In celebration of Pride Month in June, MLS and adidas have partnered to release the fourth edition of the pre-match Pride Top. MLS athletes will wear the bold, bright kits before Pride Games which take place from May through August as the league continues to work towards a more inclusive reality for all. The tops are also available for purchase, and, for the first time ever, include women’s and youth styles and sizing.
Let love be your legacy
For the 2023 Pride Pack, which includes black tees for each club in addition to the pre-match tops, adidas partnered with Queer South African designer Rich Mnisi. Known for loud and bold graphics, Mnisi expresses himself in a way that doesn't fit the perceived gender binary: He dares to reimagine a world where the freedom of self-expression exists without bias.
The top is guided by a key line from a love letter Mnisi wrote to his younger Queer self – "Let love be your legacy" – and features a color palette from the ally Progress Pride Flag. Each kit serves as a rallying cry for active allyship to empower and champion the LGBTQIA+ community.
League donation to Athlete Ally and Play Proud
As part of MLS’s support of the LGBTQ+ community, and in celebration of Pride month, the League will make donations to Athlete Ally and Play Proud.
Athlete Ally is an organization supporting equal access, opportunity, and experience in sports regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression
Play Proud, a Common Goal LGBTQ+ initiative, is a grassroots-driven program that offers stakeholders a holistic and collective approach to creating inclusive soccer communities with a focus on under-resourced and marginalized populations. Play Proud works with soccer supporters’ groups, community-based organizations, MLS clubs and other soccer leagues and clubs across North America providing them strategies and tools to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic abuse and systemic discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community across all levels of soccer.
