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Umbro Blog

February 2012

New England Kit 2012: the Anthem jacket

Tonight, as England take the field against Holland for their friendly at Wembley, the final piece of the new England kit will be revealed. Alongside the shirt, shorts and socks we’ve already shown you, the team will be wearing these smart England Home Anthem Jackets, also inspired by the flag of St. George.

Lining up for the national anthems before the game, the England squad will be completely clad in red and white – just like the new England home shirt, the Anthem Jacket features a red England crest and Umbro logo on the chest. The subtle stripe we’ve developed – inspired by the flag and Sir Alf Ramsey’s iconic 1966 jacket – features prominently on the collar of the anthem jacket, adding a splash of colour to the smart, tailored jacket.

The Anthem jacket will be worn for the first time later today, but you can buy it now – head over to Umbro.com for more information on all of the new England home kit, on sale today.

New England Kit 2012: the players show their pride in the new shirt

The new England home kit has been causing a stir since we revealed it last week, but so far you haven’t seen it on anyone – until now. We thought you might enjoy this stylish shot, which features some of the England players we hope will inspire the team to success this summer in the new shirt.

The picture also gives you a chance to see the smartness and the detail in the new England home shirt from all angles, plus the subtle two-tone red lettering that will featuring on the back of the shirts.

Worn by Manchester United’s Phil Jones, Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, Aston Villa striker Darren Bent and Tottenham Hotspur’s Kyle Walker, you can see that both the England home shirt and goalkeeper shirt look tailored for success. Both shirts and the full England 2012 home kit are available to pre-order now at Umbro.com – they’ll be seen on the pitch for the first time on Wednesday ahead of the game against Holland at Wembley.

Try A Little Harder: it’s our Rugby Footballers

Some cracking entries this week, particularly from here in the Umbro office! Our theme was inspired by the Six Nations that’s taking place at the moment, although obviously we only watch that when there’s no football on the telly! Thanks to everyone who sent in their suggestions, remember to check back next Friday on Facebook and Twitter for the latest theme. Cheers!

England Home Goalkeeper Kit 2012: all red between the sticks

We’ve shown you the new England home shirt, the shorts, the socks, so what else is there? Completing the new look for England as the squad for next week’s friendly is announced, here’s the new England home goalkeeper shirt.

Following the same design ethos as the new England home shirt, the goalie top is also inspired by the St. George’s flag, with just red and white featuring throughout the whole kit. The England crest and the Umbro logo are both embroidered in a clean, smart white.

The striping that features on the outfield shirt collar is clearer here on the goalkeeper’s shirt, with a slightly different collar design, confirming the man between the sticks as part of the team but someone with a distinct personality within the squad.

There’s both a short sleeve and long sleeve version of the shirt available, so goalkeepers such as Joe Hart will be able to choose which one they prefer. Both versions feature a subtle design on the main body of the shirt, which is a development of the Modern England graphic used on the last home shirt. Here, it features as a tonal red graphic of St George’s flags all over the shirt.

The rest of the kit continues the smart, tailored red look of the shirt, with the goalkeeper shorts featuring the same subtle striping detail on the hem as the outfield player’s design. The goalkeeper shorts are a slightly different shade of red to the outfield change shorts.

England Home 2012 Goalkeeper Socks

Finally, the goalkeeper’s socks complete the smart look that Joe Hart will debut on field at Wembley next week as he lines up to face Holland in the friendly game at Wembley. All the goalkeeper kit is available to pre-order now on the Umbro website before it goes on sale on the day of the game – Wednesday February 29th.

New England Kit 2012: the complete look

England’s new home shirt, inspired by the St George’s flag, was revealed late last night – if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the full story. The picture above also gives a more detailed look at the collar, which features a subtle red stripe. But what about the rest of the kit, the shorts and socks that’ll be accompanying the shirt? Here’s the complete look that England will reveal on the pitch next Wednesday.

The match shorts continue the clean, smart look of the England shirt, with colours simply inspired by the St George’s flag. Shaped to move with the player and give minimal interference during the game, the shorts also feature the stylish Umbro striping in the hem. With the England crest and Umbro logo in a bold red colour, the shorts continue the great look of the new home shirt.

But what about when there’s a colour clash with the opposition’s shorts? All international teams have a change colour for their shorts, and England’s are in a bold red colour, bringing out the inspiration from the St George’s flag even more. Here, the England crest and Umbro logo are in smart, clean white colour.

Of course, the official England socks continue the look for the players right down to their feet, with the red Umbro striping featuring as a band across the top of the smart white socks. The socks are built to provide all the comfort, flexibility and durability that top players expect, but delivered in a smart, crafted package. All together, the new England kit delivers a clean, smart look throughout, with the inspiration of the St George’s flag clear and classy. You can pre-order the whole kit now at Umbro.com, before it goes on sale next Wednesday, February 29th.

New England Shirt 2012: inspired by St George, Tailored by Umbro

England Home Shirt 2012

We recently revealed that the new England kit would be on sale next week, but we didn’t really tell you anything about it – until now! This is the new England 2012 home shirt, which will be worn by the senior squad for the first time next week as they take on Holland at Wembley, and the U21s as they face Belgium. So what’s so special about it? Here’s some insight into the new England home shirt, Tailored by Umbro.

First of all, this is the first time ever that the England shirt has been purely red and white. That’s tied into the main inspiration behind the new England shirt – that most symbolic notion of Englishness, the St. George’s flag. The red and white of the English flag are the key components of the new home shirt, with the red England crest proudly embroidered on the chest, alongside the iconic Umbro double diamond.

England Home 2012 Short Sleeve Shirt

Probably the most eye-catching part of the new England home shirt is the collar. Featuring a smart, one button fastener, the collar is inspired by the look of a traditional shirt. With the collar down, players and fans will have a subtle dash of red along the top, recalling the flag of England’s patron saint. Under the collar, a more detailed stripe is revealed, which has been inspired by Sir Alf Ramsey’s iconic 1966 jacket and the St George’s flag, developed by Umbro into this tonal red design.

England Home 2012 Long Sleeve Shirt

Technically, the new shirt is crafted from a cotton/polyester blended material, which offers terrific comfort, movement and fit. The shirt also features front body darting and a lowered back hem, giving fans and players a better fit and a smarter look, whether you’re playing or watching the game.

England Home 2012 Long Sleeve Shirt

It’s a smart new look for England as they look forward to this summer’s big tournament, inspired by the most iconic symbol of Englishness there is – the St. George’s flag. The new shirt will on sale from February 29th, pre-order it now at Umbro.com.

Umbro & Millerain: a collaboration made in Manchester

Being based in Manchester, Umbro is able to draw on some of the best things in the world. Everybody knows about the music and football, but what about fabric? Manchester and the north-west was built on cotton and other fabrics, and we’ve recently collaborated with a modern brand that’s continuing the fine traditions of the region. Rochdale-based fabric experts British Millerain have worked with Umbro’s footwear department to create some very special versions of our Spinningfield footwear range.

One of the areas that Millerain specialise in is waterproof fabrics – being based here in Greater Manchester, they’ll be experts on all things rain! Their wax-coated fabrics are often used on walking jackets, but we’ve used it on our Spinningfield footwear range to create a shoe that’ll keep you comfortable in all sorts of conditions. The heavy duty uppers on these shoes are wax-coated to keep your feet dry, but they’re still canvas based so they’re don’t sacrifice any of the style or comfort of the original Spinningfield shoe.

The Millerain Spinningfield is available in two different colourways – a two-tone brown canvas and the striking blue and green check. They’re both on sale at Umbro.com now, so you can get a pair sorted for the ‘changeable’ weather we’ll no doubt be experiencing. Bad weather doesn’t have to mean bad style!

And The Winner Is… It’s Our Brits Footballers

Not sure if this is an award-winning entry, but we got there eventually! We returned to the pun arena this week inspired by the fact that its the Brit Awards next week, so we mined this particular musical niche for some pun action. Thanks to everyone who suggested their ideas, and keep an eye on both our Twitter and Facebook pages next Friday for our next theme!

Back Of The Net: the finest football things on the web this week

Umbro Canada 2012 Anthem Jacket

That’s right, two weeks in a row that we’ve managed to take a look at the finest footy-related things on the internet – if we keep up this form we might be looking at a call up to the England squad. Last weekend’s football was badly affected by the weather, particularly in the lower leagues, which is probably one of the reasons why plastic pitches have been a big talking point this week. It’s looking like we could see artificial pitches making a return to the Football League in the near future, and they’ll be a long way from the ones that were last seen at QPR, Luton and Preston in the 1980s and early 1990s (a friend of mine has a spot of Preston’s plastic pitch in his wardrobe, what a piece of memorabilia!)

Whether they’ll be as bad for slide tackling defenders, bouncing balls or the knees of veteran players is unclear, but it is a great opportunity for Who Ate All The Pies to dig up a classic picture of El Tel on the plastic pitch, and dig out this video of some action on one of the pitches as well. Where do you stand on the plastic pitch debate?

Some of the grounds that might benefit from such advances on the pitch are captured in all their glory in a fantastic picture blog over on Pitch Invasion. Entitled ‘A Year In Non-League Photos‘, it’s a world away from the grounds we see on a regular basis on TV. It’s nice to see that Umbro makes an appearance though!

Both the photoshoot above and the next site were spotted by an eagle-eyed Norwich friend of ours, who pointed them in our direction. Another photoshoot, but altogether more arty, this captures England’s female footballers in some of the places that mean the most to them. It’s great to see some of the finest female players getting the same attention as their male counterparts, so hats off to Olivia And Alison who did the shoot.

We’re obviously on a very visual feel this week, as we’re looking at a site that brings graphics to life really well. Zonal Marking have been doing this for a while, but every so often it’s handy to remind ourselves just what they do on a regular basis, to such a high standard. This analysis of some of the games this week underlines what a resource it is – in depth stuff, interesting talking points, and great visuals to bring it to life. If you don’t mention how your club could do with some more ‘llegada’, someone else will.

Finally this week, we’ve found a Tumblr that brings together two of our favourite things – Football And Music. Want to see a ridiculously large foosball table? A video of Frank Sidebottom singing a Billy Bragg medley? Football And Music is what you’ve been looking for.

San Martín: more from Peru as they showcase home and away

Universidad de San Martin Home 2012

It’s been a busy week for Umbro Peru, with three of their top teams all revealing their new kits for the 2012 season: after Universitario and Sporting Cristal, it’s the turn of Universidad de San Martín. Another team based in Peru’s capital city of Lima, San Martín have had the most recent success of the three teams we’ve been looking at, winning the Peruvian Primera Division in 2007, 2008 and 2010. They finished a respectable 4th last season, and will be looking to be amongst the teams challenging for success when the season kicks off in March.

Universidad de San Martin Away 2012

Interestingly, San Martín don’t have a regular stadium that they call home. Instead, they regular play at the grounds of other teams, including Sporting Cristal and Universitario! Obviously it’s not just great style that these teams share. The new home and away kits, in the traditional San Martín colours, follow Umbro’s Tailored ethos, with a smart look crafted from modern, lightweight and breathable fabrics.

Universidad de San Martin Home 2012

Universidad de San Martin Away 2012