Star signings: eight standout Premier League football kits for 2015/16

It’s the summer transfer window, time to get rid of the dead wood and brighten things up with new signings. That’s not just in your team’s dressing room but in your wardrobe, too. Here is a selection of the best of the Premier League’s parade of pricey new kits that you might not be too embarrassed to wear on the terraces. Swansea away Kyle Bartley of Swansea City Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kyle Bartley of Swansea City. Photograph: Tony Marshall/Getty Images The fashion view: How to make an impact on the pitch before you even kick a ball? Dressing in a combination of lime green and navy blue should do it. Swansea’s away kit is a very Nike Huarache colourway, and a contrast to home, which is white, elegant and very minimal, just as you might expect for a team dubbed the Swans. This kit shows they have something else in their locker: a bit of flair. With a statement like that, Garry Monk’s team has the potential to move into the top six this season – in the fashion league, anyway. (LC) The sport view: Kermit-green shorts, plus humbug-stripe shirt, crowned with super-weird sponsors’ logo containing full coded details of the forthcoming robot apocalypse. Continues the Swansea tradition of experimental away kits. Unfortunately this one looks like it was designed by a toddler on a Haribo high. (BR) Norwich City third Sébastien Bassong of Norwich City Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sébastien Bassong of Norwich City. Photograph: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd The fashion view: For football fans, the third kit is in the hinterland of the sport – a sort of niche choice to wear in the stands, like buying APC over Levi’s. In Norwich’s case this season, the cult of the third kit may be quite small – their third shirt has already come up against winces of pain from the online football community, due to the unusual colour combination: stripes of green, mustard and primrose. Actually it’s very middle-America in the 70s (think The Brady Bunch) and, therefore, as we say in fashion, totally now. (LC) The sport view: Kitschy nightmare. Two main problems here: (a) a strong resemblance to a 1970s geography textbook diagram of sedimentary rock formation; (b) a strong resemblance to Norwich’s other two kits, making this one not just tasteless but pointless. Two-goal head start to the opposition. (BR) Watford home Watford's José Manuel Jurado Facebook Twitter Pinterest Watford’s José Manuel Jurado. Photograph: David Davies/PA The fashion view: Watford’s return to the Premier League this season has been marked by the club with a kit that visually spells out their nickname, the Hornets. It’s yellow and black, just like the insect. Still, the Kate Middleton school of literal dressing (tennis whites for Wimbledon etc) is swerved a bit by having the stripes graduate as they go up the shirt, bringing a bit of a Bridget Riley look to proceedings. Op Art on the pitch at Vicarage Road every other weekend, the Premier League in the modern era is a very cultured place. (LC) The sport view: Classic Watford gold with Venetian blind-style black stripes and competing animal motifs. Who would win a fight between a moose, a puma and a hornet? Nobody can say for sure. But at least we know what it might look like now. (BR) Arsenal away Arsenal's Francis Coquelin. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Arsenal’s Francis Coquelin. Photograph: JMP/Rex Shutterstock The fashion view: There seems to be a bit of a thing with triangles on kits this season – both Newcastle United and Arsenal have them. Arsenal’s, as befits a team in the top four, is the more luxe version. Theirs comes in gold and with a smart little V at the neck. This is the second season the London team have worked with Puma, and the fitted shape and ultra-stretchy fabric continue on the shirts. A hybrid of a Chris Froome cycling jersey and Kardashian-worthy gym Lycra, they’re great for football professionals but may prove less forgiving for fans. Expect to see a Clock End revival of the roomier JVC shirt as a result. (LC) The sport view: Classic Arsenal blue and yellow, but with a respectful nod to casual terrace culture in the 1980s with those golfing-sweater diamonds. Horrible in an interesting way. (BR) Manchester City home Manchester City's Bacary Sagna (L) and Vietnam's Vo Huy Toan at My Dinh stadium in Hanoi, July 2015. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Manchester City’s Bacary Sagna (L) and Vietnam’s Vo Huy Toan at My Dinh stadium in Hanoi, July 2015. Photograph: Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP/Getty Images The fashion view: Manchester City have clearly been reading up on fashion trends and know that the polo shirt is the item of the season. Their home kit isn’t strictly speaking a polo – that’s reserved for tennis – but the little collar and poppers at the neck are nice, safe and classic, without reinventing the wheel. An honourable mention here goes to an away kit that involves sleeves covered in the pattern of moon craters, to reference the fans’ penchant for singing the song Blue Moon. We’ll have to wait to see which one’s the hit at the Etihad this season. (LC) The sport view: Retro number that references both the stark, white dog collar of the great early-1970s kit and the kind of business shirt worn by aggressive, middle-aged yuppies in the 1980s. Lovely big expanse of blue. One for the high street. (BR) West Brom away Rickie Lambert of West Brom celebrates with team mates after scoring Bristol Rovers v West Brom, 31 Jul 2015. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rickie Lambert of West Brom celebrates with team mates. Photograph: JMP/Rex Shutterstock The fashion view: Take away the humongous logo for an Asian betting company, and there’s something almost old school about the West Bromwich Albion away kit. It’s the maroon colour, skinny black stripes and the curly letters spelling out WBA on the crest. This appeals in a world where vintage football kits do a brisk business on eBay (Tottenham’s Holsten ones, and the Manchester United Sharp-era). Perhaps the move is down to Tony Pulis, a man who is no stranger to style. His signature navy baseball cap sold out of the team shop when West Brom announced he was to become manager earlier this year. (LC) The sport view: A reprise of West Brom’s classic deep red, recreated as a Rothko-style nightmare of overpowering deep-gloom maroon. Block colours always work and this should look pretty frightening as a team kit. (BR) Chelsea away Chelsea's Eden Hazard Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chelsea’s Eden Hazard. Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Press Association Ima The fashion view: Sometimes a kit’s logo can overwhelm the rest of the design (see Manchester United’s giant Chevrolet). But, weirdly, Chelsea’s deal with Yokohama Tyres actually adds something. The typeface recalls the excellent first collection of Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier for Marc by Marc Jacobs and looks – in a good way – like a bobbly Sunday League kit that you might find on the rails of a vintage store. The fact that it’s actually worn by millionaires who won the Premier League last season makes us like it even more. (LC) The sport view: Unusual move having the French flag on both sleeves, but reminiscent of the old-school Chelsea white also worn for the 2012 European Cup-winning season. Claims to have “special stitching” that makes players move faster. Perhaps John Terry can wear three of them. (BR) Bournemouth away