Choosing a football kit

The main consideration is comfort. You want to be comfortable when playing, and when waiting on the touchline, in training, when travelling to the match, etc., so think about the versatility of the kit you’re looking at.

Temperature

The thing that will most affect your comfort is probably temperature. You want kit that allows you to cool down – cool-mesh panels are ideal for this. Your body needs to be able to get rid of heat and moisture. But you also want to keep warm during inactive periods.

Wicking fabrics are a good investment – they draw moisture away from your body, but don’t absorb a lot of it, instead the moisture is spread out on the surface, to easily evaporate. This means they don’t get heavy, don’t feel clammy and uncomfortable to wear, and you don’t get cold quickly when you stop playing.

Comfort points

It’s easy to underestimate the little details. Cheap kit can have itchy seams or labels which irritate and affect your playing and ability to concentrate. Don’t just look at the outside of your kit, turn it inside out and have a look inside too. Feel along the seams and anywhere you think the kit might irritate. Pay attention to the look and feel of the fabric and cut.

Longevity

It’s worth paying extra for well-made kit that will last and look as good and perform as well in your hundredth game as in the first. Ask questions like how colourfast is the fabric? How lasting is the wicking property of the fabric?

Look and fit

Another important thing is the look. OK, so the football pitch is not a fashion parade (despite what some might say), but you want your team to look professional. Looking well turned-out affects mental attitude and your playing. And if you’ve got a sponsor, how you look certainly matters to them. A figure-hugging top may look great on David Beckham, but does everyone in your team have that same physique? Some modern fabrics are so stretchy that they cling to every bulge. You may want to avoid that. A slightly looser fit looks good on everybody.

Presentation

Check you can see just what your kit will look like – every style and every colour. Ask for line drawings, photos of players wearing each kit (so you can see how it looks on real people), and zoom right in to each photo to get a closer look. If you can’t do any of these things, ask why not. What are they hiding? Sometimes it’s just lack of effort on the part of the seller, but you should always ask, just in case.

In conclusion

In conclusion, you want a kit that keeps you at the right temperature and wicks sweat and wet away from your body. Check the seams and labels (ours are great), ask whether the colours come out in the wash, and whether the wicking comes from a coating or is a property of the fabric itself. Check that the kit looks good on you and will look good on other members of the team. We think that our gear rates very well on all of these measures – why don’t you have a closer look at our Engage Plain, Striped, Tricolor and SEN Continental kits and find out for yourself.