Puma's Unique Design For Third Kits Of 10 Top European Clubs Has Not Gone Down Well
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Puma have released their new third kits for top European clubs and the template has been met by widespread disapproval.
Manchester City released their latest strip last night and the design was panned on social media by fans, who think it looks more like a training top or a pyjama t-shirt.
City, who had Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling in the promotional pictures, said the new strip was made with the intention of reimagining “traditional football kit in a brand-new approach [by] merging football and streetwear culture.”
Yet literally nobody admitted to being a fan of the design.
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However what many might not have realised, is that this template has been used across the board by Puma this year.
In addition to City, PSV, AC Milan, Marseille, Fenerbahce, Valencia, Borussia Monchengladbach, Shakhtar Donetsk, Stade Rennais and FC Krasnodar are all clubs who will be sporting the controversial design.
REWRITE THE RULES!
— iDiski Times (@iDiskiTimes) August 18, 2021
PUMA have unveiled the new third kits for 10 of their top European clubs, including Man City, AC Milan, Gladbach, Marseille and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Can toy see the club badges? (Yes, they are there!) pic.twitter.com/b5Ndyd2pJQ
🔵 @ManCity pic.twitter.com/lkWdcxbDKy
— PUMA Football (@pumafootball) August 18, 2021
🔴 @ACMilan pic.twitter.com/QHTl6zb2HT
— PUMA Football (@pumafootball) August 18, 2021
🔵 @OM_Officiel pic.twitter.com/BEKuJqo9A5
— PUMA Football (@pumafootball) August 18, 2021
🟡 @Fenerbahce pic.twitter.com/FCgV2LDCis
— PUMA Football (@pumafootball) August 18, 2021
🟢 @Borussia pic.twitter.com/mhv1lZnYIX
— PUMA Football (@pumafootball) August 18, 2021
🟠 @ValenciaCF pic.twitter.com/BGcxFEIa7i
— PUMA Football (@pumafootball) August 18, 2021
In international football, Euro 2020 winners Italy, along with Switzerland, Austria and Czech Republic also have away kits in the same mould.
For all of the club kits, Puma have done something very different with the badges. The team's name has been capitalised in between two thick lines, with the crests copied and dotted all over the shirt and featuring a shadow-like effect.
The same template being deployed is not always a bad thing, as fans of the Nike Total 90 2004 kits can vouch for.
But the brave approach from Puma has received plenty of strong reaction:
As seen from PSV’s promotional picture for their third kit, those Puma shirts will be everywhere this season 🤮 pic.twitter.com/7s56hKKf6W
— Karan Tejwani (@karan_tejwani26) August 18, 2021
I really like Puma as a brand, but these kits and the Euro's have been some real 💩 https://t.co/0AqdfZccX6
— Dan Rimmer (@DannyRimm) August 18, 2021
“I once persuaded lots of top-tier football clubs to release Primark pyjama tops as “third kits” during my time working at Puma” pic.twitter.com/lmBB2GE0Ij
— DJ Chubby Bubble (@djchubbybubble) August 18, 2021
Stick a puma logo on it and you've got a kit pic.twitter.com/XZzmjxiqke
— Dan ◺ ◿ (@danwwfc11) August 18, 2021
I normally like Puma kits but these this third kit range lol pic.twitter.com/CLfOpsYg63
— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) August 18, 2021
Adidas design a Bayern Munich third kit inspired by the Bavarian Alps, whilst Puma push out third kits inspired by Microsoft WordArt. pic.twitter.com/Ozup8iIaod
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) August 18, 2021
Puma kits be like pic.twitter.com/GI17dddvcb
— Football Ramble (@FootballRamble) August 18, 2021
Shocking all of them, don’t let your 5 year old design them next time
— Pete Hulme (@thegoat10) August 18, 2021
Are you really proud of this ? This look like shirts you can buy for 5€ at the discount supermarket. How dare you to make jerseys with an hide badge/logo of the club? That’s a big lack of respect for clubs. That’s a SHAME and you should be ASHAMED just for have thought about it.
— Nairodji (@Nairodji) August 18, 2021
Some rules should be broken. Some boundaries should be pushed. This is an awful attempt to market a very cheap method of producing generic kits that will neither catch on nor live on in memory. There's trying to be edgy and there is getting it wrong.
— James (@jimmydoris1986) August 18, 2021
— Kais (@FinallyKais) August 18, 2021
This is the worst design I’ve ever seen to be passed off as an official game kit. If you charge full pop for this, you should be ashamed of yourselves - this is the type of cloth I’d buy in the discount bin
— RussuMilano (@freerangerabbit) August 18, 2021
The club badges are playing 2nd fiddle to your own 🤷🏼♂️ ‘Look everyone, if you hold the shirts up to the light at exactly midday and squint a little, you’ll notice the faint outline of the club badge’.
— Nick Brown (@iamNick_Brown) August 18, 2021
Puma releasing the same shitty kit 50 times pic.twitter.com/7fG54owXHF
— Sosa (@Gracias_Leo10) August 18, 2021
"The third kit is the shirt where we really want to go out there and show what we can do, show something different that has not been seen yet,” Puma designer Ulrich Planer said on the kit.
“We wanted to do something that, at least in the European market, has not been done in such a bold statement.
"From far away, you can still see that this is a Man City shirt.”
Featured Image Credit: Puma
Topics: Borussia Dortmund, Fenerbahce, Football, Manchester City, Marseille, PSV, AC Milan
