[extremely Braveheart voice] FREEEEEDOOOOOOOOOM!!!

That’s right, after years and years and years of begging the Washington Spirit have finally delivered a cherry blossom themed kit. Officially called the ‘Spirit in Bloom Kit’, it’s a striking green based-shirt with George Seurat-esque dots that shape greenery, branches, and cherry blossom blooms. It’s a stunner, just see for yourself.

It’s also a deep cut. Typically press releases about new kits contain some of the worst assaults on the English language that marketers can dream up (Chicago once gave us ‘The inclusion of the ball, representing soccer…’). This release tells the story of the initial design concept for the shirt, which goes back to the team’s Equipment Manager from 2018-2022, Ben Berczek (now the Director of Operations). Obviously while in that position he heard lots of chatter (read: pleading) from Spirit fans pining for a cherry blossom themed shirt.

Here’s what he came up with: “While brainstorming ways to create a cherry blossom uniform unique to the Spirit, the way sakura branches break away from one another reminded me of how the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers split to form the shape of DC around Audi Field,” said Berczek. “The main cherry blossom branch you see on the front of the ‘Spirit in Bloom’ kit mimics the path the Anacostia River takes north through DC. It has been an honor to work with Nike since presenting the initial concept and see it bloom into our new primary kit. I’m very excited to see the finished product on the pitch and give players and fans alike a cherry blossom kit that they have been requesting for years.”

Dope. Extremely dope.

I also really like the layout of the back of the shirt. Normally I prefer to not have the design broken up, but I think this is handled well. The shirt itself is quite busy, so giving it a block of solid color for the name, number and sponsors is a good idea, and looks good. The pink color fill in the name and numbers and white outline keep it consistent with the rest of the shirt. I apologize to your wallets, but given how well the back vibes with the design, I’m afraid it’s one of those shirts that’d seem incomplete without a name and number set.

The one negative note I have doesn’t have anything to do with the shirt itself, rather the Spirit’s slow motion rebrand. The new colors—Spirit Green, green Strike, and maybe a yellow???—aren’t integrated into the crest just yet so the monochrome badge is back again. It’s also a large and rather clunky (and dated) crest which desperately needs updating. The design does a good job of trying to hide it within the thickest part of a sakura branch, but it’s still a big blob of a badge.

Anywhomst, that’s all the criticism I can muster. It’s lovely, and it’s about damn time.

To announce the kit, the Spirit had players in two different settings. One looks like a theater set with some faux rolling hills, a soft hazy backdrop and one also fake cherry blossom tree. It’s a fun setting with lighting that lets the kit shine when hanging from the tree. Some of the player photos are great too, including Esme Morgan lining up to take a throw-in for some reason, Gabby Carle holding a soccer ball on her shoulder while sitting on a stool, and Leicy Santos and Gift Monday giving incredible senior day photo vibes.

The other setting was based on the metro, with the scrolling destination board reading ‘NEXT STOP: AUDI FIELD’. There are some more classic photos here too, including Trinity Rodman holding a soccer ball beside her head with an expression of boredom that those of us who have had to take lengthy metro rides can relate to. Gabby Carle is showing elite metro-riding form, Esme Morgan is the tourist standing in front of the map, and Hal is your local Spirit supporter headed home after et another dramatic playoff win at Audi.

More good news is that, according to the press release, replica kits will feature an embroidered crest and be available in XS-2XL in narrow cuts, and S-3XL in unisex trim. Last year some replica kits were drastically different to the authentic versions due to iron-on crests, poor color matching, and missing design elements (this most affected other teams, but the crest thing was unfortunate all around). Authentic kits are quite literally what the players wear, so tend to cost near or over a couple hundred dollars. Replica kits are just fine, so long as there’s nothing left out that would make it seem like a different shirt altogether. With the promise of an embroidered crest, the replica should be perfectly fine.

Now that it’s finally here, what do you think about the cherry blossom kit we’ve been begging for? Let us know in the comments!