Why does the Man United 2023/24 away kit have green/white stripes?

Man United have unveiled a wildly different look for their 2023/24 away kit. However, these green and white stripes have a meaning and historic reference.

Adidas and the Red Devils launched the shirt on Monday morning. For 2023/24, United have returned to a striped away shirt – with vertical stripes last seen on a club kit in the 1990s.

Here, though, they are “night green” and white, with the green elements much thicker than the lighter shade. Additionally, pencil-thin maroon lines dissect the white stripes.

????Shirt Alert????

Manchester United have released their brand new away shirt!

What do you think? ???? pic.twitter.com/pdSCc4I3Y8

— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) July 24, 2023

Elsewhere, the club crest has received a colour overhaul to match those on the jersey. A thick, yet tidy, white collar cleans up the top of the shirt and has Adidas stripes running down the shoulders.

The socks then follow the shirt’s style, green with white hoops. Contrastingly, the shorts for this kit come in black.

It is undoubtedly one of the more unusual away strip styles that we have seen from Manchester United in recent years. But the club and Adidas have provided some context as to why they will wear green/white stripes.

The design choices of the 2023/24 Man United away kit explained

United says that this particular shirt uses the Red Devils’ early away strips as inspiration. So, if we delve into the archives, Man United used to have green & white striped alternate shirts in the early 1900s.

From 1902-1906, green and white were the away colours of the team. After this, plain white, or blue and white, became the norm. So, there is a clear nod to the club’s history in this 2023/24 Man United away kit.

????️ A homage of our city.

This the story of our stripes ????#MUFC || @adidasFootball

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 24, 2023

But that is not all. The darker shade of green reportedly embodies “the urban landscape” of the city of Manchester. The Northwest city has a renowned music and cultural scene, which United has represented with its deep colourway here. The red lines on the white stripes also represent the city’s architecture, apparently.

Overall, the distinctive away shirt is a tribute to the city of Manchester as well as the team’s storied heritage.

When was the last time a Red Devils kit had stripes?

The most recent instance of explicitly vertical stripes of alternating colour on a Manchester United strip was back in 1995/96. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side donned white and blue stripes during this campaign, where they won a league and FA Cup double.

But there have been instances of horizontal “hoops” more recently than this. For instance, in 2012/13, Nike gave United a blue/black hooped jersey for their third kit.

Man United will debut their new 2023/24 away kit during their US pre-season tour. Erik ten Hag’s men will wear the fresh threads for the first time against Wrexham on 25 July.

Featured image credit: Manchester United