Southampton Football Kits
Southampton have established
themselves as arguably the leading production line for young talent with the
likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
all coming through the Saints youth system in recent years. The funds generated
from those transfers have allowed the club to establish themselves as a Premier
League club after a troubled financial period which saw them drop as low as
League One before eventually storming back through the leagues.
Formed in 1885, the club’s only
major honour has been winning the FA Cup in 1976. Southampton play in red and
white shirts, which have evolved throughout the years.
Southampton Home Shirt
The first version of the
Southampton jersey in 1885 was a white shirt with a diagonal red sash. In 2010,
kit suppliers Umbro released an updated version of this design to commemorate
the Saints 125 year anniversary. After initial designs which featured both a
chequered pattern and eventually red and white halves, in 1896, they settled on
a red and white striped shirt which remains to this day.
The club wore navy shorts with
their jersey until 1950, at which point they switched to black shorts. The kit
is traditionally completed with either white or black socks.
One of the most memorable periods
in the clubs history came in the mid 1970’s. In 1974-75, Southampton introduced
a new crest which was designed in a supporter’s competition. The following
season and, still operating outside England’s top flight, Southampton stunned heavily
fancied Manchester United in the FA Cup Final at Wembley to claim their first
major honour.
Southampton Football Shirt History
The first commercial Southampton
shirt was released by Umbro in 1974. Admiral then took over the contract for
four years before being replaced by Patrick and then Hummel.
Pony supplied the jerseys for the
majority of the 1990’s before, in 1999, Southampton took the somewhat unusual
decision to manufacture and sell replica shirts under their own brand name.
This was in contrast to the general trends in the market place at the time,
when lucrative kit sponsorships were common place as the leading brands looked
to cash in on the explosion in replica shirt sales.
In 2008, Umbro regained the
contract and were the suppliers as The
Saints returned to the Premier League, which saw a controversial all-red kit
released. When Adidas took over the contract the following season, they
retained this look but it proved unpopular with supporters and the following
season saw a return to the traditional red and white stripes.
Under Armour became the official supplier of Southampton FC for the
2016-17 season.
