For the first time in club history, New York City FC have an official third kit: Say hello to the NYCFC Parks Kit. A collaboration between the club, adidas, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Parks Kits are made with 100% Recycled Polyester (PES).
The kit is available at the official NYCFC store, and runs $149.99 for Authentic, $99.99 for Replica, and $79.99 for Youth Replica.
New York is green?
Let’s address this right away: The Parks Kit is green. Like, really green. It’s mostly a deep forest green with light spring-green accents in highly-pixelated squares, and it brings to mind the way sunlight filters through old-growth trees to illuminate young leaves.
There are sky-blue accents around the neck and sleeves and along the sides. It’s a nod to NYCFC blue, and to the blue of the actual sky. We’re cool with that, but we’re way more into details like the ornate NYCFC on the back of the neck, and the NYC Parks insignia on the waist.
To be honest, we were a bit skeptical when the kit leaked last week. But now that we get to spend some time with these high-quality images from NYCFC photographer Katie Cahalin, we’re digging the kit. It’s – ahem – growing on us.
2,300 parks, baby
There were some “what the?” rumblings since the kit was leaked, especially with the New Jersey Red Bulls introducing the “Freestyle Kit” that celebrates hip-hop, and Atlanta United dropping a graffiti kit. We’re not going to make too big of a deal out of it. So what if hip-hop was born in the Bronx, and graffiti became an art form on the subways and streets of New York? This city has culture to spare — go ahead, New Jersey and Georgia, appropriate.
Instead, we’re going to celebrate the parks in this concrete jungle: Over 27%of New York City is parkland and open spaces, which is the most in the United States. Only 7.6% of Atlanta is parkland. NYC Parks runs 1,700 parks, while state and other green spaces bring the city’s total up to 2,300according to the New York Times.
Anybody in New York City who has kicked around a ball, taken a lunch break, or spent time man-marking a toddler in a playground knows that parks are an essential part of our urban lives.
Doubling down on New York City
This is the second NYCFC kit that draws on the traditions of New York City. The Interboro Kit, introduced at the start of this season, uses a subway mosaic-style pattern to texture the sky-blue shirt. That kit was introduced with a photo shoot at a bodega, which might be the most New York City thing you can do.
Which leads us to ask: What’s next? How do you out-New York the subways, Central Park, and a bodega cat?
The club is setting a high bar for the second kit that is expected to drop before the start of the next season.