These five MLS teams just got blessed by the throwback gods
MLS might have just one-upped MLB with its own ‘City Connect-esque jersey series
Five Major League Soccer teams will be looking very cool during the heat of the summer months. On Tuesday, the league unveiled the Archive Collection, which includes third jerseys that will be worn by Inter Miami, both Los Angeles franchises, Portland Timbers, and Sporting Kansas City throughout the rest of the 2024 season.
The collection is a throwback-inspired series of jerseys, jackets, and even shoes by league apparel provider Adidas. The idea is to continue this collection in future seasons involving other teams. The theme behind the Archive Collection is to lean into the retro vibe of each city.
The five clubs kicking off the adidas x MLS Archive Collection are LA Galaxy, LAFC, Inter Miami CF, Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City. As this throwback-inspired series begins, MLS and adidas will explore expanding which clubs have a third jersey in 2025 and beyond.
Drawing on the nostalgic look of sports broadcasting, advertising, magazines and catalogs, the adidas x MLS Archive Collection creates a unique narrative for each club. The collection features jerseys, jackets and Gazelle shoes that lean into a retro theme of each club’s city.
The LA Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City, both original MLS teams from the first season in 1996, take its fans back to those early days with their third jerseys. Then the Kansas City Wizards, Sporting’s third jersey brings that old vibe back to life with an amazing jersey that should be one of the best sellers. The Galaxy also resurrect their original jerseys as inspiration for their new third which brings them pretty close to what they wore back during the club’s first season.
The Portland Timbers pay tribute to a local soccer hero in their new third kit. Clive Charles was one of the first Black players to play in England’s first division. He joined the Timbers in 1978 and they use that year and his inspirational story as the foundation for their third kit.
LAFC and Inter Miami also get third jerseys, but for teams that have very little history with their jerseys, they both tapped into their city’s design history for their third kits. LAFC’s jersey is inspired by 1970s Southern California iconography, using the team’s primary colors to represent the “setting sun” and the “diversity of their people.” Inter Miami’s jersey officially uses vintage 1980s Miami vibes and Art Deco font that is common in Miami-Dade, but the aqua, white and orange jersey embrace the colors of the Miami Dolphins. Even the jersey numbers remind you of the football jerseys that the Dolphins have had for generations.
The MLS Archive Collection come complete with track jackets and Adidas Gazelle shoes to complete the look, allowing fans to look good in the stands and on the streets
The MLS Archive Collection is expected to expand to other teams in the 2025 season, in what could be the league’s version of Major League Baseball’s City Connect series of uniforms. It has long been unclear which teams would be eligible to wear and sell a third jersey (many estimate it takes a team selling over 100,000 jerseys in one year).
Personally, the Archive Collection could have done more to begin with the teams that started the league back in 1996. The Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, FC Dallas (then Dallas Burn), the New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls (then NY/NJ MetroStars), and the San Jose Earthquakes (then San Jose Clash) are the original teams still in Major League Soccer that are not a part of the Archive Collection.
The Archive Collection is available now for those five teams, and we can expect to see the teams roll out the jerseys on the field in the coming days.