Why Nike & Other Brand's Model Product Pics Are a Bad Choice for Kits
Aug 9, 2020, by Chris
In the past few years, football kits have evolved from being a performance-only product to a piece of fashion. With it, brands and retailers changed the way they presented their new soccer jerseys - but there are not only advantages with that new way of picturing new football kits.
Nike's first-ever Liverpool FC jersey was released on Nike's website without a product-only pic
The trend with the "new pictures" started some years ago - the trend its that brands move away from product-only pictures for football kits to football kits being worn by models. The trend reached its high point this summer and one thing forced us to release this article - Nike's first-ever Liverpool FC jersey was released on Nike's website without a product-only pic.
Product-Only Kit Pics vs 'Fashion' People Kit Pics
The reason for picturing the kits being worn by models is that brands want football kits to be not only worn when making sports or being on the way to the stadium but also in everyday life - brands want kits to be fashion pieces. Most kits of the big brands are not being shown off a simple product pictures but like fashion shoots.
Adidas is having both product-only pics and model pics for the Madrid 20-21 home kit
The more pictures a brand releases of the kit the better
First, the more pictures a brand releases of the kit the better. So there is only a problem if brands do without the product pictures.
There are some advantages and disadvantages of fashion-like football kit images.
Advantages Of Kits Being Worn By Models:
- Feel of how a kit looks when being worn
- Impression of the cut of a football kit
- Looks often more impressive than the product-only picture
Disadvantages Of Kits Being Worn By Models:
- Hard to have a clear look at kit
- Design elements are often not possible to see
- Hard to compare different jerseys
The biggest disadvantage is that details are often not visible
The biggest disadvantage is that sometimes the people-only pictures hide elements inside the collar and other parts - this is, in example, the case with Ajax's 20-21 third kit (the date commemorating the 1971 European Cup win - 2 June 1971 - is printed on the inner neck of the Adidas Ajax 2020-21 third jersey) and not visible on humans-only pictures.
All in all, it can be said that this has been a well-known problem for people making websites about football kits and searching for the best images available, but is now also one for customers who want a cleat look at the kits.
What do you think of brands only releasing images of shirts being worn? Which product pictures do you prefer? Comment below.
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