This is Manchester City’s new 2016-17 away kit by Nike.
The kit is predominantly black with red detailing and flashes of yellow. The look is inspired by famous black and red kits of Manchester City’s past and a Manchester icon: the worker bee.
The insect has been synonymous with Manchester since the early nineteenth century when it was first used to symbolise the city’s rapid growth during the Industrial Revolution. Since 1842 Manchester’s coat of arms has featured seven worker bees, and the insect can also be seen throughout the city on buildings, bridges, bollards, and a floor mosaic in the Town Hall.
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As a nod to the color of the bee’s eye-catching stripes, the new away kit’s distinctive black body and red shoulder and sleeves are embellished with vibrant yellow detailing. Yellow runs throughout the kit, notably in the club crest on the shirt and shorts, the Nike Swoosh and the Etihad Airways logo.
The club’s crest, new for 2016-17 and first featured on the recently revealed home kit, is reimagined on the away kit in yellow and black – with the color scheme evoking the worker bee, while the badge immortalises other iconic Mancunian symbols including the Red Rose of Lancashire and Manchester’s trading ship.
Two tributes to the club are also knitted into the design: the word “City” at the back of the collar, and, on the inside of the cuffs, “Est. 1894” feature as another reminder of the club’s storied history and reference to the new badge.
Shades of red have been a feature of Manchester City away kits throughout the modern age, most memorably in the iconic red and black striped away kit of the 1960s, worn in the Club’s 1969 FA Cup Final victory and more recently in 2011-12, another historic title-winning season.
From the front both red and black are visible, emphasising the power of the shoulders’ outline, but from the sides only the black is visible. The sides of the kit feature a red stripe that runs the length of the shirt and shorts. Expanding when the player is in motion, the stripe maximizes ventilation and reveals a subtle underlying yellow.
Yellow socks, with a black linear graphic on the calf, showcase the kit’s primary accent color and accentuate speed.
