Crystal Palace and Puma’s kits for the 2020-21 season have provided a real breath of fresh air.
The red and blue stripes on a pure white background bring to mind a tube of toothpaste, but it wasn’t so much “three in one protection” as 3-1 to Palace on Saturday afternoon in Manchester.
Roy Hodgson’s men soundly beat Manchester United 3-1 at an empty Old Trafford courtesy of Andros Townsend and a brace from Wilfried Zaha.
The win gave us all a chance to smile at a set of shirts that rumour has it, were based on a supporter’s concept kits so admired by the Selhurst Park hierarchy, they asked Puma to reproduce the design.
Coming up with ways to keep striped shirts fresh and exciting each season is a real challenge for designers and on first inspection, we weren’t exactly sold on these.
Perhaps, as with many kits over the past couple of years, the inclusion of another online gaming logo across the middle turned us off, but we’ll file these under “looks much better on the pitch.”
The central red bar, cut off in the middle of the chest, creates a strong, 3D effect to the main body of the shirt, giving the Eagles a different perspective on one of the club’s most popular away kit colour schemes.
Palace’s home, away and third shirts cleverly keep to that same formula, maintaining a neat pattern of uniformity across the collection.
Whether credit for the design goes to Puma, Palace or their supporters, the Eagles’ tube of toothpaste away shirt is a worthy winner of our Kit of the Week title!
Sartorial Soccer 