Philadelphia Union’s XV Kit pays homage to the club’s history

The Philadelphia Union will have a new home kit for the 2024 and 2025 seasons! The “XV” kit celebrates the club’s 15 years of existence, and pays homage to the club’s history! Let’s look a little closer at this kit to see why this kit is a tribute to the Union’s past, and also a precursor of its future!

Presenting the XV kit

The first thing that is noticed when looking at this new kit is the return of a “center stripe.” For the majority of the first decade, the club had a stripe down the center of their shirts, usually in a gold, blue, or white color. The team had gone away from it for a number of years, but now they have brought it back but in a striking way. The “stripe” goes down the center of the shirt in gold and blue triangles. It vaguely resembles a snake’s skin, and also lightning bolts, and is visually stunning.

The navy blue jersey comes with the club crest in the center of the shirt, there are gold Adidas, and Bimbo logos on the front as well. It also features gold Adidas three stripes on the shoulders, gold and anthem blue leave cuffs, and The MLS, Apple TV, and IBX logos on the sleeves. It showcases anthem blue stripes down the side, on the back back, and at the bottom of the kit. The “XV” and snake logo sit on the bottom right corner on the front, and it has a lightning bolt as the back tag.

This shirt is a Union fan’s dream. It takes so much of what made Philly’s kits unique and elevates them in a way that honors the past, brings a stunning shirt for the present, and could be a starting off point for future home kits!

Paying homage to the Union’s first 15 years

Philly’s kits have always had blue and gold on them, especially in the early years. The navy and gold colors are Philly, and the addition of the anthem blue created a bold color scheme. When fans look at this new kit they are reminded, sometimes subtly, sometimes bluntly, of their past kits. There are nods to the first few kits inside the first five years of the club’s existence, elements from the kits that surrounded the club’s first decade, and also portions of kits from the past five years.

Almost anywhere you look on this shirt you can be reminded of nostalgic goals and games from Chester PA. Whether you remember PPL Park, Talen Energy Stadium, or Subaru Park, you can picture the Union playing in this kit at that stadium!

While the past is represented, the future can also be seen by looking at these kits too.

A well-designed kit for the future

It will be great to see these kits over the next two years. The club’s creative collective really hit it out of the park with this shirt. Over the last few years, this collective has helped usher in some iconic Union kits. This one might just be the best of them all. It encapsulates the 15 years of the club’s existence, and if they can use this as a model for future kits we may be seeing even more fire shirts on the backs of the boys in blue.

You can get this new XV kit now on the MLS’ online store, and the club itself is going to have a kit launch party this Saturday at Subaru Park. Make sure to get yours, as Philly readies to take to the pitch to start their 2024 campaign next week.