As someone who is a fan of the cross-section of sports and culture, I love a new jersey release! It can give a franchise a whole new identity or fans a rekindled sense of optimism heading into the next season, especially for a new team. The hype was high for FC Buffalo Women’s inaugural kits and boy did they exceed expectations!
The club announced a few months ago that they would be launching a women’s side that would join United Women’s Soccer with their first season beginning in 2021. Their schedule has since been announced and the team will debut on May 16th. Since then, player announcements and their highlights have been filling the @FCBuffaloWomen‘s Twitter feed. However, one thing was still missing.
A unique identity that is all their own.
FC Buffalo was able to team-up with local brewery Community Beer Works and food truck turned brick-and-mortar Lloyd to make that dream a reality. Each kit fits the club’s ethos while highlighting different aspects of the Buffalo community. Let’s take a look at each kit one-by-one:
Home Kit
The “7720” jersey features FC Buffalo’s traditional blue and gold with sublimated radial hexagons that resemble the snowflakes currently falling in WNY. Speaking of snowflakes, that’s partly how this jersey was named. The back neck area features a six-pack of snowflakes as a nod to former Buffalo mayor Jimmy Griffin’s legendary line leading into the Blizzard of ‘77, “Stay inside and grab a six-pack.”
Those lines never rang more true than in 2020 when the pandemic struck. Buffalonians showed their toughness throughout as well as their support for local businesses. That was more apparent than anywhere at our local breweries. People flocked to grab the latest releases to support the breweries and their employees through the tough times.
Those breweries has paid it back in spades through multiple initiatives including the All Together Project benefitting restaurant and bar workers out of work across the world and the Black is Beautiful stouts made in support of organizations working to oppose racial injustices. Community Beer Works continues to pay that forward as they helped FC Buffalo bring to life the first home kits in FC Buffalo Women’s history. Going with a 9/10.
Away Kit
The away kit features a black collar and button-top with Lloyd-green pinstripes and sleeves. The color scheme provides a distinct contrast to the home blue and gold. The style is a nod to the early days of professional soccer in America when it was played between the boards in an arena. It also features a nod to a certain Lloyd who helped design some of Buffalo’s best architecture on the back neck area.
I really like these kits because it feels like one of Adidas’ modern fauxbacks where they switch up the traditional black and white by slapping it with bright green. Lloyd’s iconic logo looks great across the pinstripes and I just hope that there will be a Lloyd truck at every game! Boy, oh boy, could I go for a Dirty South burrito with rocket sauce right about now… 8.5/10
Keeper Home Kit
Anyone who has seen soccer knows that your Keeper needs to stand out. FC Buffalo ensured their keeper and fans will stand out in this stunning watercolored jersey. The jersey features shades of blues, aquas, pinks, and purples that come together in perfect harmony. The pink CBW logo is the proverbial cherry on top to tie it all together. This jersey also features the “7720” six-pack of snowflakes on the back collar as part of the home kits. There’s not much else to say, but BRAVO! 10/10
Keeper Away Kit
The away keeper’s kit is similar to the home in that it features similar colors, but is more than distinct enough to tell apart from the rest of the team. That allows for an easy contrast with opponent kits, so there’s less fan confusion. Enough of that, time to breakdown this jersey.
“The Parks” jersey is an ode to Buffalo and WNY’s sprawling parks and green spaces. Franklin Law Olmsted’s parkway system was and is still an amazing display of how green spaces can be maintained in urban communities. We also have some of the greatest wonders in all of nature just in our backyard with Niagara Falls and Letchworth to name a few.
This jersey perfectly encapsulates what those parks bring. The parks bring that extra light and vibrance of life into our urban nests just as the bright notes do to this jersey. Although I gave the last keeper kit a 10, I’m most excited to see this one in action. The team even teased that they may order a full set as an alternate kit, so keep your eyes out for that! 9.8/10
Warm-up Kits
The warm-up kit makes perfect sense as it draws its design from the CBW and Lloyd collaboration The Snozzberry Sour. For those who are familiar with Lloyd’s cocktail menu, the Snozzberry Mule is a staple. The beer geniuses over at CBW teamed up with Lloyd to turn the cocktail into a super hip kettle sour ale.
The beer features “oodles of blueberries, fresh ginger purée, lemon, and snozzberies.” This is one of the more well-balanced kettle sours I have ever had as the ginger works well to settle down the blueberries and lemon to a sweet point of balance that causes your taste buds to do nothing, but crave more. You can grab the Snozzberry Sour at most local craft beer vendors and hopefully at FC Buffalo games in the near future.
The top features a blend of blues and purples being funneled into a typhoon of color. The sleeves are black and feature a light purple accent that is also the collar color. The concept sold me on these, but the design came out great and should look good in-person as well! 8.8/10
You can gran pre-order all of the FC Buffalo Women kits here. Each one is $60 and features free number customization if purchased by April 23rd. You can also secure yourself a season ticket that works for both the men’s and women’s games this summer for just $50 while there are higher packages that include some cool benefits! For Our City!
For more FC Buffalo coverage, follow myself on Twitter as well as the Trainwreck account for a ton more content! You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel!
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com
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