Umbro makes a good kit. I want you to repeat with me, Umbro makes a good kit. If you’re a West Ham fan who gets your head turned each year by a slick, but insipid Nike jersey as worn by the England team or envies the latest round of Adidas designs you see parade before you in the Euros and bemoan West Ham’s partnering with Umbro, I ask you to consider what Umbro has given us the last several years.
From the Paulo Di canio kit, to the 1960’s blue with claret hoops or my personal favourite, the 1900 light blue collared kit remade as the third kit for 2017-18 third kit. West Ham loves their nostalgia, and beyond the hype of modern designs, they’ve produced some remarkable homages to former kits.
Umbro has more play in the creative licence to step outside of the parameters than Puma, Nike or Adidas put on their designs to give us something like this year’s home kit – a reflection of the 1965 European Cup winner’s jersey that gives us the chance to wear what our forebears wore in glory days when celebrating Bobby Moore and the boys’ victory bringing that into our current European glories.
West Ham fans love the classic claret and blue with all the trimmings of the vintage design, and I’ve heard no one complain about this season’s design with exception of the oversized advertisement arm badge from Quickbooks on the shoulder smathering an obnoxious green on an otherwise tight kit. I personally was a fan of the Basset and Gold golden lion sponsors on the shoulder from 2018 which I think looked sharp even if it did have a taste of Aston Villa about it.
I don’t prefer the round high neck of this year’s home kit but maybe that’s just because I have a large Adam’s apple that gets caught on the collar while raising my voice to chant or even warbles up and down while animantly arguing about what position Soucek should be in, but that’s just an individual problem. Umbro and West Ham have also done another great service to us this year in our away kit, offering us a classic black kit.
Although some fans might think the sky blue is either the essential or favoured colour for an away kit, black has gained traction in the last several years with the 2017/18, 20/21, 22/23, and 23/24 all featuring black kits in the away or third kit lineup. I always get excited for a black or navy away or third kit, as it feels strong, hides your bulges if your shirt is slightly undersized – it’s never my weight, just how they make the kits – and hides beer spills.
There is nothing like charging into opposition’s pitch or terraces with a strong black kit on, and since most teams never wear black as their home colours we don’t have to defer to our third kit which has yet to be released and sometimes be a huge error. I still regret our cup winning orange and yellow McDonald’s sauce splatter kit from two years ago or the purple/pink numbers of Haller’s days.
The subtle Bow Church/east London theme is also class and makes for a quality design although it could be a little stronger, and as fans have said, with these new materials it does look a bit cheap, not in design but fabric. West Ham have given me an option for saving the Adam’s apple shuffle with this neckline.
Some fans might complain about colour combos on the crest, but as opposed to Arsenal’s new kit with a huge cannon replacing their standard crest or Aston Villa changing their crest, I think ours looks smartest. And speaking of our rivals’ designs, I think we are the envy of the Premier League fans compared to Chelsea’s flame kit, that makes Cole Palmer look like a teenager waiting to be picked up from practice or Crystal Palace’s American crisps package kit.
Man City, for such an exciting team, are still going with a boring and overly tight Puma kit, with nothing but some area code numbers on the sleeves and collar trim to differentiate, or Liverpool not even having a fully formed collar, I think we’ve really made out. Everton in hopes to inject some change in their poor form has switched from an Umbro faithful to a kit by Castore which I think looks a bit cheaper, and most other Premier League teams are doing the same old boring numbers of stripes, see Brighton, Newcastle and Bournemouth, or solids, see Notts Forest and Wolves.
Be happy with Umbro for now as we still have them and the Betway sponsor until 25/26, but please West Ham change up the Quickbooks sleeve logo in exchange for something that does not detract from the quality of your kit’s beautiful design.
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