In creating a timeless new kit, the Umbro design team has taken inspiration from icons of yesterday, as well as from Fabio Capello’s vision for a reinvigorated England team. Here creative consultant Aitor Throup explains to journalist Chris Hunt how the process has been influenced both by England past and England present.

Chris: Umbro Senior Designer David Blanch has spoken of the importance of a classic image of Bobby Moore from 1966. Was that similarly influential on you?

Aitor: “When you talk about Bobby Moore being beautifully dressed there’s also a sense of uniformity about the whole team, and now with Capello’s vision for what England should be, I think we’re in a great time to be re-tapping back into that psychological uniformity, that smartness and Englishness.”

Chris: Why is the idea of smartness so important to the development of the new England kit?

Aitor: “When you’re talking about confidence and smartness, those are aspects of design that in the conteaxt of football belong to Umbro and that perhaps no other brand could really do. It certainly wouldn’t make sense for any other company to do it in quite the same way. The very interesting thing for me is how the idea of performance and style clash together and it actually goes full circle and back to performance, with the style of the kit being a psychological advantage.”

Chris: How much of an impact did Fabio Capello’s vision for the England team play in the design of the new kit?

Aitor: “We obviously considered Capello and we considered every single one of the players when we were designing it. We also considered the state of English football, the state of our society and culture, and I think these are things that, as a designer, you can’t help but consider because you are subjected to them every day. But specifically with the football team we were fortunate to have someone like Capello joining the England set-up pretty much at the same time as we were started conceptualizing the kit, because it helped us to make the right decision that we knew he would support.”

Chris: What is so different about the way this new shirt will be viewed by fans?

Aitor: “When I was growing up I remember getting excited when the World Cup came around. We’d all be going to the pub to watch the game and you’d care about what you were wearing because you’d got your new jeans on and your new jacket, but sometimes it was just too sporty to put on an England shirt with it. This shirt will be stylish enough to work in either context, on or off the field.”

Chris: Will the historic influences be obvious in the design?

Aitor: “If you go back to the roots of the sport and the roots of the Umbro brand, there’s been a real success in reissues of Sixties and Seventies tops, the retro element. Obviously we’re not being retro with this new shirt, but as a designer we can utilize the specific design cues of simplicity, of smartness, of confidence, but use them in a contemporary sense to create something new that’s as timeless as those old kits were.”

As a big football fan, bespoke tailor Charlie Allen was delighted when Umbro asked him to consult on the design of the new England kit. Tomorrow, he tells journalist Chris Hunt, why there aren’t too many football fans in the rarefied world of fashion.