I want to start this blog entry by apologizing for the long delay on this entry. A combination of a busy work schedule and some much needed vacation had forced me to put this off for a little bit. I don’t want to say the rest will be coming hard and fast, but we will fill out these rankings at a much more regular, steady pace.

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. Our second entry examines the seventh place kits.

Curious about the previous rankings?

#8 – 2013 Home and Away – Adidas

2011 Home and Away – Umbro

I had just suggested on the last entry that the team would have been better off using a kit off the rack for 2013, and that’s exactly what the team wore in their inaugural NASL season. The home kits were blue with white sleeves, and the aways were all white with no coloured trim. I’ve always been a fan of Umbro products dating back to when I played as a youth. As an aside, no boot will ever beat the Speciali, though my Geometra Pro’s (gen 1 of course) came close. These were, and still are the comfiest kits to wear. Sure, the Sears Financial sponsorship is fading on my away white, but I still love wearing it. It actually started a number of conversations when I wore it on a trip to Jamaica. But as I get all nostalgic about the brand, there is some harsh realities about this kit. It wasn’t unique in the slightest and the blue on the crest didn’t match the kit (something I’ve since reconciled with). The numbers and names on the back looked unique and modern at the time, but were a bit condensed and could be difficult to read when up on the hill watching at Foote Field. It should be noted that during the team’s exhibition season in 2010, they wore an inverse version of the home kit as their “aways”. These weren’t terrible kits, and we should be so lucky as FCE fans to consider these as our second worst offerings.

Pros: As I mentioned above, this one is incredibly comfortable to wear. I don’t know textiles enough to know what Umbro did for their kits as a while in this era, but they felt like a comfy cotton t-shirt while still managing to be light and stretchy like a normal kit. It’s something Adidas and Inaria haven’t come close to since in my personal opinion. Another pro was the colour scheme for the home kits. Seeing FC Edmonton wear a predominantly blue and white uniform just feels right and helps give more identity to the team. Using black has worked to varying degrees for this club in the past but nothing has matched blue.

Cons: It’s hard to complain about a team using off the rack kits at this level, but I’ll start there. The team has played in custom uniforms since, so a generic template with the teams badge on it feels like a letdown when going into the team’s history. Good or bad, a custom look makes it easier to identify with the team and feels more “major league” than when the team wears the exact same kit you see a youth club wearing with a different badge. While talking about the badge, let’s discuss that weird felt one ironed onto this edition. I’ve purchased a variety of kits with proper embroidered badges either ironed or sewn on, so this one was a little puzzling. Was it the trend for lower division teams at the time? Was it a brand new club trying a cost effective alternative? Either way, it contributed to the amateur look the team had in an “off the rack” kit. The away white was also a severe letdown when you see what the team wore during its exhibition season in 2010. Using the inverse of the home kit would have looked way better and possibly even pumped these offerings up a spot or two. I get why teams wear all white as an away option. It’s cheap and it’s easy. But it’s incredibly generic and any character that the home shirt has is completely lost when the club hits the road. Is it really that difficult to throw a little colour?

That wraps up the seventh placed entry on our kit rankings. Agree or disagree? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting at us here. Stay tuned to see our next ranking. And we promise it won’t be such a long wait until the next one.