England kits analysed: 30-year nostalgia cycle and ‘washed incorrectly’ numbers
By Carl Anka
This week saw Nike officially unveil new home and away kits for the England men’s team ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The new uniforms seek to highlight the “stalwart spirit” and “collective energy” of the modern-day England squad and provide some new choices for the discerning England fan/streetwear aficionado.
In an age that favours minimalist design and retro nostalgia, designing a new England kit ahead of an international tournament is a tricky task.
Kit designers need to take into account the considerations of each nation’s football association (some more risk averse than others) and FIFA/UEFA equipment guidelines. Every nation present in Qatar will need one kit that can fulfil the “light” and “dark” criteria in order to allow proper contrast for broadcasts around the world.
An England home kit is going to be white. An away kit often lends itself to a bit more experimentation but needs to be in a darker shade for certain occasions. A good version of both needs a certain… something.
In order to double check if the 2022 offerings have the correct intangibles (although neither have long sleeve offerings available to purchase at the moment), The Athletic has enlisted the assistance of Matthew Dale — co-founder of Classic Football Shirts and someone with a deep knowledge of footballing fineries.
The home kit
Nike says: “The England home kit features the signature white base combined with an iconic Blue Void pattern and colour gradient. Plus, a distorted Three Lions graphic on the shoulders, layered with aggressive angles and lines to replicate claw marks.”
Dale’s historical perspective: “The kit takes inspiration from the colours of the Euro 96 home shirt, which worked so well due to the subtlety in which the colours were used only on the collar.
The colours on the original 1996 home shirt were so recognisable due to how prominent they were through the name and numbering, too. I think this shirt will look much better when it’s worn by the players with the additional patches and lettering, so it’s best to reserve full judgement until then.”
A first outing for our new men’s home kit as our #YoungLions take on Italy! pic.twitter.com/XSNB095Z3q
— England (@England) September 22, 2022
A look on the official England store reveals the numbering will rest below the Nike swoosh on the front of the shirt and the naming font and number will be edged on the rear.
“It’s an improvement complete with the name/number but still feels like an underwhelming mix of the 2016 and 1996 home,” says Dale. “It has a lot more of a leisure feel to it compared to the simplicity of the best England kits.”
The fan reception: Response to the new home kit has been largely tepid at the moment, with a number of England fans believing it to be more akin to a training top or believing that the England men’s side should instead look to wear the home kit the Lionesses wore in their victorious Euro campaign.
When grading the merits of the Women’s Euro 2022 kits, Dale says, “It’s great, the concept across all their shirts, including the training ones, worked really well. Since the brands have focused on giving the women’s team bespoke designs in the past few years, they’ve been better than a lot of the men’s releases.”
All about the details 🔎 pic.twitter.com/3MTyOTFENC
— England (@England) September 21, 2022
An England home kit is always white, but the oddity of the new home kit for the England men’s team appears to lie in its use of blue.
“On international shirts, especially for England, they have always tended to be very simple in terms of the use of colours. It’s very rare that there is a colour transition as there is on the new release, it’s much more common to see this on training shirts, so will have led people to automatically assume it is similar to those,” adds Dale.
“The training shirt released for the 2018 World Cup was hugely popular and sold out before the tournament had even started. It was based on the 1982 home shirt and had a pattern transitioning from the shoulders, so perhaps this is why Nike decided to go down the route they have.”
England’s training kit for 2018 was such a sales success it inadvertently started a rumour that it was originally envisioned to be the home kit for Russia 2018, only for the Football Association to change its mind. A brief investigation by The Athletic, in conversation with a designer at Nike, can reveal the rumours were just that.
“In general, FIFA demands that teams wear fairly simple designs which don’t have multiple colours on the body, as the 2018 training shirt did,” says Dale when asked about the story. “It’s very unlikely they would have approved it as a home shirt with the pattern coming all the way down the chest.”
The away kit
Nike says: “The England away kit marks the return of the iconic all-over Challenge Red. The away kit also features a reimagined collar — a signature of the England team — that reveals a knitted Three Lions graphic (reading ‘3 Lions’) when the collar is popped for the perfect finishing touch.”
❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/DcVRHZR2MB
— England (@England) September 21, 2022
Dale’s historical perspective: Initially pleased with the England away kit when it was first unveiled, Dale believed it to be “great and a good take on the 1990 away kit”.
However, his opinion cooled after viewing the shade of blue on the name and numbering on the new shirt. “It’s like an off-blue so makes it look a lot less clean than it could, almost like it’s been washed incorrectly.”
The fan reception: So far, the away kit has got a better reception than that of the home. In invoking Italia 90, Nike has artfully riffed on the 30-year nostalgia cycle — where a critical mass of adults are able to design and in turn consume idealised versions of a culture they first encountered in their youth. England did not wear their red away kit in any of their seven games (including the third place play-off defeat to Italy) at that tournament, but that England side’s run to the semi-final is held in such good regard that the original Italia 90 away is thought of fondly.
A football kit is often best remembered by how successful a team was when wearing it. If England start their World Cup campaign with a convincing win over Iran on November 21 in that home kit, fans may be a little more forgiving.
https://theathletic.com/3597325/2022/09/23/england-world-cup-kits/
England kits analysed: 30-year nostalgia cycle and ‘washed incorrectly’ numbers
By Carl Anka
This week saw Nike officially unveil new home and away kits for the England men’s team ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The new uniforms seek to highlight the “stalwart spirit” and “collective energy” of the modern-day England squad and provide some new choices for the discerning England fan/streetwear aficionado.
In an age that favours minimalist design and retro nostalgia, designing a new England kit ahead of an international tournament is a tricky task.
Kit designers need to take into account the considerations of each nation’s football association (some more risk averse than others) and FIFA/UEFA equipment guidelines. Every nation present in Qatar will need one kit that can fulfil the “light” and “dark” criteria in order to allow proper contrast for broadcasts around the world.
An England home kit is going to be white. An away kit often lends itself to a bit more experimentation but needs to be in a darker shade for certain occasions. A good version of both needs a certain… something.
In order to double check if the 2022 offerings have the correct intangibles (although neither have long sleeve offerings available to purchase at the moment), The Athletic has enlisted the assistance of Matthew Dale — co-founder of Classic Football Shirts and someone with a deep knowledge of footballing fineries.
The home kit
Nike says: “The England home kit features the signature white base combined with an iconic Blue Void pattern and colour gradient. Plus, a distorted Three Lions graphic on the shoulders, layered with aggressive angles and lines to replicate claw marks.”
Dale’s historical perspective: “The kit takes inspiration from the colours of the Euro 96 home shirt, which worked so well due to the subtlety in which the colours were used only on the collar.
The colours on the original 1996 home shirt were so recognisable due to how prominent they were through the name and numbering, too. I think this shirt will look much better when it’s worn by the players with the additional patches and lettering, so it’s best to reserve full judgement until then.”
A first outing for our new men’s home kit as our #YoungLions take on Italy! pic.twitter.com/XSNB095Z3q
— England (@England) September 22, 2022
A look on the official England store reveals the numbering will rest below the Nike swoosh on the front of the shirt and the naming font and number will be edged on the rear.
“It’s an improvement complete with the name/number but still feels like an underwhelming mix of the 2016 and 1996 home,” says Dale. “It has a lot more of a leisure feel to it compared to the simplicity of the best England kits.”
The fan reception: Response to the new home kit has been largely tepid at the moment, with a number of England fans believing it to be more akin to a training top or believing that the England men’s side should instead look to wear the home kit the Lionesses wore in their victorious Euro campaign.
When grading the merits of the Women’s Euro 2022 kits, Dale says, “It’s great, the concept across all their shirts, including the training ones, worked really well. Since the brands have focused on giving the women’s team bespoke designs in the past few years, they’ve been better than a lot of the men’s releases.”
All about the details 🔎 pic.twitter.com/3MTyOTFENC
— England (@England) September 21, 2022
An England home kit is always white, but the oddity of the new home kit for the England men’s team appears to lie in its use of blue.
“On international shirts, especially for England, they have always tended to be very simple in terms of the use of colours. It’s very rare that there is a colour transition as there is on the new release, it’s much more common to see this on training shirts, so will have led people to automatically assume it is similar to those,” adds Dale.
“The training shirt released for the 2018 World Cup was hugely popular and sold out before the tournament had even started. It was based on the 1982 home shirt and had a pattern transitioning from the shoulders, so perhaps this is why Nike decided to go down the route they have.”
England’s training kit for 2018 was such a sales success it inadvertently started a rumour that it was originally envisioned to be the home kit for Russia 2018, only for the Football Association to change its mind. A brief investigation by The Athletic, in conversation with a designer at Nike, can reveal the rumours were just that.
“In general, FIFA demands that teams wear fairly simple designs which don’t have multiple colours on the body, as the 2018 training shirt did,” says Dale when asked about the story. “It’s very unlikely they would have approved it as a home shirt with the pattern coming all the way down the chest.”
The away kit
Nike says: “The England away kit marks the return of the iconic all-over Challenge Red. The away kit also features a reimagined collar — a signature of the England team — that reveals a knitted Three Lions graphic (reading ‘3 Lions’) when the collar is popped for the perfect finishing touch.”
❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/DcVRHZR2MB
— England (@England) September 21, 2022
Dale’s historical perspective: Initially pleased with the England away kit when it was first unveiled, Dale believed it to be “great and a good take on the 1990 away kit”.
However, his opinion cooled after viewing the shade of blue on the name and numbering on the new shirt. “It’s like an off-blue so makes it look a lot less clean than it could, almost like it’s been washed incorrectly.”
The fan reception: So far, the away kit has got a better reception than that of the home. In invoking Italia 90, Nike has artfully riffed on the 30-year nostalgia cycle — where a critical mass of adults are able to design and in turn consume idealised versions of a culture they first encountered in their youth. England did not wear their red away kit in any of their seven games (including the third place play-off defeat to Italy) at that tournament, but that England side’s run to the semi-final is held in such good regard that the original Italia 90 away is thought of fondly.
A football kit is often best remembered by how successful a team was when wearing it. If England start their World Cup campaign with a convincing win over Iran on November 21 in that home kit, fans may be a little more forgiving.
https://theathletic.com/3597325/2022/09/23/england-world-cup-kits/
