I recall hearing something about that but it wasn't publicly acknowledged so it's hard to say. FWIW though, USMNT, like FIFA has a veritable army of lawyers whose full time job, apparently, is scurrying around filing reams and reams of lawsuits, threats and TRO's stopping people from coming anywhere close to one of their marks. Even if you could probably prevail in court, it will take you ten years and cost $10 million to do so and there's just not that much profit in it to make it worthwhile.
I know nothing about a cease and desist, but they have active postings for a not small amount of US gear. Again with the money and lawsuits, but it would be interesting to see a case like that play out. For the 2022 World Cup, it felt like a lot of different companies had a variation of fan-inspired US kits. I bought one from Olive & York over buying the official thing from Nike. https://www.supportersupply.co/shop/team-usa-gear/46
It's definitely a fine line. There's a difference between "American Soccer" or "Soccer in the USA" vs the USMNT or USSF. Some of that stuff seems very close.
Believe it was about the Waldo inspired jersey specifically. Which makes sense since this summers jersey will be a wavy Waldo
I wish I knew the rules and scale of what is considered inspired by vs. an actual copy...or at least had the time to go down an internet rabbit hole and learn more. I found the Waldo kit I bought in 2022 and it looks like it's still available for sale. In this case, I think the SuppCo badges look a little more like the USSF badge, but it's still such a grey area. https://oliveandyork.com/products/usa-jerseys?_pos=1&_psq=united+s&_ss=e&_v=1.0
A lot of times it depends on the company or person or organization that holds the rights. For example, copyright is always inherent under current law. But its not actionable until there is a complaint from the copyright holder. And it's far more civil than criminal. Trademarks are similar (I just know copyright better, which is why I mentioned that first) except you have to apply for it and keep it active. Disney is notorious for pursuing this (while playing fast and loose with authors and royalties). One example from real life. My late father worked for a real estate company with two owners whose names began with an M (I'll bet you can see where this is going). For a number of years they used a circular logo with M's and an ampersand. Eventually Mars got wind of it and filed a cease and desist order. They had to change the logo (I think they ended up with an oval).
Where Excellence Meets Elegance ✨ Introducing The Crafted for Excellence Kit by @adidasfootball pic.twitter.com/CTPCP0EeI8— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) February 10, 2026
Crew, Nashville, Orlando and maybe Portland all with new full yellow kits this year. (Though Portland's looks closer to Austin's pale green.) I think I like New England's and the Red Bulls. Not sure about San Jose yet. Maybe, maybe not.
$hitty carabiner aside, it doesn't look bad. The collar itself looks weird, though. Part of it is that it's a different color than the rest of the shirt. But mainly IMO it's because there's no button or at least a "v-neck" thing in the center. It really looks like someone is wearing a yellow t-shirt over a black polo with the collar out. Maybe it will look better in person. And on the field. At least they stayed with yellow instead of white or some other sort of design monstrosity. So there's that.
This was me speeding through it without any thought. Some of those "white vs white" matchups (SD vs SJ) needed a skip button.
Why they can't use the reverse of what the team has is anyone's guess. (Field players in yellow, GK in black.) IMO, it'd look better.
Oh, no! Are you still in the hospital? I hope you are ok. Thoughts of you and prayers for you, my fellow Lutheran! (Even if you are Missouri Synod!)
No, they want to avoid that so that you always know which one is the keeper. It can be important. I lost a sure breakaway once because the defender and I had similar color socks and I got called offside when I wasn't (the ref apologized a half second later).
After one of the US games at Lower.Scotts or whatever it's called now, there were two people from US Soccer, wheeling around their lame ass roller bags in US Soccer polos and jackets openly harassing the street vendors selling the knockoff stuff. My son and I had to chase those two assholes away from them. US Soccer and Nike make a mountain of cash off merchandise, leave those people alone. I'm not a fan or knockoff kits but those two jackholes needed to get a life.