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Liverpool fans have had a love hate relationship with the Warrior Football brand. At their best, the company produced some classic (or near-classic) all red home kits that called back to the club's 1970s and 1980s success in a way that seemed befitting of the club's rebirth under Brendan Rodgers. At their worst, there were controversial colour choices and ill-advised design elements that brought back not-so-fond memories of 1990s fashion.
But, like it or not, the Boston-based company brought something different to the Premier League and though they were often roundly mocked for thinking well outside the box when it came to football kits, Liverpool remained eye catching and, well, different. No more cookie cutter Adidas kits for Merseyside's finest; Warrior was here to stay.
At least that seemed to be the case, until our fellow Reds over at the Anfield Wrap dropped this piece of news the other day:
This years Warrior kits to be the last as @newbalance pulls plug on @WARRIOR_FTBL, all current kits to be rebranded under @newbalance label
— THE ANFIELD WRAP (@TheAnfieldWrap) August 20, 2014
New Balance is the parent company of Warrior, and it sounds as though it's just the football branch of Warrior that will be shutting down production, rather than the entire brand that also serves lacrosse and several other sports. The Anfield Wrap further reports that New Balance will see out Liverpool's remaining contract with Warrior Football starting from the 2015/16 season.
There hasn't been a peep about this development from any other news source that doesn't trace back to TAW. As exciting as this news will be for many people hoping Liverpool can align themselves both with a less brash design sensibility and a company with better PR skills in the future, one might want to wait for further confirmation from either the club or New Balance before getting too excited.
New Balance are currently the kit sponsor of Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (i.e. Aussie rules football), where they sport sleeveless shirts that Liverpool will no doubt covet in order to better showcase the club's heavily inked defensive line.
