Conjuring up a great looking football shirt isn’t magic, but rather a work of art.
It takes time, patience, a keen design eye and coordination to create a memorable kit that fans will positively associate with your team for years to come.
With many suppliers now offering a kit designer feature where you can design your team’s kit from scratch you have the power to etch yourself into your clubs history books with the coolest shirt ever seen, or be remembered for all the wrong reasons!
But if you miss the mark on creating a kit that stands out in your fans minds’, your team’s kit could go down in history for all the wrong reasons. So, let’s have a look through our favourite unusual football shirts.
Huddersfield Town (1993-1994)
This goalkeeper’s jersey for Huddersfield Town gives a strong Dennis the Menace impression. The harsh combo of red and black is certainly distracting (and not very attractive!), so we’re not sure how the onlookers during the season didn’t get vertigo!
Bilbao (2004)
This kit designed for Bilbao during the 2004 UEFA Cup was designed by Basque artist Dario Urzay to represent blood splatters, assumingly to give a fierce and intimidating look. However, the design fell short, looking more like the team were just let loose with a bottle of ketchup.
Colorado Caribous (1978)
The Colorado Caribous sported this ghastly kit, thankfully only for one short-lived and not very successful season. The beige palette of this shirt along with the tassels makes it feel more novelty than genuine. We’re getting more ‘rodeo’ than ‘football’ from this one!
La Hoya Lorca (2013-2014)
Petit pois? It’s difficult to not see anything other than green vegetation on this weird football kit worn by Spanish team La Hoya Lorca. Apparently the theme is actually quite fitting with the team though as they are based in Murcia, which is referred to as ‘the vegetable garden’ of Spain. Even so, we’re sure the players don’t want to be running around with a bag of peas on their chest.
1860 Munich (2018)
The baby blue gingham print used for the 1860 Munich teams’ celebration of Oktoberfest 2018 feels more suitable for a Saturday in the park or a trip down the yellow-brick road rather than the playing field.
Hull City (1992)
The thought of seeing pro athletes dressed as what could mistakenly be a homage to Tony the Tiger is not quite the image we had in mind. Yet Hull City fashioned the statement piece nonetheless.
Recreativo (2012-2013)
Spanish football team Recreativo decided to swap the stripes for spots during their 2012-2013 season. This kit, designed by Danish creator, Hummel, appears to have been inspired by Disney character, Minnie Mouse. Whilst it’s definitely not the worst kit we’ve seen, it’s by far not the best.
Chelsea (1995)
The vibrant presence of the orange in this kit worn in 1995 by Chelsea makes us think that a traffic warden just walked on pitch rather than a player. Perhaps the least offensive out of our other choices but still worthy of having a place in our list.
Reggina (2012)
This illusion style football kit is just an outright violation. The chiselled bodies printed onto the kit feels very intimate and perhaps not something most people would want to see running all over the place out on the fields.
You can see what the designers were going for with this one, and despite a strong use of colours, the graphics come off as tacky and cheap.
CD Palencia (2016)
If you thought the last one was tacky, wait till you see what we’ve got to end on!
To finish off our top 10, we have this pretty uncomfortable print showcasing human anatomy donned by yet another Spanish team, CD Palencia. Great for a biology lesson, not so much for a game of football. Any squeamish onlookers in the stands may have needed to avert their glance during the 2016 season.
Thankfully, it’s unlikely you’ve ever seen most of our above examples considering the majority of them lasted for only a season or two.
However, these unusual football kits have most definitely left an imprint on the way kits are designed today. Gone are the days (hopefully) of plastering garish colours, patterns, prints and nude torsos all over football shirts.
The expert team at Gift of Kit have designed and supplied hundreds of football kits that won’t end up on a list of unfavourable kits like this one! Head to our website to apply for a brand new kit for your sports team.
