8 iconic kits in Manchester United's history

With its long and successful history that dates back to 1878, Manchester United has had its fair share of iconic football kits. Their kit is well known around the world, with its predominantly red coloring. There have been several manufacturers, including Adidas, Nike and Umbro. The current kit is made by Adidas, who have a contract until 2030. So, without further ado, let’s look at the most iconic kits in the Red Devils’ history.

1. The 1982-83 kit

The early 1980s saw Manchester United display sponsorship on its shirts for the first time. This sponsorship was by Sharp Electronics and was shown on all three kits for the season. The home kit was the iconic red with white stripes on the shoulders. There was also the Manchester United emblem on the left breast. And, since the shirt was manufactured by Adidas, their emblem appeared on the right breast. The shirt had a V-neck with a black edging.

There were two other shirts that year. The away kit was a plain white shirt with black shoulder stripes and a black collar, and the third kit was blue with white embellishments. At this time, Manchester United were playing in Division 1. Despite the range of sponsors the team has had, the Man U kits have never made bet news particularly, as they have never been sponsored by a betting site.

• The 1990-91 kit

Still in Division 1 and still with the same kit manufacturer and sponsor, the 1990-91 season Manchester United kit is iconic for different reasons. Firstly, all kits reflected the more psychedelic fashions of the time, with zigzag prints and bright colors. The goalkeeper kit of this season was particularly vivid, with black and green tie-dye design. It was certainly memorable!

The shirts by this point had lost their strong V-neck shape at the collar to a more subtle, overlapped and rounded V-shape. There were still the logos in the same places, with stripes on the shoulders like in the 80s.

• The 1992-93 kit

Now in the Premier League, the Manchester United kit for 1992-1993 was manufactured by Umbro, which meant some changes to the designs. The Sharp sponsor and logos were still in their previous positions, but the collars had been replaced by a polo shirt-style design and a cord fastening. These lace-up fastenings remained for two seasons.

The home kit remained the iconic red, while the away kit was blue with a darker blue, offset club logo. The goalkeeper kit was angular, with shapes and colors on a dark blue and green background.

• The 2000-01 kit

The new millennium brought with it a change of sponsor. Sharp had sponsored Manchester United since the start of sponsorships, but Vodafone took over in 2000. The manufacturer remained Umbro, and the color of the home kit stayed red. However, the away kit went back to white from the blue it had been for a number of years.

This kit also saw the collar shape go back to a V-neck and lose the cords. The shoulders were also plain for the first time.

• The 2002-03 kit

In 2002, Nike began manufacturing the Manchester United kit for the first time and so we saw players wearing the iconic Nike logo. The home kit remained red but with black accents. The collar shape was round this time for the home kit, but the away version remained a V-neck.

• The 2006-07 kit

The next sponsorship change came in the 2006-07 season, when Manchester United said goodbye to Vodafone and hello to AIG. For the final years of Vodafone sponsorship, the Manchester United logo had been in the center. However, it went back to the left breast when the AIG sponsorship began.

• The 2010-11 kit

Aon took over Man Utd’s sponsorship in 2010. The shirt went back to being a collared V-neck with a white stripe down the sleeve. This was a baggier style, too. Aon remained sponsors of the club until 2014.

• The 2015-16 kit

With a new sponsorship by Chevrolet in 2015 and a return to manufacturing by Adidas, there were quite a few kit changes between 2014 and 2015. The white Adidas shoulder stripes were back on the red shirt. There was also a white V-neck collar. The away kit remained white but had the three iconic Adidas shoulder stripes and the Adidas breast logo.

Final thoughts: the most recent kit The current Manchester United kit is still manufactured by Adidas but is now sponsored by TeamViewer. There have been reports, though, that players have been forced to wear shirt replicas due to the official shirts being too tight. The away kit is perhaps one of the strangest designs to date, with a dark green background and white and red stripes. It certainly doesn’t scream ‘Manchester United’ when you first see it. Change, however, is in the air for next season.