Liverpool F.C. is the latest Premier League team to officially launch their new home kit for the 2013/2014 season. For Warrior Sports, the team’s official outfitters, this is only their second kit for the famed English club.

Coming off the back of an unimpressive and uninspired season, the reds have managed to secure themselves a place in the top 10. The current Liverpool side still has a way to go in terms of being title contenders, but the fresh kit hopes to bring in a fresh start for the Merseysiders. With a very different style, and accents from days of old, next season’s kit is sure to make a statement for the reds in the next Premier League competition.

While this kit can currently be pre-ordered, it isn’t officially available until the end of this month. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the kit itself before we decide whether we want to get our hands on it or not. And yes, I know all of you Liverpool fans will purchase it regardless.

The words ‘different’ and ‘familiar’ come to mind with this kit, as it fuses many strange new designs with inspiration from the strip of a classic era. Liverpool’s official website sums this up well.

“The all-red strip features a white trim and is based on the iconic shirt of the 1983-84 season, which was worn during the European Cup final triumph in Rome.” – Liverpoolfc.com

Looking at these two kits together, it’s easy to see the resemblance. The collar and sleeve ends include a very similar white stripe design. However, with the new kit, these stripes are incomplete. While this may seem like some form of new age design, incomplete stripes are never good news. I mean, why not just go all around? I understand that they have to change up the design a little, but it would certainly look better if they were complete. This applies mostly to the sleeve ends, but an incomplete stripe on the collar can work. Just look at Manchester United‘s home shirt last season. These incomplete stripes are also present on the kit’s socks, and on the shorts. Albeit in a very minimal way.

The rest of the shirt’s sleeves are a flat red, with paneling on the inside for greater ventilation. As for the front of the shirt, Warrior seem to have stuck with a familiar red and yellow colour palette. The Warrior Sports logo and the Liverbird are still in their respective places, with the team’s major sponsor Standard Chartered still sitting in the centre.

The shirt also features a faded stripe look on the front with an interesting twist. Within these stripe segments, there is text. Although quite faint, we can see that it says ‘LIVERPOOL FC’ and includes the image of the Liverbird logo. This text is recurrent and goes down the front of the shirt within each stripe multiple times. Having faint text throughout the jersey is not a new concept. However, it is not a common feature amongst most kits today.

The back of the shirt is just plain red, and once again features the number 96 in between the two justice flames at the top. This is a feature of the shirt that remains in honour of the 96 fans who were killed in the Hillsborough disaster that occurred in 1989.

After looking at all of this kit’s features, it seems to have its highlights and its downfalls. It pays homage to the kit of a glorious era for the club, but doesn’t add any really exciting features to the existing style. But what do you think? As always, your feedback is always welcome. Feel free to comment, like, share, or hit us up on Twitter: @GearupGameon.

Mohammad Safar is a second-year student currently studying a Bachelor of Sports Journalism at La Trobe University. You can follow him on Twitter: @MoSafar23