A Brief History of Football Kit Design in England and Scotland

The Sixties and Seventies (1962-1979)

Beginning around 1962, crew necks started to replace V-necks. Shirts became ever tighter, shorts became very short indeed and stockings were lightweight. Long sleeves returned to fashion and were generally worn as they were designed rather than being rolled up to the elbow, as had been the fashion until the introduction of the Continental kits in 1955.

It might be supposed that technical advances in textile manufacture and dye technology would have resulted in greater innovation in kit design. The reverse was true. The Sixties was a period when tradition was unpopular and sleek, simplified design in everything from furniture to fashion was the norm. Plain kits looked better under floodlights, which now became universal and allowed mid week games to be played at night. Floodlighting made white kits stand outparticularly well and there was a vogue for playing in all-white. Coventry started the trend in 1959 and during the following decade. Tran mere, Bradford PA, Exeter, Brighton,Crystal Palace, Mapplethorpe, Walsh, York, Don caster, Port Vale and, most famously of all, Leeds United all dropped their traditional kits for white shirts and shorts. (The trend in Scotland was similar, with Dundee United, ES Clyde bank, Morton and Stirling Albion all adopting white strips in this period.)

In 1962 Jimmy Hill, seeking to reinvigorate the under-achieving Coventry team launched his "Sky Blue Revolution" which included a smart all sky-blue kit for the players. The idea was taken up by Chelsea (1963), Liverpool (1964) and Aberdeen(1966) setting a trend that led to many well-loved traditional designs disappearing in favour of matching shirts and shorts, sometimes with contrasting stockings. Traditional colours were usually retained in the trimmings so Bradford (Park Avenue), for example retained green rings at the collar and cuffs while their neighbours, Bradford City, dropped their unique claret and amber stripes in favour of plain claret (1972-73) followed by all-amber (1973-74). A survey of kits worn around 1970 reveals a picture of drab uniformity.

In the 1960s clubs started to wear numbers on their shorts for the first time, an innovation started by Chelsea that became practically universal in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1969 the Football League introduced a regulation banning navy blue shirts because, they alleged, these were too easily confused with match officials' black kit. (Teams were already not permitted to wear black shirts.) As a result South end were forced to switch to navy and white stripes while Arsenal and Spurs both dropped their usual navy change tops in favour of yellow ones. No such concerns affected the Scottish Football League, where navy tops had been popular since the Victorian age and were, of course, the traditional colours of the national team.

During the Seventies a reaction gradually set in as clubs began to assert their individuality once more. In 1969, the manager of Aston Villa, Tommy Docherty, introduced a radical redesign of the club’s traditional strip featuring a collar with V inset. Within a few years almost every League club was wearing similar collars.(These had in fact first appeared in the mid 1950s and were worn by Hearts during the early 1960s but had not caught on.) Many clubs returned to traditional themes. Bristol Rovers, for example dropped their plain blue shirts and once again played in the traditional quartered shirts that made them immediately identifiable. Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday who had also "modernised" their appearance with plain blue shirts (in Wednesday's case with smart white sleeves) returned to the blue and white stripes that they had worn since time immemorial.

Several clubs went a step further and introduced novel variations on their traditional colours that again made them instantly recognisable. Crystal Palace, a club never shy of experimenting, introduced a wonderful white strip with broad claret and light blue panels in 1971. Birmingham City introduced their much-loved "penguin strip" that same year while Carlisle made their debut in the First Division in 1974 wearing a similar outfit but with red trim on each side of the white panel. Also in Burley added a dramatic V to their plain claret shirts.

In 1973 Leeds’ manager Don Revie, a man with an eye for a gimmick with a commercial application, entered into a deal with a brand new kit manufacturer, Admiral, that would lead to a revolution in kit design with far-reaching effects. Admiral's proposal was to redesign the club's kit in such a way that the result could be copyrighted and replicas sold to the general public, with the club receiving a royalty for each replica sold. The new Leeds kit was practically identical to the Umbro version that preceded it with only the Admiral logos to distinguish it. Admiral's stroke of genius was to create a radically different change kit in all-yellow with blue and white trim, which Leeds wore in all their away games, regardless of whether the home team's kit clashed with Leeds' white. The term "change kit" was rapidly replaced with the misnomer "away kit," which has now become universal as a result.

Admiral pursued a vigorous and innovative marketing campaign, targeting the top clubs, radically redesigning their kits for showcase events to ensure maximum exposure. Manchester United switched to Admiral in 1975, followed by West Ham and Southampton in 1976, both of whom unveiled their new Admiral strips in important cup finals. The new concept quickly caught on and while kits supplied to the clubs were well made, using natural fibres andembroidered detailing, those sold to the public were manufactured as cheaply as possible in nylon with heat-applied plastic logos that broke up after a few washes. These cheaply made replicas were sold at two or three times the price of the generic copies that preceded them and became must-have items for the nation's young fans, proudly worn on the school playing field and at the weekend kick about in the park.

Around this time the Football League introduced a rule that away teams should change their shorts and/or stockings if these clashed with those of the home team. Everton, for example, often played in blue shorts while Manchester United wore black shorts with their red shirts when the occasion demanded.

The established manufacturers, Umbro and Bukta, responded to Admiral's challenge in 1976 with the introduction of a new range of kits featuring their own logos incorporated into the trim on the sleeves, shorts and stockings (Admiral also launched a similar range) as well as ensuring their trademarks appeared prominently on the chest.

While Admiral challenged Umbro and Bukta for contracts with the leading teams, a new wave of sportswear manufacturers seized the opportunity to court clubs lower down the leagues. One of the first was Hobott who redesigned Sheffield United's kit after the Blades dropped into the Third Division in 1979 (presumably Admiral, who had provided their previous kits lost interest) and went on to pick up contracts with many lower league clubs in England. The giant German sportswear manufacturer, Adidas, who enjoyed a near monopoly in Europe, appeared on the English scene in 1977 when they supplied Ipswich Town and Middles bough with their iconic three-stripe trim kit.

Towards the end of the 1970s there was increasing pressure on clubs to feature sponsor’s logos on player’s shirts, pressure that was resolutely resisted by the football and broadcasting authorities. The first ever sponsorship deal involved West German team, Eintracht Braunschweig who wore the Jägermeister logo type on their shirts in 1973. The first shirt sponsorship deal among the UK's senior clubs was brokered by former Wolves striker Derek Dougan, who joined joined Kettering Town, then in the Southern League, as chief executive after he retired. Within a month he brokered a deal with a local company, Kettering Tyres, whose name appeared on the players' shirts in a match against Bath City on January 24 1976. Four days later the Football Association ordered the sponsorship be removed. Dougan removed only the final letters, changing the wording on the shirts to "Kettering T" and claimed this was nothing to do with their sponsors but simply the name of the club. In April 1976 the FA ordered the wording removed under the threat of a £1,000 fine.

Kettering, along with Derby County and Bolton Wanderers then submitted a proposal to the FA to allow shirt sponsorship, which was accepted on June 3 1977. Kettering were, however, unable to find a sponsor for the following season.

In 1977 Hibernian became the first top-level UK club to wear shirts carrying sponsorship (by Bukta, the kit manufacturer). Derby County landed the first English deal with Saab in 1978 but the sponsored shirts were never worn after the pre-season photo shoot. It fell to Liverpool a year later to wear the first shirts to carry a sponsor’s name in the Football League in 1979.

The Eighties – The Market Rules (1980-1989)

Once Nibs and Liverpool broke the mould clubs began to exploit the potential revenue from selling shirt sponsorship. The BBC and ITV companies refused to broadcast matches featuring sponsored shirts, forcing clubs to remove sponsors’ logos when the cameras were present. Coventry City thought they were on a winner when they introduced a kit that incorporated the logo of the Talbot car manufacturing company into their design but the TV companies boycotted them until they introduced an alternate strip for televised games.

In 1983 the broadcasters finally gave way and allowed sponsored shirts to be shown: immediately the value of a sponsorship deal with a club that would feature regularly on Match of the Day or the equivalent ITV programmes went through the roof. At the time, Football League regulations restricted the size of logos to a maximum of 81 square centimeters (32 square inches) but for televised games they had to be half this size.

Adidas made considerable inroads into the increasingly competitive kit provider market, capturing important contracts with Manchester United(1980) and Liverpool (1985) as well as many smaller clubs.

Traditional cotton shirts were replaced by artificial polyester fabrics: from the manufacturers' point of view these were not only cheaper, lighter and less moisture absorbent but also could be processed through a novel process of dye sublimation. This allowed colours and complex patterns to be applied with heat to the basic fabric in a manner not possible with natural fabrics and led to a design revolution.

The new polyester kits became increasingly intricate as more manufacturers became involved with an eye for the developing replica kit market. French manufacturer Le Coq Sportif introduced pinstripes on Chelsea's1981-82 shirts while Spall created a similar design for Blackburn Rovers' yellow change kit. The French company went on to introduce some truly elegant designs for Everton, Aston Villa and Portsmouth and can be credited with creating the definitive 1980s design feature, the shadow stripe which was first worn by Tottenham Hotspur in 1982-83.

A third colour was introduced to the strips of most clubs: Liverpool, for example, who had introduced yellow to their kit in 1976, featured pale gray trim in the mid-1980s and later dark green.

A number of clubs celebrated their centenaries during the decade and one of these, Derby County, introduced special kit to celebrate the occasion in 1984, establishing a precedent that would become the norm some 20 years later.

The monopoly enjoyed by Umbro and Bukta enjoyed since time immemorial was now broken as a new breed of kit manufacturers stepped in with sophisticated new brands. Le Coq Sportif (France), Adidas (Germany), Patrick, Matchwinner and Hobott (UK) captured significant sections of the market that now included selling replica kits to fans. Following the success of the Danish team in the 1986 World Cup, their kit supplier Hummel, made significant inroads in England supplying versions of their distinctive and complicated halved designs to Southampton, Coventry and Aston Villa. This design soon fell out of favour but Hummel's distinctive chevron sleeve trim remained prominent.

Admiral, who had done so much to transform kits in the previous decade over-extended themselves and entered financial administration, although the brand re-emerged later in the decade under new ownership.

Towards the end of the decade shirts became more generously cut as the new lightweight fabrics became widely available. Shirts were produced with both short and long sleeves and players could choose which to wear (unless they played for Arsenal, where the captain decided if the team would play in long or short sleeves). Improvements in the dye sublimation process allowed for intricate designs to be printed into the fabric itself, permitting manufacturers to counteract the burgeoning market in cheap counterfeit kits that had begun to appear.

The Nineties (1990-2000)

During the '90s football was transformed as the old terraces were swept away and huge amounts of cash were injected into top-flight football through lucrative deals with satellite TV companies. The introduction of all-seat stadia and increased admission charges finally reduced the problem of hooliganism that had plagued the game over the previous decade and the fall in attendances that had begun in the 1960s was reversed. The marketing of replica kits, which reflected a new era of brash confidence, now exploded and everyone who considered him or her self to be a supporter expected to turn out on match day wearing the current replica kit. Shirts had to look good not only on the pitch but also when worn with jeans. Artificial fabrics were now universally used, with manufacturers vying with each other every season to extol the remarkable properties of their latest miracle fabric.

The leading clubs faced increasing criticism for exploiting their fans by changing strips too frequently. As a result of this pressure, several top clubs entered into a voluntary agreement to retain their kits for two seasons. By the end of the decade clubs were required to include a “sell by” date but managed to subvert the spirit of the agreement by introducing "third kits" and rotating the introduction of new strips every season.

In the FA Cup final of 1991 Tottenham Hot spur once again set a trend by turning out in long, baggy shorts. Many sniggered at the time but within no time at all, every team in the England and Scotland was turning out in similar kit.

In 1991 Adidas launched a re branding exercise and introduced their new range of sportswear under the Adidas Equipment brand. The iconic three stripe trim disappeared and was replaced by three very large contrasting stripes that wereincorporated in various ways in (for example)Liverpool'skits between (1991-1995) and Arsenal's 1993 away kit. These attracted considerable criticism from fans who thought this corporate branding overwhelming and it was quietly dropped after 1995.

The launch of the (English) Premier League in 1992 and the decision by the FA to drop their ban on clubs wearing black (referees now wore tops in a variety of colours chosen to avoid clashing with either team's colours) led to a vogue for all-black change strips, with Manchester United leading the way in 1993. Clubs were loath to alienate their supporters by making radical changes to their traditional colours but there was no such inhibition over the choice of change kits.

The Premier League pioneered the addition of sleeve patches: these are now routinely added to shirts for domestic and international competitions. Player's names were first printed on the back of players' shirts after the Premier League was launched in 1992, a smart marketing move, as fans could now pay for the privilege of having their idol's name - or indeed their own - printed on their expensive new replica shirts. These details not only add value to replica kit sales but also make the acquisition of match worn shirts more desirable, feeding the black market in counterfeit sales. (HFK counsels all would be collectors to check with a reliable authority before bidding for items on e-bay.)

Manufacturers also pushed the boundaries in their designs for "home" kits, while generally keeping to traditional colour schemes. Abstract patterns, splotches, scratch marks, barcode stripes and (in the case of West Bron), wavy stripes all appeared. Influence, a company owned by Birmingham City's owners launched a number of outrageous designs including the infamous "paint box strip" worn by Birmingham in 1992, which featured yellow, navy and green splashes all over plain blue shirts and shorts.

Alongside the new wave of increasingly intricate designs came a vogue for generously cut retro strips. Manchester United introduced a change kit in 1992 based on the colours of their former incarnation, Newton Heath while Aston Villa revived the hooped neck style worn first a century before.

Stockings, long considered a minor adjunct, now became integral to the overall design concept, with club monogrammes, badges and manufacturers' logos added along with various trims.

The American sportswear giant Nike entered the market in 1993 when they replaced Adidas as Arsenal's kit supplier, offering designs that were carefully contrived and individual, at least for the leading clubs. Umbro fought hard to maintain their market share introducing all sorts of novel motifs and designs. Lower down theleagues, clubs had either to settle for a standard template from one of the big manufacturers or sign deals with one of the smaller, emerging companies. A few clubs designed and marketed replica kits under their own brand names (including Oxford United, shown here) but the economics rarely worked for long, the big players being able to offer deals that undercut those of small manufacturers because of the economies of scale they enjoyed, not least because they had shifted their manufacturing plants to the Far East where labour costs were a fraction of those in the European Union.

Overall, the 1990s will be remembered as a pivotal period in the design of kits. While the extravagant designs, excessive detailing and general clutter of the period now look out of date, shirts from this period have become extremely collectible.

We cannot leave the decade without mentioning the extraordinary tiger-print shirts worn by Hull City during this period, without question the most outrageous design worn by any club anywhere at anytime.

Towards the end of the decade styles became more minimal and the emphasis was on the technology of the material as much as the design. Reversed seams appeared for a more comfortable fit without rubbing the skin while lightweight, hi-tech fabrics promised to keep the wearer cool (or warm) and draw moisture away from the body. Each company introduced its own new fabric, enhanced with mesh panels, integral undershirts and other features that would enable peak performance, or so it was claimed. Quite what the advantage of these "revolutionary" concepts remains unproven. Most top level players wore "foundation garments," negating any claims for the capacity of shirts to improve athletic performance. One manufacturer has told HFK, when asked about these miracle fabrics, "it's all polyester and comes from the same source - it's all crap."

The New Millennium - Sanity Restored but Prices Fixed

The trend for simpler designs continued with subtle piping and plain trim at collar and cuff. Kappa’s body hugging Kombat range made its appearance in 2002 when it was worn by Tottenham Hot spur (inevitably). The skin tight Lycra outfit was intended to emphasise the physique of the players but proved less popular with fans whose body shape was more influenced by consumption of pies and beer.

The marketing of replica kits attracted the attention of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in 2003 whose investigation upheld allegations of price fixing between top clubs, manufacturers and sportswear retailers who had entered into agreements that prevented the big supermarket chains from selling replica kits at discount prices. The manufacturers, clubs and sportswear retailers contrived to protect their position and maintain high prices while excluding discount sellers in direct defiance of the OFT's decision and continue to do so.

In 2003 Puma, now a major player in the global football kit market, designed a dramatic asymmetrical design for Full ham, a trend that was taken up by other clubs the following season. Another design innovation was the introduction of the 360 degree concept, with features that can only be appreciated from the back of the strip. This trend was reinforced by regulations that required the numbers and names on the back of shirts to be printed on a solid background. As a result striped and hooped shirts were usually designed with a single solid coloured panel on the back.

Novel trimmings appeared on stockings in a variety of patterns, which included vertical stripes down the side, bands that curved round the back and contrasting reverses.

In 2006-07 the Football League permitted secondary sponsors' logos to appear on the back of player's shirts and shorts (the Premier League did not follow suit) while in Scotland secondary sponsorship was permitted on shorts as well.

For the majority of clubs existing on modest means, the annual or bi-annual introduction of new kits was a balancing act between generating revenue and alienating their loyal fan base. More than one deal was scuppered because the new design was disliked by fans or because demand outstripped supply. A welcome trend was for fans to be involved in the design process. Manufacturers recognise that involving their potential customers has commercial advantages while clubs now frequently consulted their fans when choosing next season’s design. The dynamics of the market mean, however, that even the best designs, such as Le Coq Sportif's stunning Carlisle United offering have a maximum life of two seasons.

Every season, manufacturers vied with each other to introduce the latest design innovation and new strips were often showcased in the last match of the previous season. For the top clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, sales of replica kits world-wide now created annual revenue streams of tens of millions of pounds sterling. At the other end of the scale, East Stirling shire' shops of reviving their traditional one inch hooped shirts in 2008 ran into the sand because the only companies prepared to manufacture them insisted on pre-sale guarantees that far exceeded what this impoverished Scottish Third Division club could offer. The big manufacturers courted the leading clubs with lucrative deals and exclusive designs while clubs in the lower leagues had to scratch around for contracts with lesser players such as Vandanel and Carlotti. That being said, these smaller manufacturers made every effort to introduce new templates each season. Notable among these was the Italian company, Errea, who emerged in 1994 with a long standing deal with Middles bough and who specialised in producing bespoke kits for smaller clubs with very Italian flair for design.

Most clubs and certainly all of the members of the English Premier League, now had three kits each season, their "Home," "Away" (ie change) and "Third" kits with additional sets of shorts and stockings for each kit so that they had a bewildering assortment available. Match officials had the last word on what teams could wear and, encouraged by increasing interference from the national authorities, they insisted that away teams change shorts and/or socks when there was even a minimal clash with their home opponents. This unwelcome trend resulted in all sorts of nonsensical changes being forced on teams, such as Aston Villa having to dig out a set of white shirts when they entertained West Ham in April 2009 because the referee did not like the fact the both teams would wear sky blue sleeves.

Some clubs retained each kit for two seasons and replaced one of them every year, so that last season's "Away" kit became this season's "Third" kit. However, when a contract with a manufacturer ended, the new contractor would introduce a brand new suite of kits, thus ensuring that there was always something for the fan to spend money on. New designs were frequently showcased in the final matches of each season and appeared in club shops over the summer.

Special anniversary kits were introduced such as Charlton Athletic's 2004 centenary kit and, with permission from the relevant league authorities, were worn on one or two occasions: replicas were then sold as limited editions to fans at premium prices. Some clubs took a different approach and revived early kits; Roch dale wore a recreation of their original black and white striped kit during 2007-08 for example whileNorwich City wore a recreation of the strip worn in their famous 1959 FA Cup run in their third round tie in 2009 while the two Manchester clubs wore special commemorative strips when they met in February 2008 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster. From 2007-08 clubs in England and Scotland have worn poppies printed on their shirts in matches played over the weekend of Remembrance Sunday.

In 2007 Everton launched a special edition pink shirt in support of Breast Cancer Research. This shirt was never worn on the pitch but the idea proved so popular a second edition was launched the following year and several clubs followed suit by producing special edition shirts with proceeds going to charity. Aston Villa went one step further by donating their shirt sponsorship to Acorns Children's Hospice, sparking a trend for similar arrangements in England and Scotland. Several clubs commissioned special kits the following season that were worn by the first team for one game, autographed and then auctioned off with the proceeds going to charity.Doncaster Rovers, for example wore green and white hoops in their final game withCrystal Palace.

Shorts gradually became longer during the decade and by 2008 they were down to the knees, a length not seen since the early 20th century. Shirts were still made in long and short sleeved versions although short sleeves were generally favoured by players. Manufacturers' claim for their fabrics' extraordinary properties were undermined by professional players who wore fitted undershirts underneath their miracle, performance enhancing, climate controlling shirts.

In 2008 Nike acquired Umbro for a rumoured £385m ($600m) although the two brands continued to exist and offer distinctive designs. Nike kits, for example, became more and more minimal, culminating in a range of severely minimal strips devoid of any trim apart from the company's branding and club crest, which proved popular in the lower leagues. Umbro abandoned the fussy templates introduced in 2007-08 in favour of more fashionable, sleek designs.

Manufacturers naturally remain keen to maximise their branding and in 2008 the Italian sportswear company Lotto pushed the boundaries by adding their logos to both sleeves and shorts as well as stockings. The following season a number of manufacturers responded by increasing the size of their logos on the kits they produced.

In 2009-10 several clubs demonstrated their support for charitable causes by turning out in special edition kits which were then auctioned off in aid of charity.

Predicting future trends in football kit design is a difficult business: manufacturers now employ teams of skilled designers and new designs are closely guarded until they are unveiled by clubs either in the final matches of each season or at press launches held over the summer. The major global manufacturers (Nike, Adidas, Puma) now focus on the major international tournaments (FIFA World Cup, European Championship and African Cup of Nations) as launch pads for their new designs. These global companies generally manufacture kits in Pakistan, China and the Far East where labour costs are minimal, undercutting smaller companies but at the price of reducing choice. Some manufacturing is still licensed to UK and EU companies but these are exposed to competition from the Far East. HFK understands that one UK company walked away from a contract with a major Scottish club after they were congratulated on generating a multi-million pound profit for the club and then invited to reduce their unit costs to compete with a far-east manufacturer. The collapse of Canterbury's European operation in 2009 exposed this same company to a £500,000 loss.

Canterbury's problems may have been due to over ambitious expansion but the disappearance of Bukta, the world's oldest sportswear brand, was the result of the company compromising on quality in an effort to retain market position. Having been in decline for decades, in the 2009-10 season Bukta had just five contracts in Scotland and two in England. The shoddy kits supplied led to three Scottish clubs cancelling their contracts after seeking permission to change their registered strips in mid-season, while others withdrew the offending replicas from sale. Needless to say, this once ubiquitous and respected brand disappeared from the top levels of English and Scottish football the following season.

In 2009 Umbro launched their new all-white England strip under the strap-line "tailored in England." Stripped of market-speak this new, simplistic style proved an immediate hit and led to Umbro introducing some excellent retro-influenced designs at club level over the following seasons.

The big four global sportswear manufacturers, Adidas, Puma and Nike/Umbro steadily increased their share of contracts in the English Premier and Football Leagues from 35.8% in 2007-08 to 45.6% in 2010-11 by offering deals that smaller manufacturers struggled to compete with. It is interesting to note that in 2007-08, the big global players had 16 out of 20 English Premier League contracts (80%) compared to 12 out of 20 in 2010-11 (60%). What these figures fail to indicate is that the replica kit sales from the clubs under contract includedManchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool were guaranteed to to outstrip those of the rest of the league combined.

The global recession that began with the banking crisis in 2008 had its effect on advertising in general and shirt sponsorship in particular. A number of contracts collapsed forcing clubs to seek alternate sponsors or donate shirt sponsorship to charities. West Bromwich Albion were unable to secure a sponsor in 2008-09 and in the following season resorted to selling short-term deals to a variety of commercial and charitable sponsors. This idea was taken up by Middles brough the following season.

Interest in football shirts has never been higher, largely fueled by the internet, prompting a plethora of sites dedicated to the subject. Collecting replica and match-worn shirts has become a serious business with rare match-worn shirts changing hands for hundreds and even thousands of pounds. Some collectors have published photographs of their treasured collections on the internet (links can be found throughout Historical Football Kits) enabling the general public to access them and providing a valuable historical resource. The Gateshead-based Toffs has capitalised on this interest with a range of high-quality replicas of classic shirts, which have proved highly popular, while a number of other companies, both small and large, specialise in trading replicas from the last 20 years.