The new Bayern Munich primary strip for the 2023-24 season is unusual in that, for a club often known as Die Roten, red is not the main colour of the shirt.
This isn’t completely new for the club – as anybody who can remember the 1990s can attest to.
In addition, a mainly white shirt with red sleeves has heritage there, but it is still a notable change.
Part of the reason is because, since 2019, Bayern have given an undertaking to fans who didn’t like the presence of blue on first kits that they will only comprise red and white and so routes for variation are limited.
In 2021-22, the kit did feature a darker shade of red alongside the traditional hue, but otherwise altering the levels of the main two colours is the strongest option available to designers.
For the season just gone, Bayern’s strip was all-red with the shirt having horizontal stripes of varying width – but even that was almost identical to the 2017-18 iteration apart from the torso.
Bayern fan Simon Treanor is one of those who doesn’t mind having a splash of blue and he wondered how things might have been with the new kit in an alternative universe, maintaining the principle of contrasting sleeves. We have six offerings – feel free to suggest more.
The most conventional, a straight swap of the new one, calling to mind the strips worn in 2003-05 (white sleeves) and 2005-06 (shorts/socks).
Essentially a modern reworking of the 1999-2001 strip, complete with hooped socks. It remains popular but for now it remains out of reach.
Another callback, to 2001-03, when a dark shade of red was paired with charcoal or ‘Raven’, as adidas called it. They would have to be sure to have something for the trip to Köln.
More in the ‘realistic’ than ‘attractive’ pile, taking the 2015-16 or 2021-22 colourway by applying liberal doses of darker red.
Essentially riffing on the previous FKF by Jay from Design Football, a world where Bayern beat Porto in the 1987 European Cup final and lighter blue shorts played a bigger part.
Working off the belief, shared by us and Simon, that a three-colour kit is better than two, the addition of blue to the current strip. The smallest change but, barring a change of tack from Bayern, one that’s off the table.
As always, feedback is welcome along with requests for future FKFs – comment below or tweet @museumofjerseys.
Interesting. My favourite of the bunch is the modern version of the 1999-2001 kit.
Seeing Bayern in white as the dominant colour is a strange one, understood they did wear white shirts with deep red sleeves in their history, but it is a pretty dramatic change. Also, the reverse straight swap is what Arsenal’s kit this coming season could have been had they not gone for the jarring gold adidas stripes and trim.
Nice suggestions.
I would choose the versions from 1999-2001 and 2001-03, but I Guess most Bayern fans would not like those.
Can you please do Birmingham city in adidas with this template with the 2019/20 colour scheme
Two good suggestions Timothy, I’ll get to those in the next few weeks!