5 thoughts on the 2021 Atlanta United kit reveal

Editor’s note: This post was written by a professional graphic design artist and Atlanta United season ticket holder Larry Luk. Larry is one of the directors of the agency Sons & Sons in Atlanta and oversees branding, content creation and marketing strategy. He graduated from Emory University and the Portfolio Center and is currently part of the design faculty at the Portfolio Center. Larry describes himself as a sneakerhead, a trend buff and 100% ATLien. Larry also hosts Radio Way Down South – a podcast that explores the intersection of sports and design in the southeast. Follow him on Twitter @larryluk.

Jacob Gonzalez / Atlanta United

The new ATL UTD main kit has just been released with very few surprises for most. Many of us about we knew what would be revealed at the official kit development event because we all saw an artist rendering on social media, asked a friend to send us an image that was leaked from an Adidas server or overheard a passionate conversation between the founding members. Before firing your furious Twitter fingers, maybe some perspective will help? Here are five things to keep in mind before launching any angry tweets.

1. Respect the delivery time

As is usually the case with sportswear, fashion and other consumer goods, there is a period of 18 months from the final approval of the design to the availability of products in stores. As much as we want the team and adidas to hear our thoughts, they just can’t do it fast enough. So whatever the vibe at adidas and the team’s office 18 months ago – that’s what we’re finally seeing now. Hey, a black kit forgives many of us who are not made like Miles Robinson. Do you remember 2 years ago, when everyone was furious because the new primary kit didn’t have 5 stripes like the OG? Well, you get what you ask for. We have 5 stripes – although they are 5 skinny boys – they are still 5 stripes. They heard us. Sorta.

2) Never judge a replica

Why are 99% of kit leaks from replicas? I would really like an authentic kit to leak at least once. Replicas don’t tell the whole story. There are so many small details and embellishments that an authentic has that a replica does not do it justice, especially when it comes to seeing the kit on the field, in a player. The kit Josef Martinez uses may contain sponsor patches, league patches, collar details, wrist details, jock tag details, player personalization and, most importantly, a championship star that a simple replica never does justice to. However, people are always very angry before taking this into account.

3) Fan concepts must stop

I know you all love to use Photoshop and start creating “better” uniform models. But, please stop. There are league mandates, sponsor mandates and BASIC design principles that majority Professional designers employ it when working on IRL kits. You, like it or not, design your Deadpool-inspired combination-gold-spike-five-stripe-blackout-combo kit concepts and they really need to stop. Please. My eyes cannot. I don’t care if your 3 friends retweeted you saying “This is so much better”. It is not. And if your concept was real, I promise it wouldn’t sell like ATL UTD kits do. Which brings me to my next point.

4) We have options

Atlanta United was the only MLS team that sold enough kits to qualify our team for a third kit this season. We put in large numbers and we have another option to spend our hard earned money. Get excited! We won again! Furthermore, I have a strange theory that the club staff know how much our college football teams mean to us in this part of the country, so they give us colorful kits of regional college football masked under other themes. King Peach = Volunteers from Tennessee. King’s Kit = Yellow Jackets from Georgia Tech. Whatever the name of this new kit = Florida Seminoles.

5) Nothing is forever

Guess what. These kits are not permanent. If you are not satisfied with the new kits, they will disappear in 2 years. Take a deep breath and save energy for something productive, like sifting through OCFC comments.

What do you think of the new kit?

Jacob Gonzalez / Atlanta United