EPL: Ranking the Premier League Home Kits

International week is over and it's almost time for Premier League football to return.

But not yet.

We still have another few days to wait until league action is back, so to pass the time, we thought we'd rank the 20 Premier League home kits. That's exactly what it sounds like: A ranking from 1-20 of every home kit in the Premier League.

First, though, let's run down a few rules.

This is based on home kits only. Away kits and third kits, no matter how cool or awful, aren't allowed. In case of a tie, the goalkeeper's kit decides it.

This is one guy's opinion. Keep that in mind. Fashion is often in the eye of the beholder, though most people can agree on some basic facts, like the awesomeness of Notre Dame's (American) football uniforms and the fast-food crappitude of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1970s.

The rest, however, is open to debate. So here's what we like:

Tradition: Teams that incorporate their traditional designs in modern kits get good scores.

Simplicity: One way to set a team apart in a bad way is to have unnecessary frills all over the jersey, shorts or socks. Just don't do it.

Blending: As in blending the branding seamlessly into the design. Adidas generally does this well but not always.

Now, on to the kits.

With a name as cool as Bolton Wanderers, it's hard to imagine a terrible kit.

Imagine it. And believe it.

Better views of the kit can be found here and here.

Good: The crest is 70s-chic. The socks look solid with BWFC stenciled in red near the top. The shorts aren't bad.

Bad: Everything else. What’s with the jagged angles? They make the jersey look like something from Starship Troopers. There's no purpose for doing any of the angles, so why do it?

Verdict: Bottom of the table. Head back to the Championship to work on your look.

Another cool name. Another horrible, horrible kit.

Check it out here.

This one is especially disappointing because Wolves have the coolest crest in England. And those colors are very cool. But there's plenty to criticize here.

Good: The color scheme. The crest. See above. The socks look great with the Wolves logo out front. The shorts are simple and black.

Bad: Almost everything about the shirt. Terrible, terrible, terrible. The sweeping line across the chest gives the impression of manboobs. Ick.

Verdict: Relegation. Please, Wolves, hire somebody new to design your kits. With those colors and that crest, you could have one of the coolest kits in Europe.

Once again: Cool name, bad kit.

Check it out here.

Good: The crest! How cool is that? We also enjoy the ringer-style collar and sleeves, as well as the V-neck.

Bad: The chunky vertical stripes ruin it. Other than that, it's a boring kit.

Verdict: Relegation. Not as bad as the others who went down, Blackburn probably fought hard until the last day of the season. But as we'll see, the league has a bunch of really nice kits and Rovers couldn't compete.

Stoke really should be much higher.

Here's a better look.

On first glance, everything looks great: vertical stripes, simple design and clean lines. The problem is that stupid foldover design at the collar. It's a problem we'll see a lot of in the bottom half of the table.

Good: Vertical stripes, especially in red and white, always look good. The adidas stripes on the shoulders look great.

Bad: The foldover design at the collar. Who thinks that looks good? It looks like a shawl or something.

Verdict: Bottom half. Started well and impressed a few neutral fans, but other teams' quality eventually won out.

This is Stoke City redux (Part 1).

Here are more photos.

Good: Black and white work well together. That crest is pretty cool. Adidas stripes again look great.

Bad: The foldover! And the weird penguin tail in the back. Both are totally unnecessary, and both ruin an otherwise good kit.

Verdict: Bottom half. Same as Stoke.

This one looks great in the photo, right?

Well, this is Stoke City Redux (Part 2).

Check out more images here. Another classic ruined by the foldover and penguin tail. It's a shame too. This could have been a contender otherwise.

Good: Almost everything. Almost. The navy and white scheme is sharp. The stripes look great, and the Adidas stripes fit perfectly. Red in the numbers sets off the blue and white nicely.

Bad: The foldover. The tail. We've been here before.

Verdict: Bottom half. See Stoke. See Swansea.

This isn't a bad kit at all. It's just not great either.

Click here for another look.

Good: It's clean, it's simple and it uses royal blue and white. The retro collar is pretty cool, as is the white trim on the sleeves. But Everton does this much better.

Bad: The piping down the side doesn't work. Overall, the kit is just boring.

Verdict: Not a bad season for Wigan. But they're not going to challenge for the title, or even the top half.

This will be controversial to some people, but we'll stand by it: Chelsea's kit doesn't stack up.

More views can be found here.

Good: Chelsea has probably the best goalkeeper kit in the league. On the regular kit, the shorts look great with a pattern-less blue. They're simple and don't have silly stripes hidden in them. The crest is always nice.

Bad: For some reason, Chelsea has horizontal stripes hidden in the blue of its shirt. That's just uncalled for. Same for the white cutout on the shoulders and thighs to accommodate the adidas stripes.

Verdict: A misfire. Mid-table at best.

Americans have a soft spot for teams that wear powder blue. Look at the popularity of North Carolina and UCLA. Man City, however, can't match that. City has worn its black-and-red away strip twice this season, and it's easy to see why. It's better than the sky blue kit. Period.

Click here for more looks (with Liam Gallagher posing, no less!).

Good: Powder/sky blue is one of the best fashion choices a team can make. The V-neck collar is cool. The whole thing has kind of a retro feel.

Bad: Here, the all-blue doesn’t work. They should have gone for black or white shorts.

Verdict: A decent kit, but could be much better. Mid-table obscurity.

An all-time classic with a below-average update.

For more looks, click here.

Good: Black and white works. Period. Vertical stripes usually do, too. The socks are simple and clean. Not too many frills.

Bad: The updated vertical stripes don't quite work. They look more like a tuxedo than the traditional Newcastle stripes.

Verdict: A solid season, but a finish just on the wrong side of the table.

Most years, Fulham would be behind Newcastle. The teams have the same color scheme (except for Fulham's splashes of red) and Newcastle usually gets the nod with its cool stripes. But not this year.

For more of Fulham's kit, click here. For the socks, click here.

Good: Simple but not plain. Nice lines down sides if maybe a bit too thick. Nothing cluttering the front.

Bad: The side piping is perhaps a bit too thick.

Verdict: No-nonsense kit, no-nonsense season, with a finish just inside the top half.

Aston Villa usually has one of the coolest kits in England. This year, though, a few silly frills have taken the luster off.

For good views of the kit, click here. For the whole kit, click here.

Good: This is a kit that's hard to mess up. The color scheme is trademark English, and it's cool. This year, the shirt has a cool softball-shirt look. The medieval-looking crest is uber-cool. The hidden squares are a nice touch, unlike Chelsea's stripes.

Bad: The patterns in the shirt are silly. White shorts have never been our favorite, though it's not clear which color would work better.

Verdict: A good kit that could have been even better if left alone.

Green and white work well together as team colors in any sport. The Green Bay Packers. Ehh, Australia.

Norwich City, too.

For more images, click here.

Good: The color scheme rules. The V-neck and sleeve stripes look great.

Bad: The sponsor makes the kit look rinky-dink.

Verdict: A surprising top-half finish for the Premiership newcomers, with lots of future potential—if their performances on the field keep them up.

We've always considered Everton our second team. The Toffees have all that history, cool uniforms, great colors and they're underdogs in Liverpool. And that crest is sweet. (The Latin phrase roughly translated, "Nothing but the best is good enough.")

For more images, click here, here and here.

Good: This is how blue and white should look. Take note, Chelsea. The design is simple, with no silly extras. But a nice splash of yellow is thrown in. There's also a very cool old-school collar. The material has nice look and it's not shiny like other kits. The crest and rooster are tres cool.

Bad: None.

Verdict: Nothing to complain about, but it's still not championship material. Seventh place and pushing for a spot in Europe.

Sunderland just oozes cool. The name itself sounds like it should belong to an English duke or something. The colors are great. The nickname, Black Cats, is top-notch.

So are the unis.

Click here to see more of the kit. More views are here.

Good: Umbro's kits this year all have a sweet retro feel. This is an example of a great red and white vertical pattern—much better than Stoke. The touch of black (the team's nickname is the Black Cats) on the collar works. We love the black shorts and socks with two stripes.

Bad: Nothing.

Verdict: A great kit that will be hard to improve on. We'd like to see a better sponsor to move Sunderland into the championship category.

This is a classic football kit. We’ve always had a soft spot for QPR. Their jerseys are very cool, and that's true again this year. Horizontal stripes are tough to do, but QPR does it well.

For more images, click here.

Good: The royal blue and white are balanced neatly with red numbers and green on team crest.

Bad: Nothing. Our only minor quibble is that the top white stripe is a bit too thick.

Verdict: A shock top-five finish.

Speaking of classic, there's always Manchester United. When you're one of the planet's most famous clubs, you must have a great kit. And United does. Red and black always works on a kit, and United's designers are usually pretty conservative with their tweaks.

For more images of the current kit, click here.

Good: In sports red, white and black equal goodness. It's a great color combo. United has updated its traditional design and, for the most part, it looks great. The team always wins the title and maybe it’s because of its awesome unis.

Bad: The collar is kinda weak. We’d like a bigger presence of the stripes at the end of the sleeves

Verdict: Always near the top, almost on reputation alone. Not enough for the uni title this year though.

Another classic. Liverpool always has great kits because their designs are always simple and understated. This year, the club is using the same kit as 2010-11, but it's a great design.

For another view of the shirt, click here. For shorts, click here. For socks, click here.

Good: Simple. Simple. Simple. Classic. Classic. Classic. Really, this isn’t hard at all. Stick to the club’s traditional design, update it, but stay true. The Adidas stripes look great, showing that branding can actually work as fashion.

By the way, the black kit is also outstanding.

Bad: nothing

Verdict: Top four and Champions League. Challenging for the title.

Tottenham doesn't always have great kits. But this season, it's one of the best.

Navy and white are classic colors. And with smart design, this is a classic uniform. Absolutely no complaints.

For more views, click here.

Good: The color scheme. The simplicity. The collar.

Bad: Nothing.

Meh: Spurs get a very, very slight markdown for the swoosh of white on shorts. We're splitting hairs, but sometimes that's what separates first and second in the Premier League.

Verdict: This will go down as one of the best kits in Spurs history. Just absolutely fantastic. Finished level on points with the champions but dropped to second on goal differential.

Arsenal traditionally has one of the best designs in English football. The Gunners' red shirt with white sleeves is iconic. Sometimes their designers get a little carried away, but not this year.

Click here to see the shirt. Click here for the shorts. Click here for the socks.

Good: Everything. It's a classy modern take on a classic design. The garland wreaths around the club crest mark the club's 125th anniversary with style. There are no silly frills. The design is clean and simple.

Bad: Nothing.

Meh: The socks are slightly plain. And unlike some recent kits, this one doesn't have any noticeable gold coloring.

Verdict: An all-time classic in the strong uniform history of Arsenal. This will go down as the club's best kit in decades.