ORLANDO, Fla. (Feb. 28, 2023) — Ahead of the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League season, the Orlando Pride has announced an updated look to its Luna Kit, the Club’s secondary jersey. To make players more comfortable and confident when playing during their menstrual cycle, the team will now wear black shorts, replacing the white shorts previously worn throughout the 2022 season and with other secondary kits in prior years.
With the change, the Pride become the first NWSL team to update to dark shorts due to period concerns, as the Club continues its investments in providing first-class player experience and care.
Additionally, the names and numbers on the back of the jersey will change from silver to black.
“We must remove the stigma involved in discussing the health issues impacting women and menstruating non-binary and trans athletes if we want to maximize performance and increase accessibility to sport. I am proud to be part of a Club that is making a small but extremely impactful change when it comes to both our professional and youth players,” Orlando Pride VP of Soccer Operations and General Manager Haley Carter said. “The experience that players have and the safety and comfort they feel when wearing an Orlando Pride crest is a critical area of focus for us. We will continue to not only listen to player feedback but keep taking steps to make Orlando a world-class destination for athletes.”
“The reasons behind not wanting to wear white shorts are clear, but it is unfortunately something that hasn’t been addressed until recently,” said Orlando Pride midfielder Erika Tymrak. “I think it’s a big step for us as a Club to make players feel comfortable and allow us to focus solely on competing."
According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, by the age of 14, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys, with puberty a contributing factor. Continuing the Club’s current practice, all girls teams within the organization’s youth structure will wear dark shorts for both practice and games, a standard that will remain moving forward to reflect the change by the Pride.
"This is a commendable move by the Orlando Pride and one that will surely improve the level of comfort amongst its players,” said Team Choice OBGYN Dr. Christine Greves of Orlando Health Medical Group. “As a society we need to continue to work to normalize talking about the health and well-being pertaining to the female body and the period is a huge part of that. The more we do that, the more we’ll be setting up our athletes for success both on and off the field.”
The updated Luna Kit look will debut on March 26, when the Pride travel to Portland to take on the Thorns in the 2023 season opener, a 5 p.m. ET kickoff. The team will open their home season on April 2, welcoming Angel City FC to Exploria Stadium. Tickets for the 5:30 p.m. match are available at the link here.
