Okay, so I decided to dive into something kinda cool the other day: the history of the US Men’s National Team jerseys. You know, the soccer ones. I figured it’d be a fun way to brush up on my design knowledge and learn a bit more about the team’s evolution.
First thing I did was hit up Google. I started with some pretty broad searches like “USMNT jersey history” and “US soccer kit evolution.” I wanted to see what kind of official sites or fan pages were out there that had compiled info.
Next, I started digging into specific years. Like, “USMNT jersey 1994” because, c’mon, those were iconic. That’s when things got interesting. I stumbled upon a few blogs and forums where people were seriously passionate about this stuff. Like, debating the exact shade of blue used in ’92 passionate.
I started jotting down notes. Year by year, trying to piece together the main designs. I noticed that there were definitely phases. Like, the early years were pretty basic, then the wild ’90s happened, and then things got a bit more streamlined in the 2000s.
I realized I needed visuals. Text descriptions can only get you so far. So, I started hunting for images. Classic Football Shirts and similar sites became my best friends. They’ve usually got a decent archive of older kits. I also checked out Getty Images for action shots of players wearing the jerseys in games. That helped me get a better sense of how they looked on the field.
One of the biggest challenges was figuring out the variations. Sometimes they’d have slightly different versions for home and away games. Or different sponsors over the years. It was a real detective job trying to track everything down.
After a few hours of digging, I had a pretty good timeline of USMNT jerseys. I decided to put it together visually, like a mini-infographic. I used a simple graphic design tool to arrange the jersey images chronologically, with some notes about key design elements and historical context.
It was kinda cool to see how the jerseys reflected the team’s journey. From the simpler, classic designs to the bolder, more experimental ones, each jersey tells a story. Plus, it was a good reminder of how much soccer fashion has changed over the years!
Now, I’m thinking about doing the same thing for other national teams. Maybe Brazil or Germany next. It’s a fun way to learn about the sport and appreciate the design side of things.
