Norwich's kit has been criticised, but how does it compare?

Having scrutinised our kits for a good while now, it’s about time we look at how they compare to that of other Premier League teams. Here’s my review of each top-flight strip for the coming season.

Arsenal

Puma have created a very smart selection of kits for the gunners this season. The home shirt being the traditional red with white sleeves, this year with the addition of red and gold detailing on the sleeves. The away shirt is very similar to last season, using basically the same colour scheme with just a darker shade of yellow (almost gold) with blue sleeves. It also uses Puma’s striking diamond pattern, used on several of their kits this season. Kits like these make me question our club extending the deal with Errea to 2024, when their kits have been very short on quality compared to these numbers.

Rating: 9/10

Aston Villa:

Villa again use Italian designer Macron for their latest kits. However what will be more memorable than the actual shirts will be the clubs promotional material, featuring now departed Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke. The shirts themselves aren’t anything special. The home shirt features the traditional claret and blue with dark red pinstripes being the newest design feature. The away shirt is a much nicer affair, with a yellow and navy design which, if changed to green, could’ve been mistaken for a Norwich shirt. Still, Macron’s offering for the villans is very much a disappointment.

Rating 4/10

AFC Bournemouth

When a club get’s promoted to the Premier League for the first time, fans expect something special for the kit. You never really know how long your club will last in the top flight, and if you have a terrible kit to start it, fans are never normally happy. This is exactly what has happened with Bournemouth’s offering. There’s not much you can really do with their traditional red and black stripes but somehow JD has messed it up. Excessive branding from the high street chain ruin the look of the shirt, and make it look very tacky. The blue and black gradient away shirt from last season’s Championship winning season is retained, while the third shirt (although not required) is pink, and 5% of all the sales will go to charity; a classy move. That’s how you do a third kit Norwich. Not the tacky, horrible concoction you’ve provided us this season.

Rating 5/10

Chelsea

Adidas never normally disappoint for the blues, and these season’s shirts are actually quite smart. There’s not much you can really do with Chelsea’s kits but the new red detailing that combines with new shirt sponsor Yokohama is a welcome addition. The white away shirt also continues this trend, but is very similar to a shirt from a few years ago. Still not a terrible shirt, mind.

Rating 8/10

Crystal Palace

Macron have a smart pair of kits for the Eagles. Although not too different to last season’s, they both look smart and just have enough detailing. Something Macron’s Italian cousins at Errea could learn a bit from.

Rating 7/10

Everton

Umbro have provided solid shirts for the toffees this season, with just the right amount of detailing on both shirts. However, the shorts on the home shirt ruin it for me, and compared to some of Umbro’s previous offerings, these are very disappointing.

Rating 5/10

Leicester

Nothing much to say about Leicester, the traditional blue shirt combined with an blue shorts and socks this season, with a black change shirt using Puma’s ‘Swerve’ template. However it does show the woes of having to get your kits from the catalogue, something I hope Norwich never have to do.

Rating 6/10

Liverpool

Liverpool’s New Balance kits are actually really good. They have a smart design, subtle detailing and unlike previous Warrior designs, keep it simple. The black third shirt is a particular highlight.

Rating 9/10

Manchester City

In what is a rare situation, Premier League technical suppliers Nike only have one team in top flight. However, City’s kits are very smart this season, even with the slightly similar design.

Rating 7/10

Manchester United

Although not officially released yet, United’s kit has been around on the internet for what seems like forever. Thanks to a clever deal by Nike, United’s adidas kits will be revealed on the 1st August. But from leaked pictures it does seem to be a very nice shirt, with a little too much detailing for my liking. The away shirt will also contain a nod to a previous United shirt from the 90s – a very nice touch.

Rating 6/10

Newcastle United

Somehow, Newcastle have designed worse kits than us. The Newcastle equivalent of the ‘Aviva Box’ is the Wonga blue… And that isn’t even the worst part about the shirt. Just hideous from top to bottom. The third shirt is particularly bad as well – a sash with a box around the sponsor. Awful. Just Awful.

Rating 2/10

Southampton

Real shame to see Southampton go down the template route after a brilliant solo effort last season. Nothing special about the lineup this season. The green away shirt is nice, a sash being a popular design feature again this year, however, it is Middlesbrough’s home shirt from last season…

Rating 6/10

Stoke

Stoke has followed Liverpool to New Balance and have also picked up relatively smart kits. It still looks very generic but overall it’s quite a solid effort from New Balance. The away shirt is very similar to Southampton’s however. They might as well be the same club.

Rating 7/10

Sunderland

Again, nothing special from these Adidas templates. However, the particular highlight is seeing Conor Wickham lacing up in a green and yellow away kit. Bet Ipswich loved that…

Rating 6/10

Swansea

What’s it with Adidas templates? Swansea also uses them and combined with the simply dreadful sponsor it makes for two quite bad strips. Add to this a very strange reveal for the home shirt…

Rating 4/10

Spurs

Under Armour have provided a solid selection of kits for Tottenham this season. The home shirt continues the sash trend. But I’m not sure about the away kit, even if it is a major improvement on our kits…

Rating 6/10

Watford

Awful. Puma have really outdone themselves this year with bad kits. Makes ours look brilliant. Enough said.

Rating 1/10

WBA

Solid kits but again Adidas templates… The Chinese sponsor also ruins the shirts, being way too big for their own good.

Rating 5/10

West Ham

Fantastic. West Ham are commemorating their final season at Upton Park this season and have celebrated by wearing an shirt inspired by the one first worn at the Boleyn ground. Sound familiar? If only we didn’t have Errea, because this is a tribute done right.

Rating 9/10