SoM Staff Roundtable: Favorite Inter Kit

Inter has consistently aced the kit game (its hard not to when your main color scheme is blue and black stripes), but the SoM staff looks at which jerseys rise above the rest and what makes our favorites so special. Plus, we also go over our thoughts on some of the weirdest Inter kits yet.

Which Inter kits stand out to you?

Luca - With the relationship (potentially) coming to an end, I will always be a big fan of the first kit Nike produced back in 1998/99. The away and third strips were both pretty average, but the home kit just really appealed to me. Moving from Umbro to Nike seemed to usher Inter into a new generation and associated us with one of the biggest brands in the world. Conveniently enough, it also happened to be the season where Inter faced two of the biggest clubs in football - Real Madrid and Manchester United. The home win against Madrid was a great night in what was a pretty barren period for the Nerazzurri.

It was a fantastic team that season too, with Massimo Moratti making my dreams coming true by signing Roberto Baggio to play alongside Ronaldo. The squad included other Inter heroes such as Gianluca Pagliuca, Your Djorkaeff, Taribo West and Diego Simeone. It also gave us the chance to see just how attached Ivan Zamorano was to the number nine, as he debuted the famous ‘1+8’ shirt number.

Photo by Mike Egerton/EMPICS via Getty Images

David - I love the consistency of the blue and black stripes. While it may seem pretty straightforward, having a clear identity where even kits from decades ago are clearly recognizable as Inter jerseys is an underrated effect in my eyes. That said, if I had to choose my single favorite kit (from the time in which I’ve been an Interista), it would be last season’s third jersey.

Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images

It has everything from an intricate design to the bold yellow and orange that contrasts so smoothly with the black. It’s also one of the last jerseys with Pirelli as the sponsor and it’s meant to resemble a tire such as the ones Pirelli sells.

Photo by Claudio Villa - Inter/Inter via Getty Images

Michael - I have always loved the simple elegance of the black and blue stripes we all know and love. The black and blue of the night sky on that fateful night that the club was founded back in 1908. There’s truly no club in the world that sports these colors as well as Inter. For me, the most straightforward ideal of what I think an Inter shirt should be is the 2015-16 home shirt. No gimmicks, no color alterations, just a pure football shirt. That season was rather interesting under Roberto Mancini, with a winter scudetto and a massive January-February blackout, but the shirt, with its slim stripes and simple collar, was worthy of trophies.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

What are your favorite “weird” Inter jerseys?

Michael - While the “Sprite” kit of 2016-17 is one of the modern oddities, my favorite of the weird or non-traditional Inter shirts is the 1995-96 away/third shirt by Umbro. A relic of the largely unsuccessful Roy Hodgson era, it is an extremely niche shirt, making it one of the most sought after by collectors, myself included. It is also hard to find pictured in action, but something about the glitchy shoulders really catches the eye.

David - While it hasn’t officially been released yet (as of writing time), I think this season’s possible fourth kit steals the show. It went so far to the extremes of ugly that it might actually be beautiful. And while it’s quite reasonable to have a strong dislike of it, I think it’s fitting for a fourth kit. Unlike home and away kits, creativity is much more encouraged in jerseys that only see the pitch once or twice a season. This jersey is creative if anything to say the least. Another point in its favor is that this is the first time we get a look at the new logo, though it's admittedly not very noticeable when in the middle of a jersey as garish as this one.

What’s your favorite Inter kit? Which of these three do you like the most? Let us know in the poll and comments below.

Forza Inter!