It has been interesting reading through your thoughts and opinions of what is the worst team kit of all time. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting, as I thought there would be a clear cut view of something quite hideous. Maybe there would have been more from the decade of Day-Glow or some of the more elaborate designs gone very wrong, which when I say elaborate, I mean the one with a picture of a guy and his moustache.
It was rather interesting to see there was a big divide with very much a love or hate opinion over designs and maybe some of the comments had more to do with riders rather than the look of the kit. Dave in the office is a firm believer that anything Cippolini wore was amazing! Maybe that’s more to do with his love for Cippolini than the design of his skin suits. However if you’ve ever seen Dave, you might understand!(Well I hope so for his sake).
One thing where everybody shared the same opinion, was that there is nothing worse than a design which fails to provoke any emotional response. Neither disgusting or amazing, just being plain boring is the worst offender of all. When you can’t see any passion or imagination in a design, it certainly does not deserve an investment of your hard earned money. You can wear a truly horrific team kit and pass it off as ‘retro’, but to be seen in that boring number, well that’s just unforgivable.
With a tally up of the comments it appears we have a clear winner, well loser to be more precise!
So with out further ado I can reveal the winner with most votes for the worst designed kit goes to………
( I believe the drum roll is called for but I prefer to build anticipation with a bit of a trumpet solo )
RADIOSHACK!!
So a big congratulation goes out to who ever in the Radioshack team said “yes” to the latest to go into the library of design blunders. It’s hard to believe that several people sat round a table and agreed that this was the look for 2010. Maybe lance Armstrong himself designed it and it was a case of the emperors new clothes..??
Thank you for all your comments, it has made for some very interesting reading.
Now here is one for you, if Lance pulls of something very special this year and wins the Tour. Will peoples opinions change?
Comments
How about a slideshow of all the nominated "worst kits"? I'd like to add that constantly I lament that I don't own an Acqua & Sapone zebra stripe kit, that I would wear only on special occasions.
I would love to see the old guy pull off win number 8, but I will not be lining up to buy a hideous Radioshack replica jersey anytime soon!
Me too. I mean I know he is far from the best anymore but jesus when you have been that good and pretty muchmy inspiration to beliebe I could get back racing again a couple of years ago , all is forgiven but this kit is shocking .
Radioshack would have been better using almost Livestrong kit as the Black and Yellow is at least desirable .
Whta where or are they thinking .
I hate it on so many levels .
It makes me want to never buy Radioshack products as if the kit is this shit what is their stock like !!!
the multi coloured mapei kit from the late 90's was way worse. i really don't mind the shack kit. better than the brown one another team is sporting
Jack – you're refering to the Footon kit, no? Yep, that's pretty ugly.
But the Shack kit is a Bore – at least Footon took a risk and did something new.
It may have backfired – but at least they tried.
The Shack kit says "Designed by Committee" – boring and conservative. I think the grey is what really kills it – substitute for black and it would jump in the ratings.
Should have gotten the guys that made bolder design choices like Cervelo and Sky and given them some artistic lee-way.
Radio Shack is a crime because, due to the Lance-factor, their kit was highly anticipated by all the Lance Fan Boys and Girls out there – now they will be riding ugly!
i never voted but agree with the comments above!
You're all high. When the Shack boys are in the peleton, they're the ones you'll see because of the kit design. Maybe it's the simplicity of the design that's not getting good reviews, but from a sponsor's perspective, I would imagine that this new kit will highlight and promote the sponsor well. I can think of several kits that don't do the sponsor much promotion.
Oh dude your tripping .!
If it looks nasty it reflects badly on the products that the sponsor sells. It's dreadful marketing.
Cervelo now that is awesome kit design.It looks sleek and elegant .
It increase brand value and desirability
This sucks . It looks cheap and it therefore cheapens the brand if Radioshack are saying hey look at our cheap and nasty products then you are correct but on a graphic design ,aerial perspective , aesthetic level up close. from a helicopter or on satellite Imagery from hubble this is lousy design .
Vroomen-White you aint if you think this is good design
At the Tour Down Under it was the Livestrong helmet not the jersey you had to look out for.
Radioshack looks just like Cofidis and Caisse D'Epargne (spelling?) in the peleton.
Surely the fugly Fuji – Servetto has to take the cake on this one…. beige, skin coloured number with totally mismatching livestrong coloured helmets to boot.
The Radioshack kit is pretty boring but so is the Sky kit – and that one-piece suit is embarasssing.
Thank you for all the detail… Yet a typical amazing picture, that’s the reason we arrive for your webpage generally.
The Shack boys are easy to spot in the peloton because that ugly design.. The team's name should be the Crap boys. LANCE, what happen?
I agree, that is one of the worst designs in the whole history of cycling
Because this article doesn't actually have any critical deconstruction of what actually makes the RS kit ugly, I tend to think this is just more anti-Lance BS.
Clearly, the 80s and neon produced the most horrendously offensive kits.
Go Lance! Go Sam Bewley! Go the Shack! Mint Kit!
See after Tour De France who's kit is out there most!
Fuji Pooton kit the worst!
I agree that Radioshack is boring but I don’t think that alone should condemn it to being the worst. In this years peleton the most hideous was the Futon design, non descript beige, it looked at times as if the guys were riding in the scud. As for Sky, how anyone could consider that even a design amazes me, it was bland, boring and dull. Maybe it was designed to look like a black TV screen with the Sky logo, if so it worked, and who wants to watch a blank screen with a Sky logo??