adidas Football Jerseys - A Journey Through The Decades
11/03/2016 12:16:00
adidas, the brand with the iconic 3 stripes, was founded in 1948 by Adolf Dassler, a German who had been producing shoes since 1920. It was not until the 1960’s that adidas began to produce sports apparel, with the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit in 1967 being the first commercial piece of apparel available.
1970's
The 3 stripes first appeared on kits at the 1974 World Cup, with the brand producing 11 of the 16 kits worn at the tournament in West Germany, which was won by the hosts. adidas finally reached British shores in 1977 supplying kits to Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough, while a year later produced a kit that would bring nightmares to every Scotland fan around at the time - the Peru white jersey with distinctive red sash on the front that was worn in their 3-1 win over the Scots at the World Cup.
1980's
The 1980’s saw football become more commercial, with teams now allowed to put sponsor logos onto their jerseys. A lot more thought would go into designs to incorporate the sponsor motif, as well as the appearance of the shirt, with pin-stripes featuring on the 1982 World Cup shirts, and Aberdeen’s 1983 Cup Winner’s Cup design. adidas also signed a couple of major players with the acquisitions of Manchester United in 1980 and Liverpool in 1985.
The jerseys went through a period of understatement in the mid-80s, with the shadow diagonal stripe pattern seen on Dundee United’s 1986/87 strip serving as inspiration for the current Tabela 14 teamwear jersey.
Unique designs returned though in 1988 with the Netherlands home jersey, which looked like it had been designed by a child daubing white paint on a sponge onto the orange shirt, and carried on over into the 1990’s with the West Germany home strip that featured an abstract 3 stripe/West German national flag across the chest and sleeves. These abstract designs were perhaps the influence behind the best-selling Toque 13 teamwear football jersey. These were nothing compared to what was to come in the 90's...
1990's
adidas produced an eye catching strip in 1990 for Manchester United’s away kit. This white/sky/royal combination fit in perfectly with the "Madchester" music culture of the day, and was a hit with supporters across the country.
In 1992 adidas changed from the trefoil badge to their new Equipment logo, and added larger stripes to their shirts, as seen here in the Glasgow Rangers home strip. Not happy with just putting the large stripes on the shoulders, the brand put them across the body of the shirt in a 3-stripe sash style as seen on the Arsenal kit of 1993-94.
The 1994 World Cup in USA was the tipping point for wacky designs, with examples being Spain’s Home Shirt which featured 3 stripes of what looked like diamond symbols down the right hand side of the body, and the host nation’s American flag designs of red/white stripes for the home shirt, and white stars on a denim blue body for the away shirt, which was a pioneering design into showing how football jerseys could be worn as everyday items alongside jeans. Strangely, for the designs being more outrageous, adidas made their logo more simple than before, with a worded adidas motif donning the jerseys instead of their brand logo.
France wore a tribute to their 1984 European Championship winning kit when they hosted the World Cup in 1998, and beat Brazil 3-0 in the final. This was also when the media started to take more of an interest in the brands themselves and their bumper budget marketing campaigns. Suddenly it wasn't just about the teams playing, it was now adidas versus Nike.
21st Century Football Kits
After the year 2000, clubs and national sides began to revert back to more classic designs, with a lot of originality taken out of the kit designing, possibly as a result of teams changing their kits more often – replica kits are now changed every season – which meant there would only be subtle changes done to the kit. An example of this would be Real Madrid bringing out a home kit one season with purple trim, and the next changing the trim to a different colour, but with the basic design always being the same.
Thankfully there has still been examples of distinctive designs, like Chelsea’s 3rd kit in 2011-12 worn by Fernando Torres when he scored his famous goal in the Nou Camp. For a similar appearance look to the Konn 16 football jersey out now.
The brand famous for the 3 stripes do supply teams that wear a striped jersey as well, and over the years they have produced kits for AC Milan, Newcastle United, Bayern Munich and now Juventus. Amateur and youth teams in the UK can replicate this look with the Striped 15 jersey, which carries on a striped teamwear tradition going back to the likes of Stricon.
adidas' extensive teamwear range gives clubs plenty of choice, which includes the top of the range Condivo 16, a design seen this summer at the European Championships on the likes of Germany, Spain and Belgium, to the more pocket friendly Entrada 14 and Estro 15 styles.
Are any of the above jerseys a favourite of yours, or is there another adidas kit from down the years that you loved?
If you haven’t yet decided to wear adidas, perhaps some of these iconic designs seen over the years will serve as inspiration for your next team kit which you can buy here at Direct Soccer or Express Football Kits. Maybe your team already wears adidas football kit, so why not share with us a picture of your team proudly wearing your adidas kit on our Facebook page?