The Premier League Needs to Fix Its Inflexible Kit Font
- Premier League's Restrictive Font Policy: The Premier League enforces a strict limit of only five approved color options (white, black, red, navy, and hi-vis yellow) for all club kit fonts, making it the most restrictive among European football leagues.
- Impact on Kit Aesthetics: This inflexible policy causes visual mismatches as clubs are forced to choose from generic font colors that often clash with the custom, precise accent colors of their bespoke kit designs, as seen with examples from Arsenal and Liverpool.
- Solution from Other Leagues: Other major leagues like Serie A, La Liga, and MLS allow clubs to customize font colors to match their kits while maintaining a standardized typeface, demonstrating that the Premier League could easily solve its color mismatch problem by relaxing its current restrictions.
While standardized league typefaces have become standard practice across European football, the Premier League remains by far the most restrictive when it comes to visual execution. Even after introducing a refreshed typeface some years ago, the league continues to enforce a strict limit of just five approved colorways for all 20 clubs: white, black, red, navy, and hi-vis yellow.
Mismatching Colors in Premier League due to Just 5 Color Options
The issue with the Premier League's regulation is that it clashes with kit design. Kit manufacturers create bespoke jerseys featuring precise accent colors such as gold, maroon, cream, mint, or even a simple yellow. However, when those shirts are worn in English top-flight matches, teams are forced to pick from the five stock color options.
A prime example is visible on Arsenal's 26-27 away kit, where a custom color-matched nameset used in cup competitions seamlessly aligns with the shirt's detailing, whereas the mandatory Premier League alternative visually disconnects from the jersey design. In the 26-27 season, Arsenal decided to use white names and numbers - after in 19-20, they chose the hi-vis yellow option that clashed with the yellow of the shirt.
Similarly, Liverpool chose black for their Premier League 26-27 away kit, simply because the red EPL option is of a more striking shade than the red Adidas used.
Time to Follow Other Leagues
Other top competitions have already shown that brand consistency and kit harmony can easily coexist. Leagues like Serie A, La Liga, and MLS mandate a single official font for readability, but give clubs complete freedom to customize the font colors to match each kit's specific trim. Meanwhile, the Bundesliga offers complete creative freedom by allowing bespoke fonts for every shirt.
By simply relaxing color restrictions while keeping its official typeface, the Premier League could instantly solve color mismatches and elevate shirt design across the league.
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