The Greatest Germany Home Kit 1965-2015: The Result

Over the last half a century, the national football team of West Germany, latterly just Germany, have worn 22 different home kits. Some have been simple in their design while others have been colourful and complicated.

Back at the start of September 2015, we presented all 22 kits of them in graphical form and invited you to vote for your favourite. With the voting period now over, we can now proudly announce the winner... and it was this:

It may not come as much of a surprise to some of you (not least in light of recent events), but you voted the Greatest Germany Home Kit of the last 50 years to be that worn between 1988 and 1991, made by Adidas.

We received a total of 165 votes, and a whopping 47.3% of those were for our winning kit, Kit J. Well behind in second place was Germany's 2014 World Cup kit (Kit V) which received 9.7% of the vote, while Kit B, worn regularly over a 13-year period between 1965 and 1978, came in third with 7.9% of the vote.

Four of the 22 kits, including those worn during Euro 2000 (Kit O) and Euro 2004 (Kit Q) didn't receive a single vote, but perhaps more surprising was the higher-than-predicted ranking for Kit L. The much derided ensemble from the 1994 World Cup actually came fifth, thereby proving that not everyone thinks it's a complete abomination.

Here's how the voting went in full:

Click for larger version

And, there it is - Germany's 1990 World Cup kit is the greatest of the last 50 years. A worthy winner... unless you think otherwise, in which case, please feel free to tell us which kit should have won!

Our sincere thanks to all of you that took the time to vote. We really appreciate it, and once again, our thanks also go out to Terry Duffelen, Rich Nelson and Rick Joshua for all their help in putting together this feature.

-- Chris Oakley

Read More

Fantasy Nostalgia: Retro Sweets Football Kits

At the end of June, I published a post which comprised of fifteen football kit illustrations, each one representing one of the old ITV regional television stations. I did it for no other reason than to provide a whimsical antidote to the serious world of modern football.

It was, by Football Attic standards, one of the most popular things we've done in recent times. Many of the comments we received at the time said things like "This is totally bonkers... but brilliant" (for which I'm personally very grateful), but Beyond The Last Man contacted us on Twitter and said: "I dare you to do a set based around 70's sweets and chocolate brands."

As if we'd waste our time on something as fatuous and stupid as that...

Click for larger version

Left to right: Aztec, Banjo, Bounty, Curly Wurly

Click for larger version

Left to right: Dairy Crunch, Double Decker, Flake, Fudge

Click for larger version

Left to right: Milky Bar, Pacers, Polo, Refreshers

Click for larger version

Left to right: Fizzy Spangles, Texan, Topic, Turkish Delight

-- Chris Oakley

Read More

The Greatest Germany Home Kit 1965-2015 - Your vote counts!

First, it was England. Then came France. Now, The Football Attic is proud to be begin a new quest - to establish The Greatest Germany Home Kit of the last fifty years.

The white and black of the German team (and that of the West German team before it) are as iconic as the yellow of Brazil or the orange of the Netherlands. Worn by heroes such as Gerd Müller, Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthäus and Jurgen Klinsmann, the home kit of the German team is as identifiable as any, and is inextricably associated with great success across several decades.

More than 600 matches have been researched and 22 kits have been illustrated so you can assess the good and the not-so-good from the last half a century. Your main duty is to simply enjoy the designs for what they are, but also we'll shortly be inviting you to vote for the one you think is the best of all - just to get an idea of which kits are the most popular.

Before we go any further, here's our graphic showing all of the (West) Germany home kits since 1965.

Click for larger version

(You can also download a full-size version of the graphic here.)

The kits

Kit A was worn in West Germany's first match of 1965, a 1-1 draw against Italy in Hamburg, but was also worn throughout almost their entire 1966 World Cup campaign. It was only in the Final against England that West Germany switched to Kit B (different only in the round neckline of the shirt), although this version was well established and had already been worn regularly since April 1965.

Where our fifty-year period of focus is concerned, these two kits were worn in more matches than any other; Kit A for 33 and Kit B for 79, but whereas the former was retired in 1974, the latter went on to be worn right up to the eve of the 1978 World Cup.

It was in West Germany's first match of the '78 tournament that Kit C made ​​its debut, made ​​by German manufacturer Erima, and it was their logo that had appeared on the shirt of Kit B During 1977. However, after 12 years of wearing two kits that were very much a product of the 1960s, West Germany finally had a new outfit that was modern for its time. With a black edged 'flappy' neckline and black piping across the shoulders of the shirt, Helmut Schön's team looked stylish and in no way old-fashioned in their appearance.

Kit C was worn for two years, even making an appearance in West Germany's group games of the 1980 European Championships, but for the Final against Belgium, they changed again. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Uli Stielike and the rest of the German team faced their counterparts wearing Kit D - the first of 19 consecutive Adidas kits that are still worn to this day. The cut of the shirt was much the same, but now there were Adidas stripes on the sleeves as well as the socks, while the neckline was now a solid black. For further contrast, the piping across the shoulders was flipped horizontally too.

Kit D was worn regularly over a four-year period, but it had to share the spotlight With Kit E during that time - especially during the 1982 World Cup when the latter edition was seen throughout. Sporting a black v-neck and no piping on the shirt, this was seen as a refinement of its predecessor but one that was only worn for a dozen matches up to 1983.

Kit F emerged just in time for West Germany's ultimately unsuccessful Euro 84 campaign. Once again, the shorts and socks were left unchanged, leaving the shirt to provide a fresh look with its stylish wrap-over v-neck - the only change to the entire ensemble, but a very noticeable one. Kit F was worn 19 times between 1984 and 1986 and was only absent for one match in June 1985. On that occasion, West Germany wore Kit G against England in a friendly in Mexico City - essentially the same shirt, but this time with a simple black v-neck to replace the wrap-over. Whether the single outing for this kit was down to the 3-0 thumping at the hands of Bobby Robson's men, we shall never know...


Once again, a World Cup Finals tournament ushered in a new West Germany kit, and in 1986 it was the turn of Kit H to make its first appearance. Kit H was the first to use all three colours of the national flag on the shirt, albeit in a minimal fashion on the shallow wrap-over neckline and cuffs. The entire outfit was worn eleven times in all up to the end of 1987, along with Kit I on four occasions - essentially identical to Kit H, but with a round-neck version of the shirt.

At the start of 1988, the West German national team changed to possibly their best known kit of all - Kit J - which made ​​far greater use of the black/red/yellow by incorporating an abstract ribbon motif to the shirt. Made famous by the victorious World Cup campaign of 1990, Kit J has been worn more often than any other kit since the 1970's, and with some justification.

When Euro 92 rolled around, however, it was time for another change and on this occasion, Adidas restyled the shirt to give an approving nod to the previous one. For Kit K, the flag colours were moved to the sleeves, a new black v-neck was added and the ever-present Adidas logo switched to its 'Equipment' variant - even on the socks.

In 1994, Germany wore their most colourful shirt to date - and the one that polarises opinions the most. As part of Kit L, it featured a series of diamond-like geometric shapes in black, red and yellow across the shoulders and upper chest, with a repeat of the pattern occurring on one leg of the shorts. In addition, the three Adidas stripes were also now in the colours of the German flag.


If Kit L looked flamboyant, Kit M went to the opposite extreme. During 1996 and 1997, the Germany shirt had a plain, dignified look - removing the colourful detail of its predecessor to leave a largely white shirt, black shorts and a longer discrete black neckline and cuffs. To add to the vintage-era feel of the kit, the DFB badge appeared on the shirt in white inside a black shield. Bold, but nicely executed.

At the start of 1998, Kit N was launched and immediately brought back a more modern stylistic approach. Once again, the black/red/yellow was in evidence as the colour for the three stripes horizontally crossing the chest and neatly running behind the DFB badge. Continuing the complex theme of the shirt, there were also black panels down the sides and a black v-neck with white insert, while the shorts also had panels to contrast the white Adidas stripes in black. Only the socks appear to have escaped the attentions of the designers.

Kit O arrived at the start of 2000 and was remarkable for having more black on the shirt than at any time in the past. Truth be known, the black that appeared on the shoulders was more like a dark charcoal colour, but even so, the effect remained stark and uncompromising. Two years later, the see-saw swung back again in favour of minimalism as Kit P made ​​use of a popular Adidas shirt template of the era. With the simple black v-neck neckline and black cuffs, this was the more refined look that the German team adopted for the 2002 World Cup Finals.

Kit Q appeared to be an interesting combination of Kit O and Kit J as a return to black shoulders (along with red and yellow flashes) heralded the run-in to Germany's Euro 2004 campaign. As if to leave no-one in any doubt as to the nationality of the players wearing the kit, there were miniature German flags on the shirt sleeves and the front of the socks.

At the end of 2005, however, it was 'new kit' time again as Adidas launched Kit R, an outfit that ultimately would be seen in the World Cup Finals played on German soil the following year. Maintaining the use of the three flag colours, the shirt had long curves across the shoulders, down the sides of the shirt, and even onto the top of the shorts.

A new direction was taken when Germany faced Cyprus in Hannover towards the end of 2007 as Kit S appeared for the first time. It's main feature was a broad black band running from left to right across the upper part of the shirt, ending in a curve that provided a border for the round DFB badge. The black band also contained red and yellow bars to create a stylized version of the Bundesflagge, whereas the socks had a broad black band on the turnovers as a background to the three white Adidas stripes.


Almost exactly two years later, Kit T was introduced and had a striking resemblance to Kit M thirteen years before it. Yet again there was a single black neckline and once again there was a black shield container to house the now gold DFB badge. This time, however, three thin vertical lines in the colours of the German flag ran behind the badge as a subtle counterpoint to the traditional white and the black Adidas stripes.

In November 2011, Adidas went retro again - this time feeding from the styles of the mid-1980's. Kit U had a shirt with diagonal pinstripes in black, red and yellow, echoing shirts like those worn by Portugal during Euro 84. The single wrap-over neckline was also a hark back to the same era as the overall kit adopted a 'less is more' motif in time for Euro 2012.

Finally, in November 2013, Germany wore Kit V, the kit they'll be wearing until November 2015. This was a true original in many respects. The shirt featured a bold, detailed chevron that graduated from dark red to a lighter red with a similar colouring appearing on the shorts and sock turnovers. The shorts themselves were designed to be white rather than black wherever possible as part of a wider switch to single-colour strips by numerous national sides.

With smart black detailing along the sleeves, neckline and shorts, Kit V was as imaginative and daring in its conception as anything we've seen since the mid-1960s... but is it your favourite Germany home kit of the last 50 years?

Acknowledgements

Before you get the chance to register your vote in our online poll, I'd like to express my sincere thanks to Terry Duffelen, Rich Nelson and Rick Joshua for all their help in clarifying many important pieces of information during the research for this feature. Without their help, many of the details shown on the graphic above and in the accompanying text would be incorrect or incomplete. Thanks a lot, guys!

The vote

And so we come to the fun part - the part where you can vote for your favourite Germany Home Kit of the last half-century.

The process is very simple. All you need to do is look at the graphic shown near the top of this article, note the letter associated with your preferred kit, then select it on the form below and press the Vote button. On October 4th, one month from now, we'll count up all your votes and announce the winner of the Greatest Germany Home Kit 1965-2015.

Thank you for your participation!

UPDATE:
The voting period is now over and the winner of our Greatest Germany Home Kit poll has been announced. Did your favourite kit win?

-- Chris Oakley

Read More

Top Templates: Adidas 'diamonds' (1), 1994/95

It's usually in the run-up to the start of a new domestic season that you'll hear them - the people bemoaning their favourite team's new kit. For some lucky fans, their club will be big enough to command a unique design, one that a major manufacturer will be only too happy to create for a team of great prestige and heritage. For almost everyone else, however, it's likely to be a template kit that's sported in the campaign ahead.

Kit templates have gained something of a negative reputation, a physical sign that a club can only afford an off-the-shelf design rather than an exclusive outfit by Adidas, Puma, Nike et al. This is perhaps unfair. Though it could be argued that some manufacturers should make more effort to create a wide range of designs, it's also true that some templates are good enough to demand the respect of those wearing the kit, be they players or fans.

That's where this occasional series aims to redress the balance, showing the versatility of a decent kit template while exploring the various permutations of styling and colour.

We start with a template many of you will have seen but only worn by one team, perhaps.

Germany's 1994 World Cup campaign has largely been forgotten about by many, truncated, as it was, due to a 2-1 quarter final defeat to Bulgaria. What's more readily brought to mind is the kit they were wearing, and specifically their shirt. After years of understated smartness and simplicity, the white shirts of the German national team for USA '94 exploded onto the scene with a diamond-filled surfeit of gaudiness in black, red and yellow - the colours of the German flag. It was, to coin a phrase, 'different'.

Many football kit aficionados used an alternative word - 'horrific.' What was once a by-word for effortless style had now become a challenge for those unwilling to embrace a new era in football kit design. Open-minded invention was how the mid-90's were panning out, and Germany's new kit aimed to prove it in no uncertain terms.

Even the green away shirt, not seen during the 1994 World Cup, used the same motif - to even greater howls of derision. Subtle it was not, yet it didn't stop other teams queueing up for something similar.

Elsewhere in the recently-expanded Europe, Georgia and Latvia were quick to adopt their own take on the Adidas diamonds. (By the way, has anyone else wondered why Adidas created a design founded on so many geometric shapes similar to that used by their rivals, Umbro, in their logo? Just us, then...)

Georgia's home kit, like Germany's, featured a white home shirt, but this time only two colours featured in those diamonds across the shoulders - red and black.

The same red/white/black colour scheme was applied to Germany's home shorts which had a diagonal cut-away across one leg. A peculiar feature and one which, as we'll see, was dispensed with by other teams wearing the same design. Georgia's socks, however, were different and featured the three broad Adidas stripes seen on other Adidas kits around the same time.

The away kit nicely transposed the colours to make red the predominant colour for the shirts and socks with the same black shorts.

Latvia's outfit was almost the reverse of Georgia's, red being the home colour, while the Latvian team badge was positioned in such a way as to overlap some of those diamonds. A little clumsy and unfortunate in the way it obscured the main design, it could be said.

Several European clubs also found a way to adapt the Adidas diamonds to their own effect too. In Hungary, BVSC Dreher of Budapest continued the often-used white theme, but chose blue and black as complementary colours.

In Israel. three top-flight teams had this template for their kit, of which Hapoel Haifa's home edition was virtually the same as Georgia's equivalent, and Maccabi Herzliya's was all yellow with blue and yellow diamonds on the shirt. Though evidence of these two outfits is difficult to find online, a third club, Bnei Yehuda, crop up on one or two YouTube videos wearing a very striking orange and black version. Here, as on a few of these Adidas kits, the diamonds do not have a speckled effect, as seen on the original Germany home shirt above, which doesn't unduly detract from the overall look.

The classic white-red-black combo came to the fore again in the form of FC Aarau's home kit for the 1994 and 1995 period, but arguably the best version of all was worn by Italian club Bari.

Using only a red and white palette, the club from Puglia looked fantastic both home and away, due in no small part to the absence of the wacky diamond cut-away on the shorts. In Bari's case, they chose plain white ones for the home kit and red ones for the change strip. Throw in a small flappy collar on the shirt instead of the regular tri-colour v-neck and you have a very nice couple of kits indeed.

Finally, as in Israel, three teams in the top division were wearing the above template, and once again it's difficult to know for sure how two of them looked due to the paucity of evidence. What is known is that Kocaelispor's shirt was white with black and green diamonds, accompanied by black shorts, while Petrolofisi's kit was virtually identical to Bari's, except the red diamonds continued onto their white shorts.

Besiktas, on the other hand, were rather more visible in their kit which, at home, had a white shirt and black speckled diamonds. Notable, here, is another different collar, this time a wrap-over v-neck in white and black which harked back to the mid-80's in all its neatness and simplicity.

The change strip was all red, but the black and white diamonds were retained, even including the white speckling effect from the home kit. And there was even a bonus for fans of collars as the away shirt had thin red and black piping along the inner edge of the broad white 'V'. More intricate in detail than the other collars, it nevertheless showed the flexibility of the design to be customised for any team that wore it.

It wouldn't be surprising to hear of other teams wearing those crazy diamonds of Adidas, and indeed if you know of any, please feel free to leave us a comment below with details. If possible, we'll try and add a graphic so that everyone can see what the other variations of the template looked like.

Got any favourite templates you'd like us to feature in future Top Template posts? Drop us a line and let us know!

-- Chris Oakley

Read More

Videoblog 7: Football kit design folder

Way back in March 2012, I wrote an article called 'I was a teenage kit designer'. In it, I confessed that in my early-20's, I went through a short phase of designing football kits using nothing more than some paper and a set of felt-tip pens. Happy days they were, matched in many ways by the reaction to the article that saw lots of people confess to doing the same thing in their own younger days.

It's possible that you may have read my original article and felt short-changed by not being able to see more of my designs. (Possible, and unlikely, no doubt.) If that's the case, feel deprived no longer as The Football Attic Videoblog 7 showcases ALL of my existing football kit designs from two decades ago, just for you.

Experience the hilarity of my whacked-out juvenile imagination, the despair of not creating a single decent England kit design and the eternal hope that one day, just one day, a major manufacturer might be influenced by my efforts. A true rollercoaster of emotions awaits those of you daring to watch this extended-length video full of felt-tip fancies, of that you can be sure.

-- Chris Oakley

Read More

Fantasy Nostalgia: Liverpool wear Admiral

When I recently read Bert Patrick's book all about the history of Admiral, legendary kit makers to the great and good of British football, one episode sent my mind into a tailspin. It was the section where Patrick, looking to grab the kit contracts for as many top clubs as possible, approached Bill Shankly at Liverpool and gained his agreement to provide them Admiral outfits.

Sadly for Bert Patrick, what would have been a huge name to add to his company's portfolio turned out to be a false dawn as Liverpool's board of directors overruled Shankly to prevent the deal from going through.

Yet it got my mind thinking: what would Liverpool have looked like in an Admiral kit back then, and thereafter?

Time to get doodling, I thought...

Kit 1: Circa 1973

If Bill Shankly had been backed by his board, this might have been the first pair of Admiral kits worn by his team. (Click on images for a larger version.)

Applying Liverpool's colours to the Admiral kit for Leeds United at the time, you get an all-red outfit with a flappy collar, oval badge and those famous Leeds number ribbons stitched into the socks. Well we can all dream, I suppose...

For the away kit, I've gone for the white and black that was preferred by the Anfield club at the time.

Not bad, but quite plain and basic as were many of the kits at the time.

Kit 2: Circa 1974

Admittedly this is the most 'out there' design of the lot, but this is Fantasy Nostalgia after all...

Here I've used Admiral's Luton Town kit template which would have originally used orange, navy blue and white. Given that Liverpool only wore two colours at home in the early 70's (red and white), I've had to use a bit of artistic licence by adding a darker shade of red on the first kit. As for the vertical band, I hardly think it would have been accepted by the Anfield faithful, but it was somewhat in vogue at the time!

Once again for the away kit, I've chosen a predominantly white and black colour scheme, but this time there's more red thanks to that red band flanked with black.

A more interesting pair of kits than the last ones, but perhaps better suited to, say, a Swindon or a Middlesbrough...

Kit 3: Circa 1975

By 1975, the England national team had an Admiral kit of their own, and that's the design I've used for this third version of what Liverpool might have been wearing around the same time.

Again I've employed a shade of dark red on the shoulders and shorts as an accent colour, but this time it's predominantly red with white trim for the home kit, and quite smart I think it looks too.

For a bit of variety in the away kits, I've provided two options - white/black again, but also an all-yellow version, even though Liverpool rarely wore that colour until 1979.

Personally I think these kits are the most believable of all those shown here and I think Bob Paisley's team would have looked quite fetching in them.

Kit 4: Circa 1976

Yet more flights of fancy now as we enter the era of the glorious Admiral tramlines. For Liverpool to have embraced this design would have meant a leap of faith of gargantuan proportions for club officials and fans alike, and yet it's not completely beyond the realms of fantasy to think of Liverpool in such a series of kits.

One shortcoming of the design, however, would have been exposed when Liverpool became the first top flight team to have an official shirt sponsor around 1978/1979. Having to fit 'Hitachi' onto the front of their kits would've broken up the tramlines motif somewhat, and yet according to my home kit design shown here, it doesn't destroy the whole look, in my view.

Could you imagine Graeme Souness or Ray Kennedy wearing any of these? Probably not, but it's worth remembering that if Shanks had got his way, that Admiral logo really would've been worn by the English champions rather than the Umbro diamonds...

-- Chris Oakley

Read More

Attic Kit Collection Book - Now Available!

It's been a long time coming with many many MANY weekends spent photographing kits, editing said photos and then writing stuff about each one, but it's finally here!

The finished product is a 98 page hardback featuring over 200 different kits (almost my entire collection).

At present there's only a few copies available and will be done on a first come first served basis. If by some miracle those sell, I'll see how many extra copies are needed and order some more, though I think I've only got a few more days to do so, so be quick!

The price is £29.99 + P&P 

Not cheap I know, but that's economies of scale for you...

UK Postage is £3.90 2nd class or £4.30 1st class. If you're outside the UK, I'll give you a postage quote before you commit.

So, if you want one, fill in the form below and I'll contact you to sort out payment etc.

UPDATE: Please note these are now Sold Out!

Read More

Changing your stripes

Thumbing through an issue of Football League Review the other day, I stumbled upon an article that caught my eye. 'Inquiry: Are the club colours getting too drab?' was its title, and it surmised that the day of the 'fancy' football shirt seemed to be all but dead and buried.

Written in the first few weeks of the 1968/69 season by Bob Baldwin, it opened with the line: "Whatever happened to the Turquoise Blues, the Gold and Royal Blues and the Claret Bodies with Amber Yolks?" It went on: "These descriptive colour blends are not taken from a Paris fashion catalogue. They come from a pre-war list of official League club strips. Times have changed. Two-thirds of the clubs now use the more sober use of reds, blues or whites. Colour has gone from the game."

Intriguing. Was I to believe that the early 20th Century was a technicolor carnival of a million rainbow hues?

Read More

The Greatest France Home Kit 1964-2014: The Result

It was way back on December 23rd 2013 that we began our search to find the Greatest France Home Kit Ever. Thirty different kits were presented, and nearly 650 of you voted for your favourite from the last 50 years.

At midnight on February 28th 2014, the deadline for voting finally passed, at which point we were finally able to calculate the overall winner.

Having totalled up all the entries we received, we can now proudly announce that The Greatest France Home Kit since 1964 - according to visitors to The Football Attic's website - was Kit 13, made by Adidas and worn by the French national team between 1982 and 1983.

The kit, seen by millions during the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain, received over 21% of the 646 votes we received, and was a particular favourite among the many people visiting our website via cahiersdufootbal.net and slate.fr in France.

With 137 votes, Kit 13 was a comfortable winner ahead of Kit 14 in second place, which received 108 votes. Kit 14, made by Adidas and worn during France's first major tournament win at Euro 84, was the more preferential choice of voters in the UK.

In third place, you voted for Kit 30, a kit which hasn't even been worn yet. Nike's third outfit for the French team (and one that's set to make its début in the next few weeks) has obviously caught the imagination of many of you already with its dark blue shirt and restyled cockerel badge.

Kit 30 finished just one vote ahead of Kit 20, the Adidas kit worn during France's successful World Cup campaign of 1998 and one that stylistically takes its inspiration from Kit 14 (which finished second in our online vote).

At the other end of the scale were two kits that received only a single vote each. One of them, Kit 2, was the v-neck variant of France's plainly-styled outfit of the late 1960's while the other, Kit 7, was the first Adidas kit to be worn by the French team back in 1972.

Click for larger version

So there it is - the Greatest France Home Kit is now known, and at this point we at The Football Attic would like to give our huge thanks to the hundreds of you that voted over the last nine weeks or so. We'd also like to send our special thanks to Andrew Gibney from French Football Weekly for helping us promote our online poll, without whom it would have been far less popular!

We hope your favourite France home kit fared well in our vote-off, and we'd be interested to hear your views on the final result, so please do leave us a comment below and give us your thoughts.

In the meantime, thanks once again for your participation - we really appreciate it!

Read More

The Greatest France Home Kit 1964-2014

In May 2013, The Football Attic spoke to you, the football nostalgia experts of the world, to ask what you thought was the greatest England home kit that's been worn since 1965. Your response was fantastic and left us in no doubt that your favourite was the Admiral kit worn during the 1982 World Cup.

Now it's time to praise and assess the first-choice outfits of France, the country that gave us Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Thierry Henry. Over the last 50 years, the French national team have worn 30 different home kits all varying in complexity and style, so we'd like you to tell us which ones you like best, which ones are an affront to human decency, and above all, which is your favourite by voting via the form at the foot of this page.

Click for larger version

The graphic above shows all of the 30 kits mentioned (clicking on it brings up a larger version - right-click and 'Save As' while it's on the screen to keep a full-size version). We've tried to get as much detail correct as possible using the information sources available, but if you do spot any inaccuracies, please let us know.

As you peruse the different designs shown, you'll probably spot an anomaly (by British standards, at least). Where the French national team is concerned, it was common for two or more home kits to be worn at any given time during any 12-month period up to Euro 84.

Whereas in Britain we're used to a system of 'Kit A' being replaced by 'Kit B' and then 'Kit C', in France 'Kit A' might be worn for a few games only to be replaced by 'Kit B', but after a few more games 'Kit A' would be worn again before 'Kit C' appeared a few months later, then back to 'Kit B' and so on. Why this is the case, we're not sure, but if anyone out there has any details, please let us know.

In addition to this seemingly random flip-flopping between kits, it's also worth mentioning the diverse number of times each kit was worn. Some, like Kit 8, were worn at various times over a 7-year period while Kit 10, for instance, was only worn twice - and that was with a one-year gap between the two outings.

As far as manufacturers are concerned, there are three that we're aware of: Le Coq Sportif (1970-72), Adidas (1972-2010) and Nike (2011 onwards). Adidas enjoyed the benefits of a 33-year association with the French team that undoubtedly covered it's greatest era, but Le Coq Sportif are responsible for dragging the French kit out of the old-fashioned 1960's just as Nike are designing some new styles at the present time.

But enough of all this technical information. We want you to pin your bleu-blanc-rouge to the mast and tell us which is your favourite France home kit...

SORRY - THIS VOTE HAS NOW CLOSED!
The winner of our Greatest France Home Kit vote has now been announced. Did your favourite kit win?

Further information:
To see all the above France home kits, plus many change kits and variations, head on over to Chris O's Kitbliss website.

Read More

Wrong numbers?

Football is a game of numbers. Scorelines feature numbers, league tables feature numbers, Gareth Bale's bank balance features numbers (quite a few, actually). Perhaps the most important numbers, however, are those featured on the backs of the shirts worn by the players. Shirt numbers have been around since 1928 and though they've been somewhat crowded out by sponsor names, player names and all manner of other paraphernalia, they remain an important feature of any football shirt.

The future might be bright, but it didn't feature shirt
numbers on the front for Halifax Town

These days, you'll also see numbers on the front of the shirts when there's a major international tournament taking place, the World Cup adopting that idea in 1994. This wasn't the first time it had been tried, however. Halifax Town were pioneers of the 'number on the front' way back in 1971 when they played in the Watney Cup competition against the likes of Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion. Halifax, sporting a recently introduced kit of orange shirts and blue shorts, looked a little peculiar as they tried to set their numerical trend, and predictably enough it didn't seem to catch on to any great extent.

Francis Lee adopts the gridiron look in November 1972.

Similarly, a variation of the theme also failed to stick beyond the 1972/73 season when Manchester City wore a change strip featuring numbers on the shirt sleeves. Looking more like an American football shirt, these numbers looked good enough alright, but perhaps were a little ostentatious. On a more practical level, it begs the question "Where's a number best located?"  Presumably shirt numbers are used mostly by the ref for disciplinary situations when identification of a specific player is most important. Having a number on both sleeves, however, seems slightly excessive, one could argue.

Kenny Dalglish celebrates numbers on shorts during
the 1973 Scottish Cup Final.

Of course numbers aren't just confined to the football shirt. Numbers on shorts are not uncommon, and for a twist on that tradition, one need only look to Celtic who for many years wore numbers not only on the front of the shorts but on the backs too. The fact that they wore numbers on the shorts at all came about because (if Wikipedia is to be believed) Robert Kelly, former chairman of the club, couldn't bare to see the famous green and white hoops obscured in any way shape or form, so onto the shorts they went.

Billy Bremner looks for someone to hug that also
loves blue sock tags.

The last bastion for number wearing, it seems, is on the socks. When it comes to that piece of apparel, there was only one team setting a trend back in the 1970s, and that was Leeds United. Don Revie's team raised a few eyebrows in the early part of the decade when they were seen sporting blue tags that were stitched into the socks complete with player numbers and frilly white tassels. Another example of style over substance, it was nothing if not original but ultimately added to the cannon of trends that never quite caught on.

Middlesbrough v Coventry 1974: Too clever by calf

The same can be said of Middlesbrough who certainly showed just as much creativity with a neat variation on the numbered sock tags back in 1974. On at least one occasion, they appeared to wear red socks with numbers stitched into the backs of the turnovers, apparently embroidered in as part of the sock fabric itself.

Though just as gimmicky, there's no denying that this was perhaps the most original slant on the 1970's obsession with finding a new way to display a player's number... even if it did require the socks to stay up throughout the entire match to fulfil their usefulness.

So what now for numbers? Will we see a revival to match that of four decades ago? Can we expect numbers to be displayed on wrist bands or tattooed into the foreheads of the players of the future?  As the 1970's proved, anything's possible.

Read More

Videoblog 4: Club Colours (1998)

If you heard our recent Football Attic podcast, you'll know we're borderline nerdists when it comes to football kit design. To prove that point beyond any reasonable doubt, we bring you our fourth Videoblog which takes as its subject a book all about football kit design.

Club Colours is its title and Bob Bickerton is the author and illustrator. If you want to know what's between the covers, watch the video and perhaps leave us a comment afterwards to tell us what you thought.

Club Colours
published by Hamlyn
ISBN: 0-600-59542-0

Read More

The Football Attic Podcast 14 - Football Kit Special

Yes we've covered kits before (twice in fact), but we love kits and it's our podcast so we can do what we want! That a problem?? You starting??? Outside, NOW!!!!

Anyway, while we may have covered kits already, we've not done so with some very special guests. We hereby present Podcast 14, a football kit special with insight from True Colours legend John Devlin and the DesignFootball.com Daddy, Jay!

Oh and it's 1 hour, 40 mins! Yeah, we LOVE kits!

Enjoy it people!

p.s. Jay... you might want to get a decent lawyer ;-)

Subscribe on iTunes or download here

Read More

Football kit manufacturers: Trends, graphs and charts

As you probably know, we're rather fond of football kit design here at The Football Attic. We like nothing better than making broad sweeping statements about the brilliance of a particular kit, especially when we know we haven't got a clue what we're talking about.

What makes football kit design such a fascinating subject is the sheer number of great designs that have been produced over so many decades. In England, this began in earnest during the mid-1970's when production techniques improved and a burgeoning sense of commercialism finally dawned.

So many great manufacturers are associated with the football kits of English football - Adidas, Nike, Admiral, Umbro... the list goes on, but we wondered which ones have provided the most kits for top flight teams since the mid-1970's, and what the trends have been in the popularity of those manufacturers.

To find out the answers to these and many other questions, we plundered as much information as we could find from the website that's unparalleled in its knowledge of the subject, Historical Football Kits. Our research threw up a number of interesting findings.

The early days: 1974-1980

It's fair to say that before the 1970's, football kits were made to distinguish the colours of one team from another and very little else. Football kits were looked upon as 'equipment' rather than fashion items, but that was all to change.

That change has often been attributed to the Leicester-based firm of Admiral, and it's not hard to see why. In 1975, the classic 'tramlines' design arrived to bemuse and amaze the fans of Coventry City, Dundee and Wales, and by 1976 their logo seemed to be cropping up everywhere. They weren't, however, the domineering force in the English First Division.

Where our story begins in the 1974/75 season, it was Umbro that had the lion's share of all the top team's contracts, providing kit for eight of the 22 clubs. By the end of that campaign, the number had increased to nine because QPR had switched allegiance from Admiral in late January.

First Division 1974/75: Kit manufacturers
(Click for larger version)

Details of the kit manufacturers providing First Division kits are somewhat sketchy for 1974/75. More than half the club's suppliers are unknown, but we do know that Admiral only had three top clubs on their books at the end of that season - Stoke City, Luton Town and Leeds United. By the end of the decade, this figure had doubled, but Umbro were also adding more clubs to its portfolio. During the 1976/77 season, they provided the kit for 13 of the 22 teams including the top four - Liverpool, Manchester City, Ipswich Town and Aston Villa.

Queens Park Rangers 1976/77

It was in this season that Adidas made their First Division début well after their logo had appeared on shirts during the 1974 World Cup. Queens Park Rangers have the distinction of wearing the first Adidas kit in the top division and indeed they were the only club that did so at the time, but in 1977/78 another four teams wore the German marque - Middlesbrough, Birmingham City, Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest.

In the period between 1974 and 1980, the only other companies providing kit for First Division teams were Bukta and Le Coq Sportif, but they were struggling to make much of an impact during this time. Bukta, based in Manchester, were the suppliers of team kit for Newcastle United during much of the 1970s and also had their logo on West Ham's kit during the 1975 FA Cup Final. As for French firm Le Coq Sportif, their arrival in the First Division didn't come until the 1978/79 season when they provided the kit for Derby County. Tottenham and Aston Villa would soon follow suit when the 1980's finally arrived.

A sign of things to come: 1980-1989

In the latter half of the 1970's, only five companies had made football kits for England's First Divison teams. In the decade that followed, that number had increased to 14 but be in no doubt - Adidas and Umbro were far and away the main players. Admiral's star was on the wane and as new names like Hummel and Patrick began to get some traction, a few 'club brands' started to appear on the radar too.

Between the two of them, Umbro and Adidas provided the kit for 18 of the 22 First Division teams in the 1980/81 season. Only Coventry City and Leeds United (Admiral), Southampton (Patrick) and Tottenham Hotspur (Le Coq Sportif) bucked the trend, but as the 1980's progressed, more and more clubs were tempted to try alternative suppliers.

First Division: 1980-89 - Umbro & Adidas v The Rest
(Click for larger version)

Coventry City, in particular, adopted a different approach when they ditched the Admiral tramlines in 1981. Their famous 'Talbot' kit was the product of a company called Talbot Sports, and in the 1986/87 season they fashioned their own supply deal again by plumping for kits made by Triple S Sports. As luck would have it, the striped Coventry home kit ended up being worn during a successful 1987 FA Cup Final against Tottenham, but it was a one-season wonder and was replaced for 1987/88 by new strips made by Hummel.

Danish company Hummel had started making First Division in-roads after some useful exposure during Euro '84. Their clean, distinctive, Arsenal-style shirt had been worn by the Danes right through to their exit in the semi-finals of the competition, and it was in the following season of 1984/85 that Norwich City became the first club wear the famous double chevrons. By the end of the decade, they'd be joined by Southampton, Aston Villa, Tottenham and, of course, Coventry.

First Division 1980/81 - 1988-89: Kit manufacturers per season
(Click for larger version)

The arrival of lesser-known names like Henson, Scoreline, Strike and Spall in the late-80's was a portent of things to come. Adidas and Umbro's combined share of all the First Division kit deals was down to just 50% in 1988/89, and in the 1990's things got even worse for them as the race to supply outfits for the top clubs got even hotter.

Diversity: 1990-1999

Taken as a whole, the final decade of the 20th Century saw Adidas almost disappear from the English First Division football kit landscape. Having supplied outfits for as many as seven or eight of the 22 top-flight clubs during some seasons of the 1980's, they were down to just one team - Liverpool - in 1994/95. On two occasions later in the decade, only Newcastle United were on the German company's books.

This surprising fall from grace can perhaps be attributed to the growing prominence of the Champions League as Adidas' main priority and the need to have its kits on show there. The increase in football kit manufacturers in the UK was also growing - 27 used during the 1990's - but initially at least, Umbro didn't seem affected by either issue. Between 1990 and 1993, they were making the kits for almost half of the First Division's teams, including Everton, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and both of the Sheffield clubs.

First Division/Premier League 1974-2014: Kit contracts for Adidas and Umbro
(Click for larger version)

By 1995, however, even Umbro were seeing their dominant grip on the market weakened. New companies were providing smart, stylish alternatives for England's top clubs; Asics, Puma, Reebok and even Nike wanted a piece of the action as the traditional giants of the kit world were forced to take a lower billing.

Apart from Umbro, there was one other company that made more First Division kits than Adidas - Pony. The American footwear firm arrived on the scene in 1993 with kits for Southampton and West Ham that both featured prominent 'reverse tick' elements on the upper part of the shirt. The tick came from Pony's logo, and while it looked fine on the West Ham kit, Southampton's red and white stripes struggled to form a harmonious complement with it.

Yet again smaller companies were snapping up the few crumbs that were left after the giants had fed. Clubhouse and View From were two names used by QPR in the early 1990's; Swindon's only season in the top flight saw them wear a kit by Loki; Avec came in to lend Sunderland a hand near the end of the decade, while Crystal Palace went for Nutmeg in 1994/95.

First Division/Premier League 1974-2014 - Kit manufacturers per season
(Click for larger version)

More so than ever, the fragmentation of the kit supply market was providing more choice for clubs and ever-more imaginative kit designs for fans to savour, but the 21st Century would see the trend slow down as the big companies returned to reclaim their territory.

Contraction: 2000 onwards

In 2004/05 and 2006/07, the 20 clubs of the Premier League in England used 14 different football kit providers - the greatest number in any one season. Adidas and Umbro were still there, but now Nike were pushing hard to join them at the top table. Not far behind were Reebok, a perpetual partner and shirt sponsor for Bolton Wanderers but now also a supplier of kit for Liverpool and Manchester City. Kappa and Puma were also a familiar sight in the Premier League around this time, while Le Coq Sportif were making something of a comeback too.

So many kit makers for so many clubs, and yet that all changed at a stroke at the start of the 2007/08 season. During the previous campaign, Umbro made kit for only one Premier League team - Everton. When the next season began, they had six clubs to their name - Birmingham, Blackburn, Everton, Sunderland, West Ham and Wigan.

Several kit companies disappeared from view that Premier League season - Airness, Diadora, Hummel, Joma, JJB and Lonsdale all found themselves without a contract for one of England's top teams, while Reebok's portfolio was reduced from three teams to just one - Bolton. Quite how or why Umbro had managed to snap up so many contracts is unclear, but their diamond-strewn designs of 2007/08 were certainly a common sight - even on the England kit of the time.

Click to see larger version

Umbro's dominance contracted again a few seasons later as Adidas and Nike consolidated their own exposure in the Premier League as once again a wider variety of manufacturers returned. Xara, Carbrini and Macron all wrote their names into the football kit history books, but a notable divide was slowly forming between the big companies and the smaller ones.

These days, we've come to accept this as the ongoing norm. On the one hand, Adidas, Umbro, Nike, Puma and Reebok struggling for overall superiority, well established and proven to create football kits of a high quailty. On the other hand, smaller and newer companies trying to make a positive impression but having to accept a limited impact among England's footballing elite.

Yet with this coming season, all that is about to change again. What Umbro did in 2007/08, Adidas have done on an even bigger scale for 2013/14, for they will start the next campaign providing kit for nine of the top 20 clubs in England. It is by far the strongest attempt by the German company to dominate the Premier League, and in the weeks to come you'll be seeing Chelsea, Fulham, Hull City, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Swansea, West Brom and West Ham wearing those three famous stripes.

How have Adidas forced their way to the top of the tree with such ruthlessness? In part, the answer lies with the disappearance of two of their main rivals. Reebok's final season in the Premier League came in 2011/12 when Bolton Wanderers were relegated, but this came seven years after Reebok became a subsidiary of Adidas themselves. As for Umbro, they were bought out by Nike in 2008 and have since been sold on to Iconix Brand Group during the last year. Whether we'll see the Umbro diamonds again in future remains to be seen, but there are some encouraging signs beginning to appear.

With two such big names no longer competing for a share of the market, Adidas has seen an opening and taken advantage. Quite what you may think of this year's Adidas kits would be interesting to know, but it seems the football kit landscape - in the Premier League at least - will be a less varied (perhaps less interesting) place this season. With only three companies - Adidas, Nike and Puma - owning 75% of all the top clubs' kit deals, the likelihood for diverse design sadly seems all but doomed. We can only hope for better in the not too distant future.

Total number of 'kit seasons' for all manufacturers - 1974-2014
(Click for larger view)

Kit manufacturers used by First Division/Premier League teams (1974-2014)
(Click for larger view)

With special thanks to Dave Moor at Historical Football Kits for his help in providing the data for this article.

Read More

The Football Attic Podcast 11 - England Kits

Following on the from the recent England Kit Poll here on the Attic, we thought it'd be fun to discuss the results of the poll and England kits generally down the years... and it was!

Listen as Rich rails against the poll result and the '82 kit in particular (yes, again! Let it go!!!)

Hear Chris defend it... along with the rest of the world!

Oh and listen out for some quality* mash-ups of some Prodigy and Aztec Gold... er...

*ropey

Subscribe on iTunes or download here

Read More

New Kits for '83/'84

A new football season is almost upon us once again, but as the world fawns and coos at the sight of kits being launched for 2013/14, let's go back 30 years to see what English football fans had to look forward to in 1983/84...

As Canon make history by becoming the first sponsors of the Football League, many First Division teams have a wide range of new kit designs ready to burst onto the scene during the coming season. First of all, Arsenal's much disliked green-and-navy-blue away kit has been ditched, the Highbury club returning to a familiar yellow and blue combination. The kit is made by Umbro and features pale yellow shadow stripes and navy blue shorts with red trim.

Aston Villa, meanwhile have two new kits for home and away, manufactured by Le Coq Sportif. Gone are Villa's traditional light blue sleeves and white shorts - they're replaced by two light blue side panels on the shirt and claret shorts. The away kit is now all white and the shirt features thin claret and warm yellow horizontal stripes.

Birmingham City have added a third kit to their range. In addition to the blue and white home strip and the reversed away strip, Patrick have applied the same styling to an all red version. Twenty-five miles due east, Coventry City have finally abandoned their infamous 'Talbot' kits (along with the alternatives to be worn on TV only) having formed a new partnership with Umbro. The new home and away outfits have two-tone shadow stripes flanked by dark blue pinstripes, the home version being in sky blue as usual while yellow is now Coventry's away colour rather than red. Tallon replace Talbot as the club's main shirt sponsor.

Heading away from Umbro are Everton. They've teamed up with Le Coq Sportif for the coming season and have three kits all using the same design as that employed for Aston Villa's home outfit. Featuring a triangular inset below the neck and a pair of double stripes on the socks, Everton have elected for grey and blue away kit and a more familiar yellow and blue colour scheme on their third kit.

Leicester City and Notts County have not only both switched to Admiral as their new kit manufacturer but have also chosen near identical away kits. The home and away outfits for both clubs use the same 'double pinstripe' motif but it's the dark green and amber versions that Leicester and Notts County will wear for away games. The only difference between the two is in the socks - Leicester's will be green, County's will be amber.

At home, Leicester retain their familiar blue shirts and white shorts, but Notts County fans are in for a surprise. For the first time in 30 years, the black and white stripes have been replaced with a predominantly white shirt - something that will no doubt prove controversial among County's die hard supporters.

Less controversial are the new QPR home and away kits for this season. At Loftus Road, Rangers continue to wear their famous blue and white hoops, but the new Adidas shirts now have a subtle red horizontal pinstripe dividing the two colours. Away from home, QPR welcome some matching hooped shirts in red and black but without the pinstripes. Guinness also now featured as QPRs first shirt sponsors.

Like Notts County, Stoke City may also be expecting a few letters of complaint as they, too, have done away with their traditional stripes. Umbro's new home shirts for The Potters have a white body and red sleeves with red pinstripes replacing the old thick red stripes on the chest. For away games, Stoke have a new two-tone blue strip that follows the same template as their home equivalent.

Sunderland, however, have returned to their roots after two years wearing a controversial kit of their own. Le Coq Sportif's 'double pinstripe' kits lasted two years but have now been replaced with a set of three provided by American sportswear company Nike. This is Nike's first official contract with an English team and Sunderland fans will be pleased with their decision to reinstate the thick red and white stripes for home matches. Away from home, the Roker Park club can choose between a sky blue kit with dark blue sleeves and horizontal pinstripes or a pale yellow outfit with navy blue trim.

Finally to West Ham where Adidas have added a white collar, white cuffs and a sky blue horizontal band to the home shirt, while The Hammers' white away shirt now includes sky blue pinstripes. Both shirts have a simple badge of crossed hammers instead of the original club crest and local company Avco Trust now appear as West Ham's first shirt sponsors.

We look forward to seeing them all during the coming season.

Read More