Women’s Professional Soccer unveiled its home and away kits in Manhattan on Tuesday.
With Olympian Summer Sanders handling the duties of MC the WPS players strutted their stuff on the artificial turf catwalk, unveiling the new uniforms to the world. PUMA, the official founding partner of the WPS, designed fashionable yet comfortable jerseys made of 100% polyester. The PUMA WPS kits are made of contract mesh which “makes the uniform comfortable and breathable.”
The bottoms are a new and unique addition to the realm of women’s professional athletics. Game-day decisions may not stop at the team lineup, but whether players should wear shorts or skorts. PUMA has designed a new skort/shorts combination. It’s like a wrap around the shorts for those fashion-conscious players. The skort part can be removed and replaced by snap buttons. Not every team has this option. The Chicago Red Stars, the Washington Freedom, and the St. Louis Athletica will stay with the traditional shorts only.
The players all seem in agreement about the new uniforms – they like them. Or at least they like them in a temperature-controlled environment. They’ll have to wait for opening day to see how their new threads perform on the pitch.
Jersey Sky Blue forward
Heather O’ Reilly likes the way her uniform matches UNC’s colors. “I especially love the color playing for the University of North Carolina. I feel very at home with light blue.” Her teammate
Christie Rampone enjoys the lightweight design, but is still undecided about the skort.
St. Louis defender
Lori Chalupny gives a philosophical viewpoint. “Umm…It’s interesting. PUMA always throws something into the outfit that makes you think.” Her team is not skort-optional. Chicago Red Star
Nikki Krzysik thinks the uniforms “will bring fashion trends to the sport of soccer.” I for one am really hoping Beckham catches skort fever.
Gold Pride midfielder
Christina DiMartino calls the new digs “fashion forward.” Her teammate
Leslie Osborne agrees. Osborne isn’t sure if she will wear the skort all the time, but says it’s “a little extra.” Like jewelry to an outfit.
There is some opposition to the new uniforms. Asked whether she would be going skort or shorts come game day, Jersey Sky Blue forward
Natasha Kai let it be known where the new uniform ‘craze’ turns into just plain crazy. She took one look at the skort and with a slight sneer proclaimed, “shorts"!
Boston Breaker
Amy Rodriguez stated that she thinks, “They add a little bit of flare. PUMA did a really great job of designing these. I kind of like the skirt. I think it looks cute.”
Angela Hucles concurs. “The cute little skirt is growing on me. I think I’m going to do both.” Hucles wants to start her own trend – or at least slightly alter an old one. “I’m going to wear the skirt, and then I’m going to rip it off. From now on it’s the Angela Hucles. It’s no longer the Brandi Chastain.”
Players stated the option of going skort or shorts was their own game-time decision. What if one player wants to wear shorts and rest skorts? Will this cause some team dissension? We’ll have to wait and see.
But it doesn’t really matter what you can do with your kit. It only matters what you can do in it.
Comments
Are they skorts or slightly off center aprons? How retro. And how will they survive a hard sliding tackle? I hope the days are long gone when something so "cutesie" has the power to erode the message that women in pro sports is serious business. I hope. Stick with the shorts. Leave the skirt-y stuff to the tennis players.
Kate, off-centered aprons! I like it. I don't remember the last time I heard the word "cute" to describe a uniform. Maybe only in tennis. One player was wondering the same thing about durability during slide tackles. I'm waiting for opponents to start tearing them off each other during matches since the wrap is only held in place by snap buttons.
i'm beginning to think that the "wrap/skort" was just a gimmick, to have something to talk about, or distract one from really seeing how ill-fitting and "blah" the uniforms really are.
It's "flair," first off, not "flare."
Secondly, apparently WPS didn't hip the players that the wraps were fashion accessories and not something they could potentially choose to wear or not to wear on the field.
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