Ranking the 20 Best Kits of the 2015/16 Season

The 2015/16 season isn’t destined to go down as a classic among football-kit aficionados.

There aren’t too many standout designs around, though some of this season’s myriad template numbers have made the list as a result of inspired tweaks or their excellent use of colours. On a positive note, the pleasing recent trend of retro-style, less-is-more shirts appears to have continued.

If you can overlook the necessary evil of sponsors—ironically, Chevrolet’s logo on Manchester United’s new home and away shirts is perhaps the only thing that isn’t a big plus—there are several memorable kits teams could immortalise with significant victories or trophy successes this season.

When it comes to assessing and appreciating kits, bias has no place and colour preferences need to be overlooked. However, as there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to taste, this ranking of the best kits of the 2015/16 season is purely subjective.

Honourable Mentions

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Rather than a place to list kits that just missed out on the countdown, the Honourable Mentions slide is reserved for teams whose manufacturers have tried something a little different, listened to the calls of supporters or referenced landmark moments.

A special mention must go to Puma for its new Swerve shirt, variations of which will be sported by Arsenal and Newcastle United, with its gradient-infused diamond pattern evoking the popular geometric-patterned numbers of the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, the overlarge size of the diamonds and odd angling of the shading means the jerseys fall just short of becoming instant classics.

On the subject of gaudy prints, Croatian top-flight heavyweights Hajduk Split will be sporting what is arguably the most unique design to grace a football shirt since Athletic Club’s infamous Dario Urzay-designed top from 2004.

The Macron-manufactured third shirt is grey—a colour that will forever live in football infamy thanks to one day at the Dell in 1996—and combines staples of ‘70s and ‘90s tops, namely a big collar with triangle inset and a pattern that’s best described as a manifestation of brain freeze. By no means a nice shirt, it is easily one of this season’s most unforgettable.

Errea has revisited the classic blue-and-amber-stripes of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s for Shrewsbury Town’s 2015/16 number. The design, immortalised by This Is Spinal Tap, has only been seen on a few occasions since its four-campaign run came to an end in 1982, demonstrated by Historical Football Kits. The white trim and the cheap look of the shirt’s material deny it a place on the countdown.

Dropping down a division of the football league, we find Exeter City and their third kit. Remarkably, back in 1914, the Grecians were the first opponents of what would become Brazil’s national football team—BBC Sport detailed the story behind the meeting ahead of the 100th anniversary last year.

That match was played at the then-home of Fluminense. Pleasingly, Joma has done well with its take on Flu’s iconic strip, finding an interesting way to include maroon, green and white without resorting to outright imitation.

What follows is the countdown of the 20 best kits of the 2015/16 season.

20. Borussia Dortmund Away/Goalkeeper Alternative

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White isn’t a colour one associates with Borussia Dortmund, whose home and away kits have rarely deviated from the club’s yellow-and-black colour palette in recent years, but it has been employed excellently for this season’s third kit-cum-goalkeeper alternative.

The crew neck collar on this Puma Pitch template—which typically takes a V-neck—and the way the bold, yellow sleeve stripes complement the collar and cuffs’ thin black piping make for a stylish shirt that is notably different yet unmistakably Dortmund.

19. Caen Home

Barcelona aren’t the only team whose kits are supplied by Nike to see their traditional blue-and-red stripes used as part of a new motif this season. Unlike Barca, however, Caen’s home shirt looks good for it.

The template, which will also be sported by Southend United in 2015/16, sees blue used as the predominant colour. Red pinstripes ensure some semblance of tradition is there, but unlike West Bromwich Albion’s ill-advised home strip from last term, the foray into new territory works.

18. Leeds United Home

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Kappa has introduced a unique collar for its shirts this season, a cross between a mandarin and Y-neck, which looks particularly smart when boldly contrasted against the base colour of the shirt. It doesn’t look any better than in the colours of Leeds United.

With white shirts offset by a darker blue than you’d typically associate with the club, the effectiveness of the strip is in its simplicity. The lack of sponsor and historical badge on the socks enhances an overall great look for the Championship outfit.

17. Fortuna Dusseldorf Home

Gone are the Croatia-style sleeves for an interesting variant on the Puma Pitch template at the Esprit Arena. Fortuna Dusseldorf are no strangers to interesting tweaks to their standard red shirts, with hoops and stripes being common modifications over the years. However, on those occasions, the red has almost exclusively been contrasted by white.

White is used to offset the red again this time around, but only as a tertiary colour for the collar, cuffs and standard arm block of the jersey. The hoops, which are repeated on the stockings, are a deeper red than the base colour, while the aforementioned white flashes reduce the potential for Dennis the Menace comparisons and make for a chic number.

16. Galatasaray Away

Turkish champions Galatasary’s ill-judged home number, which sees the kit completely halved—a look last notably sported by Racing Santander—won’t be appearing on anyone’s ranking of this season’s best kits. The away, however, is a different story.

The sleek black number, featuring barely perceptible stripes, is offset by amber-and-crimson piping. Mirroring the half-and-half concept of the home kit, the trim on the right-hand side is amber while crimson offsets the left.

15. Rayo Vallecano Away

Not just making a statement of support for the “unsung heroes of society,” Rayo Vallecano’s away kit overcomes any problems you might think would arise from the presence of a rainbow to be one of the best kits this season.

The black base colour complements the rainbow sash, the presence of which is a nice hat tip to the design typically found on the club’s home shirt.

14. Cologne Home

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After last season’s ‘60s-inspired, Monaco-esque kit, Cologne will be looking soigne in all white at the RheinEnergieStadion this time around.

Offset by bold red trim on the sleeves and its unusual collar, the ringer-style shirt retains an element of the diagonal pattern from 2014/15’s vintage in the form of grey pinstripes, with every other one of which featuring what appear to be heart-rate monitor spikes on first inspection but are in actual fact outlines of the city’s cathedral.

13. Werder Bremen 3rd

Another team always good for interesting strips is Werder Bremen. This time around, the club’s third kit somehow manages to employ a reference to the Brothers Grimm tale the Town Musicians of Bremen and still look classy. For that reason alone, it is worth its place on this list.

From the downsized ‘70s-style collar-inset combo and smart piping of the shirt’s cuffs to, yes, the subtle silhouette of a donkey, dog, cat and rooster piled on top of each other, this polished kit means the club's fans will be hoping every team they face on the road wears a green-and-navy home kit.

12. CD Guadalajara Away

You know you’ve got a great kit on your hands when it works so well the prominent “BIMBO” plastered front and centre is a complementary piece rather than a cause for a Beavis and Butt-head-esque snigger.

Employing the palette of red, white and navy used on CD Guadalajara’s iconic home strips, this sharp kit features a faint diamond pattern lifted from the old team badge that’s employed in place of the current version. By using colours associated with the team and making a nice nod to its heritage, Adidas has created one of 2015/16’s better kits.

11. Marseille Home

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Marseille fans will likely acquiesce to having their away top be a carbon copy of Bayern Munich’s home shirt from last season because of the return of aqua blue to this season’s home kit after it made way for a darker variation on last term’s bland number.

Featuring the mesh-like trim prominent on a number of Adidas kits this season, the shirt sports a new badge and mandarin collar that give it a vintage feel not even the clashing sponsor logo can spoil.

10. Eintracht Frankfurt Home

In the opening slide of this article, sponsors were described as a “necessary evil” best overlooked when analysing kits. However, as Eintracht Frankfurt’s home shirt for the forthcoming campaign attests, they can sometimes enhance the overall look.

A departure from the norm in the same manner as Internazionale’s home shirt last season, the red that predominantly features on Frankfurt’s home jerseys has been minimised to pinstripes on a black jersey. Unlike Inter’s switch, however, it’s a look Frankfurt have had before—though the red shorts that accompanied the 1972-73 version have made way for black this time around.

9. Roma Away

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Roma kits have been a staple of lists such as these for the past few seasons, and they appear here for the attractive second strip they’ll be wearing when facing a colour clash away from the Stadio Olimpico next season.

The understated white kit, with its Henley collar and home-colour cuff trim, contains the subtlest graphic of the city from which the team hails. It may not be as smart as last season’s corresponding strip, and it would probably be improved by an erstwhile emblem, but it continues Nike’s excellent run of designs for the Giallorossi.

8. Bayern Munich Home

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Bayern Munich’s home shirts have had more variations and components than Jack Wilshere has had injuries, but most of the team’s iconic strips have predominantly featured just a single colour: red.

The royal-blue stripes and white stockings of last year have been flung out of the door and replaced by even more red. Bill Shankly famously swapped Liverpool’s white shorts for red in 1964 when he noted how intimidating it made his players look. Besides the manufacturer’s logo and emblem, this season’s Bayern kit features nothing but two strong shades of red, supporting Shankly’s theory and making Pep Guardiola’s men look as neat as they do menacing.

7. Crystal Palace Away

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When the kit was first launched, Crystal Palace were between sponsors, meaning it was paraded in all its untainted glory. Despite the fact a sponsorship agreement has since been reached, this modish amalgamation of Palace kits from yesteryear remains dashing.

The red-and-blue vertical stripes are employed in a manner similar to home shirts of the early ‘70s, while the colours conjure images of classic home kits from later that decade and the first half of the ‘80s, upon which the stripes were employed diagonally. The unique halved collar is identical to the one on the home kit. Unlike the first strip, however, the away is a timeless effort.

6. Internazionale Home

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It’s often repeated that, when it comes to football shirts, there is only so much you can do with stripes. Despite that, Internazionale’s new home top features the return of bold blue-and-black stripes after last season’s dalliance with pinstripes.

That’s not to say the 2014/15 vintage wasn’t nice—for a design going against tradition and thus always flirting with disaster, Nike pulled it off and created one of the better kits of this decade—it’s just it wasn’t Inter. The lack of embellishment, smart collar, brighter blue than recent variations and the fact the overall design recalls the strip worn as the club triumphed in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup makes this season’s effort one of the best around.

5. Oxford United Home

Oxford United state the case for teams to listen to their fans and make all kits in house with this spectacular homage to the garb they sported when they won the League Cup 30 years ago.

The Wang Computers sponsorship has gone—sorry, Martin Prince—but the contrasting yellow hoops and minimalist ox crest are back. This kit wouldn’t look out of place if it was delivered to the team’s dressing room on that famous day at Wembley back in 1986, which speaks to its faithfulness to the original.

4. Ajax Home

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Ajax home kits are very hard to get wrong, but truly doing them right is another matter. The red, penguin-style block down the centre of an otherwise white shirt is one of the most iconic designs in football.

Enough time has passed that the fact the club’s shirt sponsor isn’t written vertically should no longer affect our judgement. Even if it did, you’d be hard-pressed to be bothered for too long when it comes to this smart, minimal effort. A nice touch is the cuffs, which fold upward to reveal the flag of Amsterdam.

3. Saint-Etienne Home

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Le Coq Sportif have made a triumphant return to supplying kits for top-tier teams this summer. Choosing between Fiorentina and Saint-Etienne was essentially a coin toss, which was won out by the latter because of the French flag-coloured trim, a feature of Les Verts’ Le Coq Sportif-branded kits of 40 years ago, when they won Ligue 1 and reached the European Cup final.

As for the giant sponsor—a feature of many French teams’ shirts—it’s nothing compared to the one that adorned their jersey back in 1975/76.

2. Nantes Home

Coming directly from the age when almost every kit was a classic, the 1980s, is Umbro’s latest effort for Nantes. The Manchester-based supplier has arguably been producing the best-looking kits in recent years, with its retro-style efforts often incorporating touches of modern chic.

It was tough to decide between Nantes’ home and away kits for the team’s place in these rankings, but despite its much-easier-on-the-eye palette, the stylish, navy-blue second strip doesn’t contain the inspired stripes that feature on the cuffs of the yellow home top. Reflect those stripes on the stockings, throw in the distinctive, contrasting collar and monochrome badge, and you have one classy look.

1. West Ham United Home

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The best home kit in the Premier League this season is also the best club kit in world football for 2015/16. An homage to the strip worn by West Ham United during the club’s first season at the Boleyn Ground, though shrewdly overlooking the neck lace, the kit means the Hammers will be looking sharper than any other team in football during their final months at Upton Park.

The hooped-neck design, a staple of turn-of-the-century shirts that Historical Football Kits chalks up to teams trying to emulate the dominant Aston Villa side of the era, is pulled off with aplomb while the gold is used sparingly enough to be tasteful. It truly is a kit that’ll be looked upon with fondness for years to come.

What do you think are the best kits this season? Is it good that there’s no accounting for taste, given there is clearly none evident in this slideshow? Voice your opinions in the comments section or get in touch via Twitter.