I like the idea of the men's and women's kit
being the same because I think it is a positive for the U.S. Soccer brand and
more specifically the USWNT brand. Nike does an amazing job supporting the
USWNT through outfitting the team and sponsorship. Nike's sponsorship has been
extremely beneficial for the USWNT and this was noted in Jere Longman's book
about the 1999 Women's World Cup titled "The Girls of Summer."
Longman points out that Nike endorsing the USWNT and using their resources to
promote it made U.S. Soccer invest more money in the team. Historically, there
was been an imbalance of resources provided to each team with the
women being short-handed. I am unsure whether is was Nike's or U.S. Soccer's
idea to unify the jersey, but if it was Nike than this may have the same effect
as the original endorsement had on U.S. Soccer's mentality toward the USWNT.
This is at least a visual representation of parity between the men's
and women's side and hopefully the next step in real unification.
I hope this new kit will establish a tradition
of unity between the teams and also establish a unified image of the team. A
sports team's jersey is a great way to create and maintain a specific brand and
U.S. Soccer and Nike have failed to utilize this. The USWNT jersey has changed
drastically throughout its history and there has not been a continued design
theme. The shield has stayed and the stars have stayed, but mostly everything
else has changed. Of course there needs to be updates because the style of the
early 90s is much different from that of now, but the changes have been too
frequently and too drastically different. I would be happy to see a legacy of
stripes or even the sash be established in this design. This will help create a
more solid brand.
