The Economics of Sport
  • Sports Economics
  • About
  • Workshop
  • Selected Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • A Primer on Gaelic Games
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Education
  • Resources & Links
  • Data

The History of Replica Kits

19/9/2016

 
By John Considine
Picture
There has been a number of posts on this site dealing with the issue of football shirts and replica kits.  At the start of each season, David Butler has written about the cost of getting a footballer's name printed on the back of a football shirt. There are four instalments of "shirtonomics". Robbie Butler has posted on changes in the Irish national shirt and on the origins of shirt sponsorship in English football. I have written about the UK Office of Fair Trading investigation into price-fixing in the replica kits.  It is a subject that is of particular interest to those who contribute to this website.

In this context, I would like to recommend an article from Sport in History.  The article is from a special edition of the journal devoted to sports kit (here).  The title of the article is "From Sportswear to Leisurewear: The Evolution of English Football League Shirt Design in the Replica Kit Era".  It is difficult to do justice to the article in a short blog post because of the level of detail covered in approximately 40 pages.  In addition to the text there are some excellent pictures and stories. The pictures include graphs of data and adverts used during the different eras.  For example, Figure 5a present a line graph of the percentage of replica shirts/kit that include (i) sponsor's logo, (ii) club badge, and (iii) maker's logo. There is a superb contrast between the steady increase in shirts carrying the club badge compared to the zero to 100% spike in both logos that occurred during the 1970s.  A key to understanding the spikes is a knowledge of the way that the 1968 UK Copyright Act allowed a groundbreaking deal between Admiral and Leeds United.  The article explains the chronology.

Much of the article traces the evolution through three phases.  The first phase was the child-replica football kit.  A key step in this phase was Umbro's 1959 decision to market child-sized kits to individual customers.  Prior to 1959, kits were primarily sold to clubs as sportswear.  The second phase was the official replica era.  One could argue that this era ran from the 1970s to the present (aided by the addition of club and manufacture logos to shirts of all sizes).  The third phase is the retro-replica.  This phase overlaps with the second phase and is built on the nostalgia amongst many football fans.

One particular part of the article illustrates brilliantly the way things have changed.  In 1968/69 the catalogue for Umbro featured the Manchester United and Scotland player Denis Law endorsing the kits of "Manchester United and Scotland, ... eight other leading English clubs, three Scottish clubs and the international kit of England".  Would a current Manchester United player be allowed to make such an endorsement?  How marketable would a shirt be without the club badge, sponsor's & manufacturer logo, and the name of  footballer playing Champions League?


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    About

    This website was founded in July 2013.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    American Football
    Athletics
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Behavioural Economics
    Boxing
    Broadcasting
    Competitive Balance
    Cricket
    Cycling
    Darts
    David Butler
    Declan Jordan
    Drugs
    Ed Valentine
    Epl
    Esports
    Expenditure
    F1
    Fifa World Cup
    Finances
    Funding
    Gaa
    Gaelic Games
    Gambling
    Game Theory
    Gary Burns
    Geography
    Golf
    Greyhound Racing
    Guest Posts
    Horse Racing
    Impact Studies
    John Considine
    John Eakins
    League Of Ireland
    Location
    Media
    Mls
    Mma
    Olympics
    Participation
    Paul O'Sullivan
    Premier League
    Regulation
    Research
    Robbie Butler
    Rugby
    Simpsonomics
    Snooker
    Soccer
    Spatial Analysis
    Sporting Bodies
    Stephen Brosnan
    Swimming
    Taxation
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tennis
    Transfers
    Uefa
    Ufc
    World Cup
    Wwe

Related

The website is not formally affiliated to any institution and all of the entries represent the personal views and opinions of an individual contributor. The website operates on a not-for-profit basis. For this reason we decline all advertisement opportunities. 

Contact

To contact us email sportseconomics2013@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @SportEcon.