Next up in my kit countdown, at #17, is the Columbus Crew. These shirts are pretty much exactly the same as last year, but they’re without the Glidden sponsor. Glidden’s white oval logo wasn’t all that great, but without that oval there to distract us, it draws attention to the weak design of the yellow home shirt. Adidas loves its “swooshy piping” template, but frankly… it sucks. It doesn’t say anything about the team, and isn’t memorable in the slightest.

What we’re left with is meaningless swooshy piping over a blank yellow shirt. I respect Columbus for wearing a color not seen too often, but Dortmund’s Kappa kit proves there are definitely more classy ways to handle yellow. The Crew should keep their color scheme, but find a way to incorporate it better.

Which brings me to the absolutely stunning black-with-yellow-pinstripes away shirt. The downside of wearing bright yellow is the Crew is hardly ever required to wear this change strip. But it utilizes the color scheme in a clean, unique way. I’m not saying black should overtake yellow as the Crew’s primary color, but they should work in a little more black to create better contrast. Stripes look great with this.

Finally, we come to the club’s logo. I’d go so far as to say it’s the worst in Major League Soccer. The realistic depiction of the three construction workers comes off as more than a bit creepy, and just makes me think of women’s hunk calendars. On top of that, I don’t think of Columbus as a particularly construction worker-filled town. Maybe Ohio as a whole, but they’re called the Columbus Crew, not the Ohio Crew. I don’t know what I think they should do about the logo. Anything would be better than this.