We’ve covered the top tier of both the men’s and women’s soccer pyramids here at Uni Watch over the past few weeks. This weekend, we’ll be tackling the second division of men’s soccer, the USL Championship. Today, we’ll take a look at the Western Conference’s kits, tomorrow the Eastern Conference.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks

We are 18 days out from kickoff, and the defending champs have yet to reveal any new kits, which makes me think they’re retaining their 2024 kits. Manufactured by Capelli, the home kit will be black with a cyan splatter pattern, while the away kit this cyan mountain number. However, on the Switchbacks’ website, that design is on clearance, so perhaps there will be a new away kit forthcoming. They’re not bad-looking kits at all, and to be honest, it’s hard to mess up the black and cyan color scheme in the first place.

El Paso Locomotive

Dubbed “the graffiti kits,” the Locos will be certainly eye-catching during this season. And you know what, credit where credit’s due: there are a lot of teams that would never adopt something this off-the-wall. The blue home kit is the more wild of the two, with the multicolored graffiti going up the wearer’s right torso and onto the left sleeve. It is pretty cool that the design requires their advertiser to orient their logo vertically. The purple away kit is more conservative, with the graffiti design over the entire kit but in various shades of purple.

Las Vegas Lights

After a manufacturing hiccup, the Lights didn’t actually debut their 2024 home kit until a few weeks into the season, and like the Switchbacks, it looks like they’re retaining both their home and their white away. If you expected more color from a team called the “Lights,” they’re probably also going to be retaining their alternate “Midnight” kit, which depicts the sky above Vegas, with the city’s skyline at the hem.

Lexington SC

Moving up from League One to the Championship this season, Lexington SC are going with an update on last season’s design. And to be frank, I don’t dig it. Last year’s green was brighter, and the darker shade here makes it look kind of drab. It appears that Lexington will be retaining last year’s rather nice away kit.

Monterey Bay FC

These, I love. Monterey Bay FC’s first season with a new crest (old one here — the club’s name didn’t change, they just removed the nickname from the crest). The home kit, nicknamed “The Sea Kit,” features a surf design on navy with white yoke and sleeves. The away kit, nicknamed “The Crisp Kit,” is the Union’s shade of aquamarine, featuring a sublimated design evoking the waves from the club’s crest.

New Mexico United

New Mexico United doesn’t really change their home kits, and this was is still pretty similar to the ones worn in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The advertiser logo has been updated, and honestly despite being weirder than in past years, it now fits in better with the rest of the kit, I think. Historically, United have operated on a two-year cycle for their road kits, and since they announced the signing of former Bayern Munich product Gedion Zelalem in last season’s away kit, suffice to say they will be retaining it for this season. Which is a shame, because that shade of yellow with that shade of blue is kind of sickly.

Oakland Roots

The Roots are moving into the recently-vacated Oakland Coliseum for this season. While they’re retaining last season’s gorgeous home kit for games at the Coliseum, they’re taking a bit of the Coliseum on the road with them as well, with a green-and-yellow number that’s explicitly a nod to the 1968 Athletics and their vest unis. Not sure how they can get away with that legally, but I’m certainly not complaining. Perhaps the best looking team in the USL Championship this season.

Orange County SC

OCSC is retaining last year’s “Owner’s Kit,” which features the names of everyone who owns stock in the club (it’s not quite a Packers situation, as James Keston is majority owner, but still a nice touch). They’re also retaining last season’s “County Roads” kit, which depicts a road map of Orange County. I’m not a massive fan of either. They both feel like they’d be better as special event kits rather than primary kits.

Phoenix Rising

This is Phoenix. Nuestra Comunidad. #TodosRojos | #ASMC | @Carvana | @adidas pic.twitter.com/Hs2wWr4yZ7

— Phoenix Rising FC (@PHXRisingFC) March 1, 2025

Launched yesterday evening, Phoenix is going with a rather plain red kit for their home this year, dubbed the “Todos Rojos Kit.” Honestly, if I were a Phoenix fan I’d be quite disappointed. Very generic scoop collar, nothing really to note here. It’s red and white. The away kit is nicer but still overshadowed by other kits featured in this article. At least there’s something going on with that red and white horizontal stripe (not sure it qualifies as a hoop).

With that in mind, it should be noted that Phoenix Rising FC is one of four clubs in the 24-team USL Championship to have kits manufactured by one of the Big Three kit manufacturers (Adidas, Nike, and Puma). Something Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, founder of the Hearts of Pine, told me during my conversation with him ahead of the Hearts’ inaugural kit launch is that “some of those bigger brands give you a less-personalized experience” than smaller companies like Hummel, who are manufacturing the Hearts’ kits as well as nine USL Championship sides. I’d hate to think Phoenix Rising got the short end of the stick for choosing to go with a marquee brand like Adidas, but Hoffman-Johnson’s remarks stormed back to me when I saw these, especially when comparing them to what Charly and Hummel have been able to do for other clubs in the league.

Sacramento Republic

The 2025 Primary Kit is here 😮‍💨

Honoring the club’s heritage and blossoming future, the kit blends Resilient Red and Camellia Pink in a bold hoop design, celebrating the city’s spirit and its official flower, all on the classic Old Glory Red.https://t.co/tAr5r3h27u |… pic.twitter.com/KnKn3Ad4ra

— Sacramento Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) January 25, 2025

Sacramento Republic were obviously inspired by the best-looking hooped team in the United States, the Hearts of Pine, for this season’s home kit.

Okay, not really. But Republic did adopt hoops for the first time with this season’s offering, and it does look pretty nice. But the real star here is the road kit, which brings back the club’s most identifiable aesthetic trademark, the sash. I love the two-color design of the sash, which is perfectly Republic.

San Antonio FC

This Spurs-owned franchise is one of four USL teams to have decamped to Mexican brand Charly over the past few years. This year, we’ve got the “Rio Kit” for home matches, which outlines the San Antonio River Walk. On the road we’ve got a white kit with pinstripes in Spurs fiesta colors.

FC Tulsa

Rounding out the Western Conference is FC Tulsa. They moved from Puma to Hummel for this season, but have only revealed one kit as of now, dubbed the “Stay Gold Kit.” The design is supposed to evoke marble, a reference to Tulsa’s art deco architecture, and features a polo collar.