The club announced on Friday 2nd June that they are teaming up with Umbro on a multi-year deal to provide bespoke match kits, training gear, leisurewear, and replica merchandise.
In today's blog, I'm going to have a look at some recent kits which Umbro released in 2022/23, what replica merchandise might entail, and their heritage spin.
There were 105 clubs from around the world that Umbro provided kits for in 2022/23. Rather than list them all, have a look at this site https://www.footballkitarchive.com/umbro-2022-23-kits/ to see for yourself.
There were no teams in League Two last season who had an Umbro kit. There were 3 from League One, which you can have a look at below.
Derby County Home Kit 2022/23
Shrewsbury Town Home Kit 2022/23
Ipswich Town Home Kit 2022/23
It looks to me that there is a bit of a retro theme running through these kits with the prints used, none of them a straight-up plain kit.
When looking at http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/ there are no old Derby kits that the 2022/23 kit looks to be based on. There is, however, an old 80s kit by Umbro for Shrewsbury which is similar to the 2022/23 kit. I wonder who else had an 80s Umbro kit, more on that later. The other thing to note from http://www.historicalkits.co.uk is that the Ipswich kit in the lineup looks like it could be one of our kits with the internal red on the collar.
Shrewsbury Town Home Kit 1981/82
Ipswich Town Home Kit 2022/23
Moving on to 2023/24 and clubs partnered with Umbro and what their kits are like. Taking a look at https://www.umbro.com/en/football there seems to be a strong heritage/culture theme with the kit announcement press releases.
Santos FC 23/24 Home & Away Kits
For the 23/24 season, both kits honour the 60th anniversary of the 1963 season when Santos conquered Brazil, South America, and the world by winning the Torneio Rio–São Paulo, Brazilian Championship, Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup in the same year.
Sport Club do Recife Home & Away Kits
Brazil’s Sport Club do Recife have revealed new home and away kits to honour the clubs first Brazilian Championship title in 2008.
Fluminense 23/24 Away Kit
Brazil’s Fluminense have dropped a new Away kit for 23/224 to honour the clubs 1952 Copa Rio victory.
It's 50 years since the release of our toothpaste kit by Umbro used in seasons 1973-1976 and 49 years since we were in the first tier. This could be an angle Umbro could go with bearing in mind the heritage spin. If it is, please do not have red socks, I am not a fan.
It's also 40 years since we finished 7th in the second tier in 1983/84 when Umbro was the supplier of this kit on the left, it's not the much-loved pinstripe kit (right), sadly, but I'm sure Umbro could find a way of putting some kind of heritage spin on it if they wanted to reinvent the pinstripe kit.
If Umbro decided to not use the heritage angle and we have a look at a nice and simple plain kit, I am a personal fan of Hearts home kit 2022/23. If we had this with our traditional blue for the main body and a white collar, I would approve. I hope we can simplify the sponsor whoever it is.
Last of all, the Umbro keeper kits from last season are pretty horrible, Let's hope we don't get anything like these.
The kits are due to be released on 22nd June. I'm looking forward to seeing what Umbro come up with.
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