My bicycle-and-dragon loving 8 year old daughter would still love to get her hands on one of those jerseys.
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I’m no judge of quality or qualification.
Personally as a TV viewer, I like the kits that stand out . Sometimes that’s a design on their back, sometimes it’s from the side. So it can be any colour. If everyone is bright colours then a single colour design would work. If everyone is plain and muted, then that EF kit was great.
As a cyclist I prefer something that’s going to catch 5he eye of a driver, so I hate the all black kits. I love my black bib shorts with a high viz gripper, which I think stands out because that’s the bit that’s moving! Similar for the tops, ideally something bright on the arm/shoulders.
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If not hexagon patern it would be ok, not my favourite but nothing bad honestly. Hexagon pattern ads “photo stock” feeling in my opinion 
Colors at least have some justification in that case and for that name.
And the logo - good name, potential for some fun approach, but the execution is not the best and needs some work (as I would say to my students to not hurt young souls and their fragile feelings:P)
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I think one of the club founders did the design, and he is an operating room nurse in neurosurgery unit!
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I’m more of an Apple Fritter guy…
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Kudos for him! I can do design but couldn’t do his job, so he clearly has an advantage
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We’ve worked with Jakroo on our kits since end of 2018, and have had great experiences. That said, their art department is generally decent, but if you’re looking for something like the EF designs, they’re not going to be able to do that. Last year we worked with a graphic designer that was a club member, and that worked out well. This year, we’re hiring a graphic designer because our prior graphic designer moved across the country.
My suggestions based on helping out on the kit design for the last 6 years:
Does your club have a specific color or colors associated with it? If so, should that be a dominant color or color theme of the kit?
Do what people are doing here - identify kits in the pack you like or don’t like, and figure out what you like or don’t like. We’ve looked at several of the ones identified here, like the SD Worx and Cofidis kits. It’s hard to get a gradient to work, just FYI, and it’s highly dependent on the colors you’re choosing, because the middle is going to be a blend. So they’re harder to pull off than they might seem.
Personally, I don’t like the EF kits, nor do I like the HTSQD kits - they’re too busy, IMO. I also don’t like the muted colors that gravel riders seem to like.
Some of the design also depends on the cut of the jersey - for example, are there cap sleeves or are the sleeves integrated? The Trek Segafredo kit, for example, has a different sleeve pattern than the Cofidis pattern, and it would be harder to do the Trek Segafredo design with the cut of the Cofidis jersey.
Finally, club/team design is often different than what a non-branded design would need - for a club or team, it’s important that the branding is visible from all angles and also legible. When I look at various jerseys available via just a google image search, there are some that look cool, but would be hard to turn into a club branded kit.
Oh, also trying to make your kit identifiable from others in the local peloton is another aspect we aim for. It’s always a bit challenging because we don’t know what everyone else is going to do for their next-year’s jersey, but we can do our best to try to stand out.
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Its subjective I like kits with a good balance of green, black and white. I picked this top up at the Tour of Flanders in 2013 and I think they were already defunct but I grew quite partial to it.
This is truly a brain dump; hopefully, it’s helpful. Sorry that it’s only partially organized and not edited down. Also, not sorry.
TLDR: Have a very specific vision/concept in mind and hang every single decision on that. Every single decision, no matter how small. Plus, pay attention to the on-bike body position and practical requirements.
Cycling position and visibility
Design around the human body in the cycling position
- Some panels will stretch, especially on aero garments; design for this
- If designing for safety visibility, understand the panels/areas that will be seen by drivers, i.e., from the back, the yolk will not be seen, but the pockets and butt panel will be
- If designing for safety visibility, use body motion to your advantage, i.e., leg bands
- If designing for team member visibility, go muted or minimal but have a prominent block of contrasting colour (and shape) for a quicker ID. Use socks for this. Your team mates need something to quickly ID a team member.
- Orient type (and logos with type) to read in the on-bike position. For example, type oriented at 90 degrees, reading top to bottom, will read upside down in the aero position if it’s on the arm. However, on the side panel, it will read right side up.
Historical integrity
Know your history, or at least look at historical examples for inspiration if that’s your thing.
- Don’t just add bands and call it vintage.
- Do you want a pre-80s style felt, stitched wordmark appearance? If so, don’t mix that with a full-colour, gradient sponsor logo above it—they didn’t co-exist.
- If you have sponsors with said logo treatments, at least make them single-colour and solid.
Printing
- Gradients: As noted in a post above, some combinations of colours don’t blend very pleasingly. Sublimation typically uses a minimum 4 inks (CMYK) to create the spectrum of colours you see, sometimes more than double that. If colour 1 uses magenta and yellow to make red and colour 2 uses cyan and black to make a steely blue, neither colour shares an ink that can be printed all the way across the gradient and connect the two colours. So, the red will have to fade to nothing, and the blue will also have to fade to nothing, meaning, as the gradient transitions from red to blue, both colours are fading to nothing as they cross over in the midsection, creating a bland transition—a little yellow and magenta and a little cyan and black equals a muddled colour between your nice red and steely blue. This also happens from one bright colour to black if the production artist doesn’t include yellow in the black. It doesn’t need to be this way. Either blend two colours that share at least one common ink, or, if blending into black, use a ‘rich black’ that incorporates some CMY in addition to the black. You won’t be able to tell on sublimated fabric that the black is a little ‘warm’; it’s going to look black.
- I won’t bother with the print guidelines. Read them and stay within their recommendations for font size, live area, etc.
- Try to avoid crossing the zip area with smaller words
- Be aware of the texture and opacity of the fabric you intend to print on. A thin, waffle fabric may not yield as good contrast or detail as a smooth, heavier fabric. So, those small dots or thin lines may not be seen from more than 12 inches away, never mind from across the road.
Quick brain dump extras
- Print something on the inside collar just for the wearer. It can be “Team (rival) sucks” or a team motto.
- Print something behind the pockets; get creative with that.
- Be mindful of the kit size range, especially if the production company isn’t offering different design files for small and large kits. A roundel may look great on medium but too big on XS and look lost on a 3XL.
- Try to have a cohesive use of colours, shapes, patterns, scale, font(s), etc., across the entire kit. During feedback, you may be tasked with merging two or more concepts together. You presented a stallion; the committee will have you make a camel if you don’t force them into a cohesive concept. By round 3 or 4, just give up and don’t let anyone know you ‘designed’ it because by that point, did you?
- Design for viewing at a distance, mostly. Details are cool, but ensure it looks good from a distance first.
- Sorry, another design 101 thing; please be aware of the history and context of symbols, patterns, colour combinations, and other design elements you are inspired by and choose to use. In the same vein, don’t rip off art (and artists) you see online. Pay for it or be original. At least be inspired by it and make it uniquely yours.
I know I’m leaving years of experience and tips unwritten here. I didn’t intend to write this much, whoops.
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The kit you described as awesome is a shocker. Wouldn’t be caught dead in it.
I don’t like anything that’s got a lot going on. To provide a bit of perspective these are the last couple I’ve bought. I tend to prefer a more simple design with not much going on. Not an easy task with team/club kit when you’ve got to include sponsors.
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Ha. The only one I like is the one he called “bad kit”.
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So welcome to my world of design services, where people are diffrerent and like completely different things - and thats ok When you work with a designer his role is to provide product you will like, it’s a service. That’s why briefing is so important and also choosing the right designer, as they are not equal.
The kits you have provided are very nice and brautiful - clean and classic. Do I like them? Of course, as every classical, minimalistic look.
Fortunatelly (or not) there is no good and bad answer - even kits I do not personally like can be well executed and do their purpoise.
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In northern England in the 90s when there weren’t many cyclists around, lads would shout homophobic slurs at me as they drove past or from outside a pub.
In California, I could wrap my bars in pink and wear whatever I wanted and no one cared.
In north Texas, I don’t wear pink because they can be very, very aggressive with their trucks and homophobic insults the further you ride out of the suburbs (not every ride but then multiple times on other rides). Some riders have told me they wear a Texas flag jersey and have substantially fewer incidents of driver aggression. However, in Austin, I think I could break out the colourful kits again.
Something else to think about. The little cowards don’t shout anything to groups, just when I’m solo.
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I really like the AG2R kits. Generally I’m in the “less is more” school of thought, but that always looks good in the peloton to me. Stands out without being garish. Good clean lines, etc.
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The Caha Rujal TTT kit at the Vuelta a couple of days ago was tight. Coupled with their bikes, it was a striking team look.