True Colours Volume 1 - out of print
Posted by John Devlin
I recently found out the great news that the first volume of True Colours has now completely sold out and is officially ‘out of print’. Although I’m delighted that the book has been so popular it is a shame that it is now no longer easily available (although I believe some copies can still be purchased via Amazon’s Marketplace).So if you would like to see a new, improved and updated version of True Colours in the bookshops then please email the publishers A&C Black (sports@acblack.com) and let them know!
Site updates - coming soon
Posted by John Devlin
Just to let you know that there will be a quite a few updates to the site arriving in the near future. I recently came across a stack of old Shoot! magazines which have provided a rich source of kit research material and mean that as well as now being able to document for the first time some VERY obscure third and fourth kits that were worn during the late 70s/early 80s I will also be adding some classic replica shirt ads that appeared in the magazine during this era. A couple of similar examples are included with the great ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’ article kindly donated by Gary Silke of The Fox fanzine (click here to read).
Plus I will be completing my series of Euro 2008 kits and producing some special features that look in depth at some of my favourite strips of the last 30 years.
Finally, a big thank you to all of you who have sent complimentary messages to me via the site. I will reply to every single one - they are much appreciated!
The best time of the year?
Posted by John Devlin
As a football fan and a football kit, fan April kicks off a wonderful time of the year. Not only is the season drawing to a climax with hopefully, from a neutral’s point of view, a few twists and turns in the battle for titles, cups, promotions and relegations but its also the time when next season’s kits and being premiered or at least leaked.
Football wise, the end of this season looks to be even thrilling with Chelsea’s magnificent win over Man Utd yesterday blowing the Premier League, if not wide open, but at least partly ajar. All Utd need to do now is keep their nerve. We’ve got two cracking Champions League semis coming, followed hopefully by an all-English final. Rangers may make it to the UEFA Cup final and in the lower English leagues its extremely tight. The Championship sees several major clubs who really do belong in the top flight battling for precious promotion places along with some equally big names at the other end battling relegation.
Plus this summer of course we have Euro 2008 to look forward to!
But for me its the new kits that really make it an exciting time. Although it seems to be slightly out of fashion these days, the last match of the season was always an opportunity to show off the strip for the forthcoming season. The Cup final was always a fine example of this throwing up several anomalies such as the Everton strip premiered in the 1995 final which was the only time the design was sponsored by outgoing sponsors for 94-95, NEC. Danka took over the shirt deal for the 95-96 season itself.
Nowadays, its the internet that provides the outlet for the new strips. Leaked pictures of new strips often appear many months before their official unveiling. Unfortunately some are fakes, either concocted on Photoshop by fans with too much time on their hands, or in some cases put out as red herrings by kit manufacturers to confuse the bootleggers. Either way, football kit devotees such as myself spend everyday at this time of year scanning the web looking for the new designs and being either excited or disappointed by the fare on offer.
This season looks to be no different; already we’ve seen fine new outfits for Chelsea and Liverpool along with news of the continued resurgence of Umbro.
What trends will the new season bring? I’d imagine there will still be plenty of black/navy blue change strips knocking about - a quick and easy fix to the age old away kit design dilemma. I think there may be more switching of traditional shorts colours to create single colour kits - probably in an attempt to work with FIFA’s increasingly strict rules over colour clashes.
We may also see an increase in advertising/logos on English club shirts. Witness Portsmouth/ Canterbury’s introduction of additional branding mid-season on their jerseys. Simple designs and standard templates seem to be coming back in to fashion with some of the more outlandish designs being mothballed with team wearing similar kits to each other, differing only in hue. Plain and simple strips are what football fans prefer - football kit fans however like to see bright and dynamic designs with innovative styling. However, it must be remembered that although kits do provide a valuable source of income for clubs via replica sales, they are there primarily a job uniform. Their sole purpose is really just to differentiate between teams on the pitch (and to some extent on the terraces!) and this doctrine appears to be the method statement for kit designs in 08-09.
By the way, for those of you desperate for the new kits pre-season may I recommend you to two fine sites that are always first on the ball with such news:
www.colours-of-football.com
www.footballshirtculture.com
Euro 2008 Kits
Posted by John Devlin
I’ve just been looking through the kits for Euro 2008 and its amazing how the designs in international football are still completely dominated by the big three of adidas, Nike and Puma.
Nike are supplying kits for: Croatia, Holland, Russia, Turkey and Portugal
Puma are supplying kits for: Austria, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic and Switzerland
Adidas are supplying kits for: Germany, France, Romania, Spain and Greece
…with Umbro bringing up the rear for Sweden.An illustrated summary of all the Euro 2008 kits will feature on the True Colours site very soon!
Portsmouth’s extra Canterbury logos
Posted by John Devlin
Any of you eagle eyed kit fans out there notice the creeping in of additional sportswear branding on shirts just recently? Umbro’s 07–08 templates of course include an extra diamond sleeve logo and the latest example involves the, quite frankly, massive Canterbury logos on each shoulder of the current Portsmouth kits that have emerged in the last month. I’m puzzled about this as I was sure the Premier League did not permit this additional branding in the same way that they do not allow secondary sponsors on the back of the shirts or shorts which is now common place in the Championship and lower leagues. If it is permitted why isn’t every other brand adding extra logos on their shirts? And why has it been allowed to happen mid-season? Its a mystery. My guess is that within the next season or two secondary sponsors will be allowed in England’s top flight and sportswear companies will be allowed to include more than one placement of their logo on their shirts.
Here are a couple of pics to show the difference. Since the additional logo shirts were introduced at the beginning of the year the club have switched between these and the standard shirts that were worn at the beginning of the season.
By the way, if any Pompey fans can explain any more about the additional Canterbury logos I’d be very interested to hear from them. You can contact me by clicking here.
France sign deal with Nike
Posted by John Devlin
Its been announced this week that after 40 years together the French national football team are saying ‘au revoir’ to adidas and will switch to Nike in 2011 for their kit supply. I suppose for football fans of my age adidas and France go together like a baguette and brie and it will seem very odd not seeing ‘Le Bleus’ in adidas. However, with modern football kit contracts loyalties are abandoned in favour of a solid financial deal and strong brand promotion and there is no doubt that Nike are masters of both - as well as being experts in good design. Some design relationships naturally run their course and perhaps the France/adidas link up was in need of a breath of fresh air. Ironically enough after ALWAYS wearing white as their away strip, Euro 2008 will see the French play in red - an adidas innovation that was perhaps too little too late.
It will be interesting to see how Nike interpret the French outfit. They certainly reinvented the rugby strip bringing in an elegant navy blue in favour of the country’s traditional shade.
With Umbro’s sale to Nike looking imminent it may not be too long before the English national football team sport the swoosh on their famous white jerseys.
Manchester United ‘Munich’ Kit
Posted by John Devlin
For anyone in doubt about the powerful symbolism and importance of football shirts the news from Old Trafford that Manchester Utd will wear a special one-off memorial shirt for the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster against Manchester City in February’s derby may just change their minds. The shirts, which have been specially authorised by the Premier League, will feature no sponsorship or manufacturers logos or player names/numbers - just like the shirts worn by the Busby Babes all those years ago. City’s shirts will do likewise. Its a great gesture by Nike, AIG, Le Coq Sportif and Thomas Cook to agree to the one-off change. Let’s hope the day goes well.
Crystal Palace White Away Shirt(s)
Posted by John Devlin
As all Eagles fans will testify, the club have in the past never been shy of donning a plethora of superfluous kits throughout a single season (see True Colours Vol 2 for proof of this). This year is no exception, as the club’s recent match against Southampton left the fans scratching their heads when the side ran out sporting a white away shirt that was notably different from their regular white shirt launched at the beginning of the season. It turns out that the Eagles’ white shirt (which also features a large asymmetrical red strip down one side) was deemed by officials to be just too close for comfort to Southampton’s traditional red and white striped jersey. Palace’s solution was to turn to their plain white training shirts and adapt them with names, numbers and Football League badges thereby creating an anomaly and a target for all Palace shirt collectors.
Competition Winner
Posted by John Devlin
Thanks again to everyone who entered the competition to win a signed double pack edition of both True Colours books. There were loads of entries but the winner (as selected at random by my 15 month old daughter) was…Andrew Rockall. Congratulations Andrew, the books will be on their way to you shortly.
There will be a new competition very shortly so visit the site again soon.
Wales updates
Posted by John Devlin
Updates to the Wales section of True Colours Volume 2 have just been posted on the Updates page. It expands on the country’s Hummel era of the late 80s and also includes the most recent Kappa strips.
