In keeping with the concept of ‘Football Tailored’, and the desire to give this ultra modern performance garment a classical appearance, the new England kit utilizes a fabric that has the look and feel of cotton. It also boasts some stylish design flourishes that won’t be immediately apparent to everyone. Senior Designer David Blanch tells journalist Chris Hunt about the attention to detail that went into the making of this thrilling new football strip.

Chris: The new England shirt will have the look and feel of cotton. How did you arrive at that style?

David: “When it comes fabric composition you do tend to steer towards the ones with more technical appearance for performance sportswear but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the way, it’s just the way the industry has moved in recent years. If we looked at the fabrics used by most sports brands for the last five years, they would all look very similar as they’re built in a similar way, but with this new shirt the challenge came when we looked at how different fabrications could actually deliver technical properties, but in a new aesthetic way that suited the original concept. The idea of having a more matt-cotton feel was much more in line with the Umbro brand and its heritage. We started working to develop a special fabric that would have high performance qualities but with a classical appearance – achieving that was possibly one of the biggest challenges but we married the two really successfully.”

Chris: What else is different about the fabric?

David: “It is a given that this garment has to perform. The whole garment uses performance material – it’s a moisture-management fabric which pulls the moisture away from the body really quickly, to help keep the body really cool. The ventilation in the kit is very different to most kits. We’re not adding mesh inserts, we’re actually using ventilation holes perforated directly in the main fabric. With a really innovative technology we’ve been able to pierce the fabric without it fraying, and we’ve done that under the arm and in the lumbar region. That will create a circulation of air and allow the hot air to escape.”

Chris: Why are the ventilation holes spaced out as they are?

David: “The detail is in the minutiae, even down to the spacing on the ventilation holes. The configuration of the holes is actually taken from the position of some of the roses on the three lions crest. It’s a bit of a Da Vinci Code, a ‘rose code’ if you like. But even the smallest detail is paramount on this shirt.”

Chris: You have also designed a new style of shirt number for this kit.

David: “We wanted the number to be clean and honest and not over-designed, over-fancy or over-cluttered. The new number is a similar to how numbers were put on historically, which used to be made of fabric and hand-stitched. The great thing is that since they were made material they flexed with the shirt. We’ve used a similar principle but in  a brand new way.

Chris: Are there any other little details that you’re proud of?

David: “Every little detail has been carefully thought about with the inside of the shirt having the same level of design consideration as the outside. Even something as simple as the care label was uniquely considered – we’ve developed a simple buttonhole attachment, so it can be detached if required”.

Tomorrow we speak to David Blanch who explains why the new England kit has moved away from the classic small, medium and large sizings and talks of the importance of measuring the players as if for a finely crafted, made-to-measure suit.