Crimson? Orange? Trump-coloured? Brighton 2022-23 away kit reviewed
When Brighton dropped their new 2022-23 away kit, it initially looked fantastic. The Albion have only ever worn orange once in their history, a short-lived third kit in the 2014-15 campaign forever associated with Sami Hyypia’s Reign of Terror.
Seeing as it was the most basic of Nike templates worn by around 60 percent of the Sussex Sunday League at the time, we can discount it as ever having existed.
Which means the 2022-23 away kit is something totally fresh for Brighton. Following the insanely popular hyper-turq, the Albion are now more adventurous than a Dulux colour chart with their choice of alternative shirt.
The orange colour drew plenty of comparisons to other orange things. Some Brighton fans wondered if it was inspired by the weather map, currently a very dark orange to helpfully point out that it is bloody hot right now to anyone who has not noticed.
Others said it looked like a highlighter pen. Or Donald Trump. Or had Nike just repurposed the orange goalkeeper kit from the 2020-21 season and hoped nobody would notice?
Our good friend Jem Stone suggested the orange wrappers in a bag of Starbust, which will set you back £3.40 at the Amex during Euro 2022.
We wait with baited breath to discover if that increase is to remain in place when Brighton return to Premier League action.
Here at WAB Towers, the new kit looked reminiscent of Thatchers Blood Orange Cider. To be desperate for a can at 11am on a Friday afternoon because of what Lewis Dunk, Pascal Gross and Danielle Carter is wearing is not necessarily a good thing.
Maybe this will lead to Thatchers Blood Orange being the drink of choice at 5.30am on the train out of Brighton for an away day?
Starting with the opening game of the season when the Albion go to Manchester United. Oh wait, no… Brighton will not be able to wear their new orange away kit at Old Trafford as it will clash with United red.
In fact, there are 11 away matches in the 2022-23 season where orange will clash with the hosts, as highlighted by Seagulls Social.
Away matches that we'll most likely 𝗡𝗢𝗧 be able to wear the new away kit:
• Arsenal
• Bournemouth
• Brentford
• Palace
• Liverpool
• Man Utd
• Forest
• Southampton
• Wolves
• Villa
• West HamI think #BHAFC just wanted another season in the hyper turquoise 😂 pic.twitter.com/HzyTlbWqdc
— SEAGULLS SOCIAL (@SeagullsSocial) July 15, 2022
Depending on who the Albion draw in cup matches, the new orange kit may only be used nine times in total. Not exactly value for money at £55 per shirt.
As Seagulls Social point out, that does at least mean the hyper-turq might be seen a lot this coming season. Presuming the Seagulls opt against doing something radical like wearing blue and white away from home when there is no colour clash.
Brighton enjoyed an outstanding campaign on the road wearing hyper-turq in 2021-22, finishing in fifth spot in the away-only table. 16th in the home-only table was less impressive.
A bigger bugbear than the potential lack of use is that Nike have labelled the kit as crimson. Crimson is a rich, deep red colour. Or a 2015 horror movie directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Tom Hiddlestone and the lovely Jessica Chastain. From the release photos, this shirt is very much not crimson.
Something else which has drawn much comment is that one of the sleeves looks weird. The orange crimson darkens as it moves from one side to the other, and yet the sleeve where the darker shade of orange crimson is remains the same lighter colour of the other sleeve.
This creates an unbalanced appearance, as though a darker orange darker crimson sleeve has fallen off and been replaced with the wrong shade by mistake.
But what do the public thing? Our snap-poll on the new 2022-23 Brighton away kit revealed that 60 percent like it, 25 percent are indifferent and 15 percent do not like it. Solid enough numbers to suggest it will be a success.
The WAB summary is thus: The first reaction was wow. And it is one of the better away kits which Nike have produced in their nine seasons working with the Albion.
But upon reflection, it still has the feel of a generic Nike template shirt. Which means that somebody like Portsmouth or Hartlepool probably have the exact same. The England women’s away kit is not a million miles away from it, either.
As we seem to say every year, there are so many kit suppliers out there who could do a much better job for the Albion than Nike. The Errea Era of Brighton kits is testament to that.
Sadly though, money trumps everything else and whilst the American company continue to offer big bucks, we are stuck with them for the foreseeable future.
And most importantly of all – it most definitely is not crimson.
