Inspired by a random poll by FC Edmonton a while ago, we decided to rank the teams kits over their lifespan. For the sake of simplicity (not to mention the fact that FCE kits have typically been the inverse of each other), we are going to combine the home and away kits in this ranking. Third kits will be ranked on their own, as they have had their own colours and templates. By our counts, that puts the list at eight. On this entry, we take a look at our sixth ranked kits.

Curious about the previous rankings?

#8 – 2013 Home and Away – Adidas

#7 – 2011 Home and Away – Umbro

2012 Home and Away – Adidas

These kits were introduced with much hype and fanfare. After their first competitive season, they swapped Umbro for Adidas and waited a long time before unveiling the new look. As much as I loved Umbro, it was pretty clear at the time that they wouldn’t budge on their templates for any club back then. Remember those chevron jerseys Canada wore around then and they tried to sell the generic template as something that honoured the military? My memory is clearly hazy on that, but what sticks with me is that was one of the laziest post-rationalization explanations for a kit design. Maybe it can only be beaten by Jacksonville’s ‘design’ breakdown. Adidas actually seemed like they could offer some kind of variety. Would it be an off the rack template? Would it be a recoloured/rebadged version of what another club wears? Would it be something completely different? Well, they were definitely different. When these kits were released, there was a collective “wait, what?” followed mostly by excitement. It was a unique look based on black as a home kit, and white as an away. Like the 2013 offerings, these appear to be created with miTeam design tool to allow almost any amount of customization. The traditionalist will dislike these, but they attempted to give a new and unique look to the Eddies.

Obviously the pyramid or triangular motif is at play here on both kits. Sticks and Stones was the company that the team paid for take care of the teams marketing and brand. It was sold as a very ‘Edmonton’ jersey, which included the blue from the city’s official flag (like the FCE crest did) and those above mentioned triangles. While I do enjoy these kits, I’ve always found that primarily using triangles/pyramids to describe Edmonton as lazy and derivative. Yes, you can look at city hall, the Muttart Conservatory, the Gibson Block or even the current West Edmonton Mall logo and see a common theme, but you can see pretty much all that in a two minute drive down Jasper Avenue without even trying. I know hindsight it always 20/20, but I think it shows how FC Edmonton ownership was taken advantage of in hiring out a third party to take care of the teams brand.

Pros: This kit was a truly unique. It made a genuine attempt to capture Edmonton in a jersey which we haven’t seen since. It could also be argued that this was FC Edmonton’s boldest attempt to create an identity for the club (even bolder than the crest the team still wears to this day). The black with blue and silver on the primary kit created a contemporary look that few teams dare to try, while the away whites provided enough black and blue to set it apart from other whites teams liked to used for aways (just look at my issues with the 2011 away kit). It’s also worth noting that the use of a miTeam designed kit allowed the team to mostly escape being an adidas billboard with restricting the amount to “three stripes” being used. Credit to using the right shade of blue to match the crest. Only this and 2013’s offering were the kits to use it.

Cons: While my praise is high for doing something new and unique, my criticisms may be the most numerous of any entry. The attempt to capture Edmonton in a jersey was a daring task, but ultimately fell a bit flat. Like I said above, the use of the deltas (Or triangles. Or pyramids) is a little derivative and unimaginative. Switching to black as a primary colour seems bold, but is really a creative crutch in North American jerseys, and that’s including all sports. The general rule is anything looks good in black, and I get the use of it but why change when you have a beautiful blue right there? An even bigger misstep was the choice of font used on the back for the numbers/names. It was something that appeared to match the look of these jerseys but was a mess when trying to watch games from the stands or on those dodgy streams I brought up on a previous entry. Being compact and italicized just blurred it all together. The final misstep (that I will mention anyway) was the major discrepancy between what the team wore, and what the team sold. The collar (which was a nice feature on the player jerseys) was significantly changed, notably removing the inverted blue triangle at the front (again with the triangles!). The the team and NASL badges were printed into the jersey as opposed to sewn in, like what the players wear. I get why this happened though. It was an attempt to cut costs and maximize profits for the club, but ended up making us fans feel ripped off for spending a hundred of our hard earned 2012 dollars on something that was a replica at best (at worst, an tolerable Chinese ripoff). I’d love to dive into the keeper kits, but they were similar to the 2013 version. That is, when they were finally finished.

In summary, the 2012 kits were an ambitious effort that ultimately missed the mark. To their credit, they were a unique look that tried to incorporate Tom and Dave Fath’s vision of the club. After my lengthy criticism of the kits, I think it’s important to not that it’s not a terrible design. In fact, it still makes me smile when I see one in the stands.

Do you agree or disagree with our placing/analysis? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting at us here. Our next ranking will be posted in the coming days and starts getting into the real fun part of our list, so stayed tuned!