Wondered why so many MLS kits had the exact same template - had no idea about that! They’re pretty much all really nice kits from what I’ve seen. Shame about these referee kits imo
I don't think there's any way the "stock" kits are going to be what the MLS referees wear. From what I've gleaned from others, the new kits will be bespoke kits. Apparently there was a sub-group of PRO referees with significant input on materials and design. Since this is a major marketing opportunity for Capelli, I'm assuming they will have unique colors from what I attached as their "stock" referee colors. The shirts in the catalog are made to be close to the standard colors and design of the officially-licensed US referee apparel made by Official Sports. Several different vendors make referee shirts in the US, but they all have the same color scheme so they allow referees to wear one of five approved colors (yellow is primary in the US, with black, blue, green, and red alternates with no priority as to which alternate color is more accepted.
Capelli makes some nice uniforms and apparel. One of the big clubs in my home state (Iowa) wears Capelli, and they always have sharp-looking kits. If there is a group that actually spends some time developing these, I think they can come up with something that looks good. I'm guessing it will look similar to either the Nike kits or the Macron UEFA kits depending on whether the input advocated a polo-style collar or not.
As usual in the US, we have so many fingers in the pie when it comes to referee uniforms. Our club matches under USSF (the US version of the FA) has one version of kits (first link below). Collegiate matches have a different set of kits (second link). Both of these are from Official Sports, which once upon a time supplied the Premier League kits. Many state high school associations have yet another set of kits (one particularly ghastly example is in the third link). Fortunately, Iowa only requires the team to wear the same color and style of kit for high school, so 99% of the time we just wear our USSF club kits. The other 1% would be if we either wore pink jerseys (same style as the USSF, but pink isn't an approved USSF color) or the orange NISOA/collegiate shirts.
officialsports.com
officialsports.com
MADE IN USA FLOURESCENT GREEN AND BLACK STRIPES ON FRONT PANEL AND SOLID FLOURESCENT GREEN PANEL 100% PERFORMANCE MANAGEMANT MESH FABRIC "KHSAA" LOGO ON LEFT POCKET WHITE BORDER FLAG ON LEFT SLEEVE BLACK SHOULDERS AND SELF HEM SLEEVES BLACK CADET STYLE COLLAR 5" FRONT PANEL ZIPPER TWO INSET...
smittyapparel.com
I won't even show the "in action" photo as it showed the referee with a neck lanyard like a basketball referee . . .
Screenshot 2021-01-11 094814.jpg
