Esquire Picks: Top Three FIFA World Cup Kits This Year

Here's how you know the World Cup has properly arrived: four days in, and I've spent more time arguing about jerseys than formations. The football's been good. The football is also, right now, almost beside the point. Walk through any host city, scroll through reels on Instagram, and you'll see how strongly fashion has taken centre stage this season.

The brands saw this coming years ago. At the opening match in Mexico City, the adidas CEO turned up in a custom half-Mexico, half-South Africa jersey — a Frankenstein flex that was equal parts diplomacy and walking advert, and honestly, respect. Jacquemus slapped its name on the French kit via Nike. Kith's adidas x Messi sneakers vanished before kickoff. The jersey has become the most coveted garment of the summer.

With all 104 matches' worth of wardrobe now on display, here are the three actually worth the closet space.

France

Of course it's France. They win things and look maddening doing it. Nike's home shirt brings back the collar, always the right call, under a wavy pattern that's fresh without straining for it. But the away kit is the one you'll keep thinking about: a soft mint green with copper accents, the exact shade of the Statue of Liberty's weathered patina, a wink at France having gifted the thing to one of this year's hosts. "We thought it was the perfect symbol," said FFF president Philippe Diallo. Sentimental, clever, beautifully cut.

South Korea

Purple is the most slept-on colour in football, full stop, and South Korea strolled in and claimed it. The away kit is a rich lavender violet with an all-over floral print drawn from traditional Korean art — delicate, elegant. Then, they made the logos glow in the dark. The home shirt swings the other way completely: vibrant red, tiger stripes. Two opposite moods, both stuck the landing.

Mexico

Co-hosts get three kits, and Mexico didn't waste one. The home shirt is a deep, rich green carrying an Aztec pattern with red trim at the collar and sleeves — a straight love letter to the cult-classic 1998 jersey, now stamped with the Piedra del Sol, the Aztec sun stone. The white away is the more subtle one, all triangle motif and black-and-red accents. The black third kit goes full geometric and is, frankly, the pick of the litter.