Pass or fail: Nike unveils paint-spattered USWNT kits for 2023 Women's World Cup
Nike went the artistic route, literally, with the United States Women's National Team's kits for the 2023 Women's World Cup.
While much of the U.S. was sleeping, Nike revealed the new looks for all 13 federations under its umbrella. The timing worked out to Monday afternoon for the Australia/New Zealand tournament site.
The USWNT home kits feature blue paint spatters on white and reportedly take inspiration from the abstract expressionism movement in the art world, which Nike says "started in the 1940s in New York and shifted the art epicenter from Europe to the U.S., similar to what the USA team has done for women’s soccer."
The hook for these uniforms is that the painting method will make every uniform feature a unique pattern of dots, meant to "highlight the energy of the USWNT and how they are diverse players and personalities."
The jerseys, accented with gold and the years of the country's World Cup wins inside the collar, will be paired with blue shorts and white socks and will be debuted April 8 during the first match of a two-game series against Ireland in Austin, Texas.
Meanwhile, the away uniform — which will also be used by the USMNT — goes a different route, with a blue abstract stripe pattern, a stars and stripe print on the sleeve cuffs and a neckline with red points meant to look like the tips of stars. It will be paired with blue shorts and blue socks.
All the uniforms will feature the usual Nike clothing technology and will be made entirely of recycled polyester made from recycled plastic bottles, while the crests will come from recycled manufacturing scraps and shoes.
The full U.S. collection will be available for sale June 5 at Nike.com and the U.S. Soccer store, with an early access window April 3-12.
Did Nike get it right with the USWNT kits?
Nike had one major thing going for it when it began designing these uniforms: It couldn't go much worse than the USMNT kits at the 2022 World Cup.
Those kits were basically dead on arrival, with the white home kit in particular somehow both awkward and dreadfully boring. They were widely ridiculed on social media and even by some of the USMNT players. Hating on the U.S. kits has become something of a tradition, but 2022 took things to another level.
When you think about, paint spatters aren't that bad. You can make all the Jackson Pollock jokes you want, but the upshot of these jerseys is they will likely appear as perfectly harmless white jerseys from a distance and get more interesting as you get closer.
