Adidas moves three stripes to the side for new Germany home kit

The European Football Championships are right around the corner, which means that a bunch of teams are about to start unveiling their kit designs for the 2016 event. Naturally, it’s going to be a big deal to see what the current World Champions have in store for their particular kit design, and while Germany’s primary kit for the 2016 Euros is far more traditional than their kit for the 2014 World Cup, it’s definitely groundbreaking in its own right.

Now, while this may look almost like a throwback kit for Die Mannschaft, it’s interesting for one big reason: Notice the placement of the traditional three stripes design that you see on every Adidas kit? Yeah, they’re present on the shorts, but they’re not on the shoulders! They moved them to the side!

I’m trying to think of the last time Adidas diverted from putting the three stripes on the shoulder. They used to do it all of the time back in the ’90s when kit designs were absolutely absurd across the board and Adidas used to put the three stripes in random spots on the kit, but ever since things calmed down in the previous decade, seeing those three stripes anywhere but on the shoulders has been a real rarity.

It’s especially jarring to see it happen for the German National Team, but here we are. Personally, I’m a fan of the design, and it appears that other teams under the adidas window (such as Spain) are following suit. What do you think, though? Should they put the stripes back on the shoulders, or is the side design the preferable look here?