At the time of writing, Arsenal beat Bournemouth in the FA Cup last night and while enjoying the way that Arsenal actually played like a team with a plan, I couldn’t help but notice that their opponent’s kit was a bit – and I hate the word – meh.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad at all and the sponsor goes a long way to make it a lot worse, but I understand that there’s only so much you can do with a black and red striped shirt before purists start burning down kit manufacturer’s head offices.
It is too shiny though. Looks a bit, I don’t know, cheap.
On top of that, and I suppose I wouldn’t hold it in any esteem because I’m not a fan, but I really don’t like their badge.
I understand that it’s a tribute to Dickie Dowsett, but by all accounts he played for a lot of clubs and crests with people on them make me a bit queasy.
Anyway, this is what I made for the team…
As you can see, I’ve changed the badge but rather than take the liberty of making one up, I’ve employed the design that would have been work by Dowsett when he scored all of those lovely goals. Let’s call it a “special edition” kit…
Along with that, I’ve overlaid a cherry blossom design across the thick red bars on the shirt, paying homage to the team’s nickname ‘The Cherries’ without sticking a pair of cherries on the shirt of opening yourself up for a pretty obvious joke from opposition.
Alternate designs include a shirt without white lines either side of the red bars, with the cherry blossom pattern continuing the dark grey/black from the other bars…
…no white lines but the same, darker red cherry blossom…
…and no cherry blossom pattern, but white lines…
Alfie Powell Design 