Houston Dynamo FC has unveiled a new alternate kit for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, which pays homage to Houston’s hip-hop culture and also represents a shift in the club’s mentality.
The “Still Holdin’ Kit” is decked in Candy Paint Purple, a prominent color in Houston’s hip-hop scene and a callback to sunsets that reflect on Shell Energy Stadium and the downtown skyline, according to HDFC. It features chrome accents to represent the custom cars known as candy paint slabs, which are associated with the local rap scene. The new kit also includes an outline of Texas with the Dynamo’s tricode and a screw — to honor Houston-based hip-hop artist DJ Screw — indicating Houston on the map.
The jersey also features the club’s primary color, as streaks of orange line the shoulders and side of the kit. Additionally, the name of the jersey is an evolution of the club’s “Hold It Down” campaign, which launched in 2020. The new kit will replace the Dynamo’s black “Bayou City Kit,” which the team wore in 2022 and 2023.
“We're really excited about (the new kit) because it pushes the limits of what people in Houston have probably associated with the Dynamo and does it in a way that is very culturally relevant,” Jessica O’Neill, HDFC’s president of business operations, told the Houston Business Journal. “We're proud to be able to represent the city in this way.”
Dynamo's new kit part of change in mindset, merchandising strategy
The new jersey represents a mindset change for the club. The team has begun framing itself as a “startup with a history” as owner Ted Segal enters his third season with the team and multiple new front-office executives have joined the club over the past year, O’Neill said. While the Dynamo date back to 2005 and have a storied history that includes back-to-back MLS Cup Championships in 2006 and 2007, she said the club has embraced innovation and is thinking and doing things differently as it writes the next chapter of its history.
The new jersey is just the latest example of the club’s willingness to think outside the box.
“The kit is a form of innovation in a very unique way,” O’Neill said. “On the spectrum of safe to taking risks, with this new merchandise we are as close to taking risks as I think you could be, and that’s something we’re proud of because it is reflective of our ambitions.”
The jersey is also the seventh Dynamo kit that features the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as the front-of-kit sponsor. MD Anderson began its partnership with HDFC in 2019 and was the first cause-focused jersey sponsor of an MLS team at the time. Over the past five years, the partnership has generated more than $300,000 in donations to cancer research.
While the new jersey is a clear visual representation of HDFC’s shift in mentality, it’s also part of the club’s broader merchandising strategy, O’Neill said. The majority of the club’s merchandise revenue comes from its jersey sales, and the team views this new kit as an opportunity to increase that revenue.
She added that soccer is somewhat unique from other sports in that jerseys are often not just worn at matches but are fashion statements in and of themselves — which is certain to be true for Houstonians choosing to wear the new purple kit in a city full of oranges, blues and reds.
The club also continues to reevaluate its merchandise offerings and is actively pushing its partners at Jacksonville, Florida-based sports retailer Fanatics to elevate the variety of offerings at the team store. Even though jersey sales make up the bulk of merchandise revenue, she said she hopes to see that breakdown change as fans gravitate toward other types of merchandise. Additionally, the club will add at least two more ancillary merchandise locations at Shell Energy Stadium for this season.
Debut of Dynamo's new kit
The new jersey was unveiled at an event on Feb. 15 featuring members of the local music, arts and entertainment community at Cactus Music in Upper Kirby. Mike Frost, a Houston-based graphic designer who has created rap and hip-hop albums covers for various artists and also collaborated with the club to design album covers as part of the 2024 season, celebrated the new jersey at the event.
Frost described Houston as an “underrated city” before people like himself and prominent local musicians like Paul Wall and Bun B put the city on the map. That the Dynamo would design a jersey with the history of Houston’s hip-hop scene in mind is evidence of how that history contributes to the city’s culture, he said.
“It’s a statement that (the Dynamo) support our city,” Frost said at the event. “To get to this point where franchises like the Dynamo are bringing in myself and bringing in the culture, it's anamazing thing, and it brings our city together.”
The Dynamo will host their home opener on Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m., when the club will also hoist its 2023 U.S. Open Cup Championship banner. The club hasn't officially decided whether the Dynamo will wear the new alternate kit for that game.
