West Ham United Launch Away Shirt for 2010-11 Season

West Ham United officially launched their new away kit for the 2010-11 season Thursday. But I have a big problem with it.

Macron, the shirt manufacturer, and West Ham began with a good idea. They took a classic away Hammers jersey (see picture below with Bobby Moore wearing it), but they ruined it. You’ll notice in the picture below that the claret and blue horizontal lines across the chest are much higher up than the new away jersey (pictured above). West Ham and Macron obviously couldn’t find in a way to have the horizontal lines higher up the chest otherwise it would run right across the sponsor’s name.

So, they came up with a solution where the horizontal lines are moved down while the sponsor’s name sits on top of the lines and is featured front-and-center. The issue with this is that it ruins the design of the shirt. The horizontal claret line seems to almost underline the sponsor’s name. Yes, sponsorship is vital but in this particular case, it ruins the design of the shirt. Macron would have been better suited to scrap the design and come up with something completely different.

What do you think? Share your feedback about West Ham United’s new away shirt in the comments section below.

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