Meow Wolf, Blazes and Bays
The team heads back to New Mexico for Meow Wolf Night, it's Hispanic Heritage Night in Charlotte, Oakland makes a big splash, Loudoun honors local heroes, & Portland starts a blazing hot discussion
Each week we will highlight and talk about 4-6 kits from across the USL. Each kit is rated 1-5 based on four categories:
- Design & Aesthetics
- Authenticity & Tradition
- Visual Details & Execution
- Innovation & Impact
Without further ado, here are this week's kits:
New Mexico United: Meow Wolf Kit
Meow Wolf and New Mexico United maybe one of the best partnerships in soccer. For those unaware, here is Meow Wolf’s own website for reference, but basically they are known for creating immersive experiences with lots of colors and art. Add in New Mexico’s knack for having fun kits, it’s a perfect combination in our eyes.
Now this year’s kit for Meow Wolf night didn’t live up to last year’s, but the Ebbs and Flow set for 2025 still feels right. You can see the field player kit above and the goalkeeper kit (my personal favorite) below. We are here to talk about the field kit (Ebbs), which is the more subtle of the two kits.
The colors I expected from the Meow Wolf night kit are spot on. The fun, colorful vibe, the abstractness of the shapes, then add in the universe theme they always go with - it just feels right. I say that, and then say it’s almost too empty. This bottom and shoulder heavy kit just feels like something is missing in the middle.
Some could call it too busy of a look and that may be the case and could have scored less as a result. So if this is the best they could have done with this idea, I’ll take it. All I know, is that I need that goalkeeper kit more than anything. Can’t get enough colorful and fun kits in my collection.
Our score is: 4.00 - Brett
Loudoun United: Hometown Heroes Kit
Following the chaos and color of New Mexico, its easy to call this boring. But I disagree with that notion. This kit is all about the details. The stars, and the fade from blue to white given us the elusion of a waving flag. This is a kit to honor the local hometown heroes - so police, EMS, fire etc or anyone you deem a hero in your community. So evoking the US flag in this different color was clever from Capelli - and it looks good in my opinion.
This was a fun take on the flag look and really enjoy the creativity here. However, this is simply a half and half diagonal kit (think FC Utrecht) but blue. This is a simple kit with fun colors, great detailing but more is needed to justify a better score.
Our score is: 3.50 - Brett
Charlotte Independence: Somos Charlotte Kit
This was a fun one on our latest episode. While I see a simple blue kit with countries in their shapes, Fox sees a kit that is trying to encompass all the various Latinos in a community instead of focusing on Mexican heritage. Regardless of how we view the main design of this kit, it’s a fun vibe. The gold collars and cuffs look solid on it’s own, add in the country’s name and we get a pretty solid kit overall.
The country names are even in the shape of their countries and that is a cool touch. Having a lack of overall design does hurt in my opinion but to Fox’s point, doesn’t just cater to the Mexican audience - which a lot of Hispanic Heritage night kits tend to do. So I don’t know the solution to this, but I think our score overall comes to give this kit the score it deserves.
This gets a score: 4.13
Sacramento Republic: Fauxback Attack Kit
Imagine taking a team that exists today and bring them back into the 90’s. Whatever team you came up with, Sacramento Republic did that for you with their Fauxback Attack kit. It’s a fun though exercise, especially for a league and sport without a lot of history. I don’t know if I want to see every team doing this, but I am glad we got to see Sacramento do it right.
This looks and feels like a 90’s kit. Now for those older than me, this is absolute peak design and nostalgia. Me - here comes my hot take and reason this isn’t perfect for me - I don’t like this era. I believe Sacramento and Hummel absolutely crushed this and deserves all the attention - it’s just not perfect in my eyes.
The overall look is amazing, well executed but not my style - definitely Fox’s - this gets a score of: 4.75
Portland Hearts of Pine: The Blaze Kit
Hunters and outdoorsmen rejoice - this is the year of outdoor inspired kits. First from Birmingham Legion with their Hunt for Glory Kits, and now with this Blaze kit from Portland Hearts of Pine. Now determining if this kit is good or not really depends on how you feel about this kit. It’s simply an orange camo kit. It’s great to give a nod to outdoorsmen, but the overall design feels lacking.
Portland has gone with a more simple look all season and I think this maybe the only miss from them. At best it’s a solid kit with mixed design reviews, otherwise it’s just an orange kit that I could wear to a hunter’s convention (no I am not an outdoorsmen and prefer my urban confines haha). Love the orange and really stands out. Wanted to see more with the camo and some detailing added in. I want more from this kit and that’s why it’s score is: 2.75
Oakland Roots: The Bays Water Kit
Art. This is simply art in a kit form. Oakland Roots Sports Club, in partnership with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) with Oakland-based artist Muzae Sesay. Based off of Muzae’s “The Sun Has Reached The Same Point As The Moon Above The Ocean” piece (shown above), this design seemsly gets integrated into the kit. Instead of the art being on a kit, the art got woven into a kit design.
The colors, overall look and the almost guady look this gives, is such a fun divergent from the more colorful vibes of Oakland. This still gives me Oakland R&B vibes, but in a more art form. Leaning into the Oakland vibe we all enjoy and love.
Artist collabs done well that bring art into kits are our weakness and we love all of them. This is another certified banger from Oakland and well deserving of a place in the 5’s club. Our score is a perfect: 5.00
Official Shop: N/A
You can catch the full episode here:
You can view all the kits (with links) from this link: KitSZN Kits - 2025
Stay tuned for the FINAL episode of KitSZN for 2025 on Thursday Night live or the following week’s article. It has been an absolute pleasure to get to interact with everyone this year with all the ups and downs of my personal life and I wouldn’t be doing this without the love from all of you. More will be said in next week’s article.
Thanks and see y’all next week!
