Umbro Blog

Over the years, Umbro have made thousands and thousands of kits. Unfortunately though, we have been very bad at keeping track of them all! Most of the shirts in the image below have been under people’s desks or in the back of cupboards. However, we are now looking at labelling and properly archiving all of the kits that we have so that we have a record.

Some of the guys have spent the last week photographing them all, and I am half-way through uploading them all to our flickr set. Some of the really nice shirts that I found are:

Manchester City Colin Bell Testimonial 1978

Newcastle United FA Cup Final 1976

I have been trying to name them all with some of the other staff. I think we have got the clubs/country correct for most but there is a lot of information that we are still missing. If you have any more detail on any of the shirts – home/away, year, tournament etc. please let us know by commenting on this post or the flickr image. Some of the ones we are really struggling with are below:

From The Terrace

On 17 Feb 2009, at 7:55 pm Folko Mueller wrote:

The black and blue striped shirt belongs to the the German side 1.FC Saarbruecken (currently amateurs in the Oberliga Suedwest, but in their heyday a former second Bundesliga club). Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the era.
On 18 Feb 2009, at 3:27 pm tom wrote:

Thanks very much for your comment. I have added the name to the flickr image title.
On 26 Feb 2009, at 12:25 am Unofficial Sunderland AFC Supporter-Fan Site » Sunderland Football Shirt (FA Cup Final 1973) wrote:

[...] Umbro’s archive. We’ve been slowly trying to collect and catalogue all our old kits (see our blog post for more details). If you know anything more about this shirt (such as what season it’s [...]
On 26 Feb 2009, at 1:00 pm dario weiss wrote:

This archive is amazing!!! But i’ve missed CR Flamengo from Brazil.

They used to wear Umbro from 1992 to 2002.
On 26 Feb 2009, at 1:23 pm torsak wrote:

I’m not sure about your newcastle shirt
because I think in that season newcastle should
be wear bukta shirt

However i’m not sure
you can check it at my blog about newcastle shirt
http://newcastleshirt.blogspot.com/

I have some umbro shirt
Eg. Kevin Keegan match worn shirt 1984
On 26 Feb 2009, at 2:33 pm tom wrote:

Thanks for all of your comments.

We still have no more information on the Sunderland shirt. I have checked it again and there is no numbering on the back which may have helped identify who wore it.

I believe the year of the Newcastle shirt is correct as it is embroidered on the front however we have the tournament wrong. Flickr users helped identify that this was used in the League Cup, not the FA Cup.
On 26 Feb 2009, at 8:08 pm MisterBlue-1 wrote:

The plain blue shirt (no.4) is an Ipswich Town home shirt from around 1966-1972.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Ipswich_Town/Ipswich_Town.htm
On 28 Feb 2009, at 3:31 pm Anonymous wrote:

Hi, Im Peruvian…fan of UNIVERSITARIO, UMBRO made our shirts since 1994, and i´m very gratefull with you. I have a blog about the shirts of UNIVERSITARIO and i invite you to see it: http://cremayguinda.blogspot.com
On 5 Mar 2009, at 4:13 am Eleté wrote:

First, let me say I think its awesome how Umbro is really giving a great use to techonology and social media with this blog, the flickr photo archive, etc.
Second, Id like to see some Nacional (Uruguay) kits as soon as you get to cataloguing more old kits. Weve worn umbro since 2002 (except for 2005) to the present. Whether you know it or not Nacional is the most succesful team to ever wear Umbro!
On 12 Mar 2009, at 4:52 am JOQO wrote:

Hi, as my friend Eleté, i´d like to see some UNIVERSITARIO (PERU) kits, if you have some. We´ve worn UMBRO since 1994 (except for 2000-2001) to the present, and we got some specials editions made by you. YOu can see some of that kits in my web http://cremayguinda.blogspot.com. I disagree with Eleté, because i think that UNIVERSITARIO is the best team to ever wear Umbro!! i hope Universitario and Nacional will play in the LIbertadores, then we´ll see…jaja
On 26 Mar 2009, at 6:41 am thaness wrote:

Is there any shirt for sale? I am interested in Aston Villa 1970′s home & away shirt that you have got.
On 10 Apr 2009, at 8:06 am south.paw.no.7 wrote:

This is a great exercise.

Do you have any examples of the Brazil strip worn in the 1970 world cup? There is wonderful story amongst collectors that Brazil were under contract to Umbro for the 1970 tournament, but because of superstition they wanted to wear Athleta (the Brazilian brand that they wore when they won in 58 and 62). So they wore Umbro in the first half of matches and Athleta in the second. If you look at the world cup film or photographs from the games this is indeed the case, You can tell by the different fonts used for numbering the shirts, they are very different in style.
On 28 May 2009, at 12:40 am Jetpatcher wrote:

Cool collection, is any shirt on sale.
On 5 Jun 2009, at 12:05 pm tom wrote:

Thanks for all of your comments. I am afraid non of the shirts are on sale, however we have plans to exhibit some of them soon in our design studio.

We also uncovered a cupboard full of old shirts yesterday so there are many more to follow over the next few weeks. I am not sure about Brazil shirts, but great to hear the story of the game. I am guessing those ones are real collectors items!

We always love to see your old shirts. Please send pics over to blog@umbro.com or better still, upload them to our flickr group here.
On 13 Jun 2009, at 9:54 pm myfootballkits wrote:

This is a fantastic idea and some great kits shown in the image above.

Do you have any promotional text that bloggers can use to help you in your quest?

We have a large number of football shirt enthusiasts at http://www.myfootballkits.co.uk and I’d be happy to post details on there if you have something we can use?
On 17 Jun 2009, at 5:36 pm tom wrote:

Thanks for your comment myfootballkits, your site is great! We just moved offices and uncovered a load more great kit. I will drop you a mail when we have them all photographed. Would be great to get a mention on your site then!
On 27 Aug 2009, at 3:16 pm Dave Alexander wrote:

Hi, I have Bobby Moores 1966 original world cup track suit and Jimmy Greaves training top and am willing to lend them to Umbro. Regards.Dave
On 4 Jan 2010, at 8:12 pm joe singleton wrote:

in 1974 newcastle united kit was made by buckta
i think they changed to umbro in 1975
On 6 Jan 2010, at 3:22 pm Pazke wrote:

Great blog, got a lot of Lazio Umbro shirts, from the early ’90 era … they still rock after the years !
On 14 Jan 2010, at 8:04 pm lance wrote:

came across your site looking for a picture of alan shearer wearing a long sleeved england shirt in a game in ’96 white,if you can help. Anyway,try england football online,the morrell collection. gives you everything you need to know on england shirts since their move to umbro and before. detailed history,its mad! i found THE football strip site a few days ago,i,ll get back 2 u with adress,hope that helps.
On 15 Jan 2010, at 1:48 am lance wrote:

A fantastic, fully comprehensive website covering the full history of english and scottish league club strips,colours from each strip change including makers is at historicalkits.co.uk. Should save you a lot of work referencing! A lot of people will be very happy you are doing this,i read today umbro had no up to date catalogue and then came across your site! England on line-check out morrells collection,click on a shirt and get the full definitive history of that shirt,has to be seen. Did you know David Beckham won all his england caps in umbro,the only player to win a hundred caps in umbro! yeh,mad site! If thaness wants any villa kits from the ’70s including a worn league cup final tracksuit(umbro)i can point him in the right direction at Lance.Phayer@sky.com All the best,look forward to results. Seen shearer in a long sleeved shirt ’96? Photo anyone?
On 18 Jan 2010, at 3:01 pm Willie wrote:

Umbro produced some great Motherwell kits from the early to mid 70′s.
http://tinypic.com/r/jf8bdf/6
We briefly went back to Umbro in seasons 1985-87.
http://tinypic.com/r/cpyk7/6
My fantasy Motherwell home strip would have to be a classic tailored version of our 1960′s amber & claret hooped shirt.
http://tinypic.com/r/2lke1vn/6
The tailored away would be mostly white with a bold claret & amber sash. (The same as Man City’s current away kit)
http://tinypic.com/r/50ksk4/6
I can but dream!
On 19 Jan 2010, at 6:00 pm Jevon wrote:

I have been looking at the Club Celta de Vigo shirts on the Flickr stream and am interested to know about the background to the link between the design template used for Celta home shirts and England national shirts. The close similarity has been pretty constant from the very beginning of the club’s contract with Umbro in 1986…
On 24 Jan 2010, at 8:35 pm Mike Smith wrote:

Hi,
Nice to see all the kits.
I was at the Colin Bell testimonial as a kid!
The Newcastle kit looks like the 1976 League cup final kit when they lost to us,Man City!
The FA cup final that year was Southampton beating Man United.
Here’s a serious suggestion for Umbro….please pass it on to the right department.
as Umbro now make Man City’s kits and we have Inter Milan’s old manager,Roberto Mancini I think a great away kit(the 3rd strip) for us would the black and blue stripes shirt and black shorts as worn by Inter Milan this season.
I also like the white away kit with the red cross on it they wear…..with a bit of black added that would make a nice away kit for us!
Thanks again for the pics.
Cheers Mike
On 25 Jan 2010, at 1:56 pm r beckwith wrote:

I have an original match worn umbro sunderland shirt from the 1976/77 season. It has division 2 champions embroided on the front and was beleived to have been worn by Dick Malone in a 2-1 defeat at St James Park. It has the original umbro label on the inside of the shirt with the logo “the choice of champions”
On 25 Jan 2010, at 8:48 pm Chris B wrote:

Would love to see some pictures of the Malone shirt from 76/77. Any chance you can drop me an email with the pics? Cheers
On 7 Feb 2010, at 7:46 am Zhodune wrote:

I’ll always love british outfitter, namely Bukta,
Admiral, Gola, Mitre and others and off course my favourite always Umbro. I’ll still remembered once my national team Malaysia worn them back in 1970s something. The shirt resemble like Man City shirt in 70s but yellow colour and black line. Very nice!, Then in 80s Adidas take over then, presently Nike (I hate
their kit),
On 12 Feb 2010, at 11:28 pm giampa wrote:

Hi
I’d like to know who might have worn the number 17 england national team shirt during 1968-70 period.
On 18 Feb 2010, at 11:33 am Robert Brigham wrote:

When I visited Brazil a couple of years ago I picked an blue Umbro Brazil shirt with the number 58 on the back and one gold star above their crest on the front; presumably a licensed replica for the shirt worn in the 1958 final.
It was a beautiful shirt made ins the softest brushed cotton. Unfortunately it dissapeared some time ago (I think it was nicked from my washing line). Is there any chance that this shirt is still being made and I could buy a replacement from somewhere?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
On 8 Apr 2010, at 2:54 pm Kat Law wrote:

Trying to source images / references for FK Sarajevo kits from around 1995 for a feature film. Any help anyone can give to point me in the right direction would be very appreciated! Thanks.
On 25 Apr 2010, at 4:15 pm claire blue wrote:

I have an Umbro, black and red striped shirt the lable reads ‘styled by Matt Busby’ I thought it could be a Manchester City away kit? It is small, maybe even a junior, i would love to know more about its history its obviously very old
On 26 Apr 2010, at 2:05 pm Giampa wrote:

I would like to know from Umbro experts if West Germany was supplied by Umbro till 1974 world cup or when ended the collaboration with Umbro.
Kind regards
G.
On 18 Jun 2010, at 4:55 am William wrote:

Can I know where can purchase man utd 1998/99 Umbro home kit? I am looking to get one unfortunately, I could not find. Any idea? Please help.
On 14 Jul 2010, at 5:27 pm claire blue wrote:

http://www.thefootballtrader.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=15

try to to purchace old umbro shirts.
On 24 Jul 2010, at 10:55 pm Melanie Fergusson wrote:

I have an Umbro 1957 Man U Commemorative Red Shirt but cannot find any information about it. Does anyone have any info that could help me prove providence. Thanks.
On 25 Jul 2010, at 7:28 pm Tim wrote:

Melanie – the one with the v-neck and the Manchester Coat of Arms on the chest?

If so, I seem to recall that they were made as a retro reissue in the early 90s alongside a reproduction 1968 European Cup Final shirt. They crop up on Ebay every now and then but don’t go for much more than £20-30.
On 10 Feb 2011, at 2:17 pm Willie wrote:

I’m trying to identify the floral script font that was used on some of Umbro’s 1970s football shirts. The 1972 Leeds United and 1975/6 Sunderland shirts display the font in all it’s glory.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/umbrofootball/3272433276/sizes/l/in/set-72157613662155207/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/umbrofootball/3279195135/sizes/l/in/set-72157613662155207/

Any ideas?
On 11 Mar 2011, at 12:20 pm Alan wrote:

Retro shirts from all over the world.
On 5 Sep 2011, at 6:35 pm Dave Moor wrote:

It’s great to see some of Umbro’s back catalogue being recorded and posted on the web for posterity. As one of your correspondents has noted, Historical Football Kits has comprehensive details of England & Scottish shirts and I hope it will help with cataloging the collection.

I am particularly interested in the early history of Umbro and especially in the fabrics used in the 20s, 30s and 50s. Can you or someone at the company help with this?

Dave
On 23 Jan 2012, at 9:57 pm Simon Clifford wrote:

I have an Umbro 1970 Brazil shirt, did teh CBD have a contract for the 1970 tournament as the rumour among collectors suggests (see southpaw.no.7 above),

I also have an athleta shirt given to me by Carlos Alberto.

I can post a picture if there is a way,

many thanks,

well done on the blog a tremendous innovation,

Simon
On 23 Jan 2012, at 9:58 pm Simon Clifford wrote:

Sorry website is braziliansoccerschools.com
On 23 Jan 2012, at 10:00 pm Simon Clifford wrote:

I have an Umbro 1970 shirt, it is beautiful, how do I upload a picture?
On 21 Apr 2012, at 10:54 pm Stephen Brooks wrote:

Does anyone remember the boxes you got your umbro kits in …..in the 1970,s gatefold boxes