Brentford's new jersey will be used until 2025

This just in, Brentford have announced their new kit for the 2023-2024 and the 2024-2025 season. Yes, you read that right. Brentford will have the same kit for two seasons, and although this may seem unusual by today’s standards of the football kit industry, the London club has been putting out new jersey designs on a bi-sesonal basis for some time now. The strategy, designed for sustainability and our collective battle against pollution, is certainly to be applauded, as is one of the innovations the jersey will use over the next two seasons: the gradient on the stripes.

Few clubs are as strict as Brentford when it comes to tradition. The red and white stripes have been an absolute staple since they were first introduced in 1925, and have survived almost 100 years with no major alterations. We saw a slight hiccup between 1988-1990 and 2000-2003, when the club decided to adorn the stripes with thin black outlines, but even then the presence of this color was never as heavy and marked as it will be for the next two years.

The 2023-2025 kit is a somewhat revolutionary take on the typical Brentford look that has stood the test of time so valiantly. Three white stripes and two red ones make up the base, as are the shoulders. The sleeves also come in red, although partially, as black takes up the arm hole and its surrounding areas, while the red stripes undergo a gradient transformation into black towards the very bottom of the shirt. 

Not only is this much use of black on the shirt unprecedented, but so is the inclusion of gradient coloring. For a club that has historically put so much value on tradition, this is a bold move. Perhaps, a lot of this can be traced back to PSG, who will also be going with gradient designs for next season. Regarded as a trendsetter and fashion icon among football clubs, the Parisian team could inspire similar designs through the years, and help other football clubs break the barriers of tradition.