt. England fans will be hoping that football can come home for a second time this year after the Lionesses’ historic win at the Women’s Euros in the summer. The men’s team will look to build on reaching the semi finals in the last World Cup and recently being runners up at Euro 2020. Will this new kit go down in history as the shirt England wear as the winners of their second World Cup? Only time will tell…

Home Kit

  • Credit: Nike

The striking element on England’s new World Cup home shirt, is the dark blue colour on the shoulders which fades into lighter blue accents on the sleeve. The colours are repeated on the cuffs, which are split in the centre. Additionally, on the shoulders there is a distorted Three Lions graphic.

The use of these colours, in addition to England’s classic white, is surely a nod to the England home shirts of 1992 and 1996. 

The home shirt will be complemented with navy shorts and white socks to complete the kit.

The Nike kit designers had supposedly taken inspiration for the kits from the bold, energetic spirit of the England players. As well as being inspired by the team’s cohesion, togetherness and movement. These inspirations to the design team, brought them to the design of this kit which has a ‘new attitude and new aesthetic.’ 

Away Kit

  • Credit: Nike

England’s new away kit is a return to the iconic all red colour scheme, which was last seen within the 2018 World Cup kit. This kit also carries England’s long standing tradition of having a collared shirt. This kit is accented with the same shades of blue which are used in the home shirt. This can be seen on the embroidered crest and on the collar itself.

The away kit will also have red shorts and red socks which have subtle lion claw mark graphics with no sponsor.

The names and numbers of the players on the back of the shirt will be in the angular font. This is said to be inspired by industrial fonts used by heavy metal rock bands throughout England.

Social Media Reaction

The home kit in particular has started much debate on social media with England fans writing:

“Struggling to think of a worse England kit.”

“This is one of the WORST England home kits from the past 20 years…”

“The less said about the home shirt the better.”

“Did someone actually get paid to come up with that? Terrible.”

“The away shirt is the saving grace of this kit launch”

The response on social media has definitely been mixed but England star Jack Grealish seemed to be ‘having’ the new kits and training range..

Technology

Though the designs have been rightly or wrongly criticised, the new kits have been manufactured with the latest apparel technology. Using Nike’s Dri-FIT, much of the design has been informed by data using motion studies on athletes. Heat maps and sweat maps are even used in the development of the shirt to ensure maximum performance.  

Additionally, these new kits have been marked as England’s most sustainable yet. The total new England collection is manufactured using 75% recycled materials which are the best on the market.

Love it or loathe it, the new England kits are here to stay, but they have certainly caused a stir. Let us know your thoughts on our Twitter page