Instant classics, odd inspirations and barcodes: 2026-27’s best and worst kits

Manchester City, Sunderland, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Hull, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Ipswich have unveiled new kits for the 2026-27 season as the Premier League season kicks off on Friday.

League debutants such as Christos Tzolis and Victor Muñoz, along with thousands of supporters, will wear the new strips; the crop of designs follows a year that included notable World Cup kits from, among others, the co-hosts the USA. Manchester City have chosen an ombre design the writer describes as exhausted in 2026, while Sunderland produced a pink away shirt in collaboration with Elvis Presley or his estate that references the supporters’ longstanding unofficial anthem "Can't Help Falling in Love". The season’s releases come from major sportswear brands and smaller manufacturers, including Oxen Sports.

Chelsea’s new home kit is presented without a corporate logo and the club used celebrities to preview the 2026-27 look, first among them Madonna, described as a longtime supporter often spotted at Stamford Bridge; Cole Palmer and João Pedro made a surprise appearance in her recent video. The 90s polo‑shirt collar is noted as a popular aesthetic this season, and Chelsea’s home and away shirts—reported as being in a sleek black—heavily feature Ted Drake’s famous lion emblem.

Madonna’s twin daughters are cited as players for Tottenham, and the Spurs’ new strip is dismissed in the piece as particularly dull, with a glancing reference to Kazimir Malevich. Separately, an unnamed club produced an "entirely unsubtle homage to the 1989-91 home jersey"—with the writer noting that Candy was one of the least hideous sponsors from that era—and the same club’s white away shirt is described as a handsome, preppy alternative; the commentary adds a question about whether even that jazzy top can offset Jeff Bezos acquiring a stake in the club.

Hull’s new kit is explicitly framed as a throwback, citing a late 70s reference with wide black and amber stripes, a white collar and trim, and the inclusion of the HCAFC logo for the first time in 47 years; the design is said to invoke the spirit of Billy Bremner. Away from the MKM Stadium, Hull’s change strip is characterised as a monotone design with amber accents, and the main home design is credited to the club’s homegrown supplier, Oxen Sports.

One home shirt is compared repeatedly to a barcode, with the club’s PR describing the pattern as "disrupted"; Adidas also added pale blue stripes to the shoulders. That club’s away strip is described as a refined navy with an alternative badge showing the city’s titular castle and a magpie. Newcastle aren’t the only club accused of overworking their home designs: Macron produced a striking sash for Crystal Palace that the article likens to Hannah Gadsby’s description of the Pride flag as "bit busy."

Ipswich’s round-necked blue home shirt features a motif Umbro’s press release says pays tribute to Portman Road’s floodlights, a concept the piece notes has precedent after Nike paid homage to VfL Bochum’s floodlights in 2020-21. The Ipswich weave is compared visually to the diamonds above characters’ heads in The Sims, officially plumbobs, and the club’s change kit is listed as cream with thin red and black horizontal stripes and black side panels.

At the Theatre of Dreams the writer flags a mismatch in which Adidas stripes on the red home shirt are white while the stripes on the white shorts are black, producing a disjointed effect described as resembling "one half each of two separate kits" and likened to "24 hours before laundry day." The red shirt itself is praised for its shade and a retro collar not dissimilar to Chelsea’s, while the away kit receives a nod to the 80s in cobalt blue with red touches and a trefoil logo; the final positive observation is that the club appears to have issued a single, unified away design.

Those designs will be on display when the Premier League season begins on Friday, with clubs and supporters set to see how the new strips perform in competitive fixtures.