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Five MLS Clubs To Have ‘Retro’ Alternates

Earlier this afternoon, MLS and their uniform provider adidas announced that five MLS clubs will be outfitted with “retro” kits, which they are referring to as the “Archive” collection. Those five MLS clubs are Inter Miami, LAFC, LA Galaxy, Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City.

Last season saw the first time that certain Major League Soccer clubs got third shirts, with four select teams from the league getting special third shirts in 2023. Toronto FC were the first with their Caribbean Carnival-inspired ‘Energy Kit’, followed by New York Red Bulls’ Hip-Hop infused ‘Freestyle Kit’New York City FC’s ‘Parks Kit’, and finally, Atlanta’s ‘404’ kit.

For 2024, the five teams listed above will get alternates. Let’s take a look.

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INTER MIAMI

The club/MLS says this jersey is “tapping into 1980s style,” and is rendered in aqua with orange and white accents. The club is obviously playing up the colors of the NFL team which shares the same city. The wordmark is similar to that used in Miami Vice, and that too is surely intentional.

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LAFC

Despite having been formed in 2018, this new kit is “inspired by 1970s-era SoCal iconography, the golden hues of the setting sun, the diversity of their people and the expansion of the club’s primary gold.”

Additional photos here:

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LA GALAXY

This one is nice, and it “pays homage to the original jersey they wore in the inaugural 1996 MLS season.” I was definitely a fan of that jersey. They’re referring to it as “RetroGrade.”

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PORTLAND TIMBERS

Portland’s archive kit pays homage to Clive Charles, a trailblazer in soccer. One of the first Black players in England’s Premier League, he joined the Timbers in 1978 and is known as one of the biggest names in Portland sports.

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SPORTING KC

Sporting KC is embracing the rainbow design that the club first used when it entered MLS in 1996. This is another great looking kit, just as was the 1996 original on which it’s based.

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And there you have it.

What do you guys think of these five alternates?

 
  
 
Comments (4)

    Let’s be honest here; the only true “throwbacks” are KC and LA Galaxy. The others are faux-backs. But—in my opinion— the Miami faux-back is far superior to their actual uniforms.

    Sort of. The Timbers throwback is to their old NASL team, which wore a very similar jersey except in green and white. Obviously Miami and LAFC are complete inventions.

    So much history in the league and instead of going with some of the original clubs, they pick LAFC and Miami.

    The Kansas City shirt is superb, though.

    They went back to the NASL for Portland. In that vein it would have been fun to see LAFC base theirs on an old LA Aztecs uni.

    Not to mention: there’s a defunct MLS team, the Miami Fusion, that Inter could’ve thrown back to.

    The marketing speak is strong with the timber’s design “a victory crimson jersey, representing clive’s passion for the game”….

    Huh?

    Just come out and say that its red because we thought people would buy it….

    Despite the fact that it’s personally disconcerting that the 90’s are viewed as retro worthy. It can’t be that long ago (quickly does math and finds 1996 is nearly 30 years ago, and I was at Wiz game #1 versus Colorado at Arrowhead).
    Anyway, the retro Wiz jersey is a home run, well done! While the others are fine designs the other clubs (excluding the Galaxy, another OG MLS team), particularly Miami and LAFC haven’t put in enough time to deserve a retro jersey, it’s just a third jersey in a different color. And stay off my lawn!

    Why do they have to have such a chunky font for the NOBs and numbers? It’s a bit brutalist for my tastes.

    Love the KC jersey and will purchase one, when available. Galaxy ok, but the rest are meh…….for me.

    Other, smaller teams like Dallas and San Jose are also throwing back to their original (‘96 and ‘74, respectively) team designs, and I’m really sad to see that those efforts are not included in this collection.

    Last year was not the first year and MLS club had a third kit. Atlanta in 2021 springs to mind, and there may be others.

    They re-started the 3rd jerseys just a few years ago, Atlanta was the first to meet the sales threshold to get one.

    But MLS 3rd jerseys go back to 1997. DC, Columbus and KC had them. Somewhere in the late 00’s or early 10’s, they ditched the concept of alternate/3rd jerseys.

    Couple of notes:

    1) Clive Charles never played in the Premier League. He played in England’s First Division which was the top level at the time. The Premier League came into existence in the 1992-1993 season.

    2) Kansas City started out in 1996 as the Wiz, and switched to the Wizards in 1997. So the jersey would reflect 97+.

    LA Galaxy and KC are the class of this group of jerseys with their echoes of their MLS past.

    These are all glorious with no ads on the front! They can use whatever fonts and colors they like, but let’s make this a trend with MLS kits and have the ads on the back. Would be a cool, kind of American thing to do!

    Could we see the Caribous of Colorado western style motif uniform with the strip of leather fringe for the Colorado Rapids team next?

    These are great! Even if they aren’t all actually retros. That Timbers one, though! Whew! Yowza!

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