Mark Jessop sent me a great email the other day where he analyses how many teams each kit company supplies throughout the English, German, Italian, Spanish and French top flight leagues.
Its good to recap what kit manufacturers are around at the moment – and which dominate, no surprise to see adidas and Nike up there. Interesting to see a very high kit count for both Kappa and Macron – presumably due to their dominance in Italy but also their healthy presence in other leagues. It’s also clear that certain leagues rely heavily on local companies – not something that occurs in the English Premier League.
16 – Adidas
15 – Nike
10 – Puma
10 – Kappa
8 – Macron
6 – Umbro
5 – Lotto
5 – Errea
4 – Jako
3 – Joma
2 – Givova
2 – Duarig
and the following, 1 each; Mi-fit, UnderArmour, Warrior, Li-ning, Luanvi, Kelme, Astore, Mercury, Legea, Uhl, Hummel and Burda.
Thanks Mark….
No Do You Football in the German top flight anymore?
And Givova is surely the greatest name for anything ever.
Interesting stuff.
By the way, how is Errea supposed to be pronounced? I’ve never been able to work that one out…
Err-ay-ah
Wasn’t that the name of the 2nd Dexys Midnight Runners album Dennis??……
Sorry, Denis!!
Had to look that up, you’re showing your age Ronan!
…….and I was 18 when that came out Denis!!
Getting back on track (and indeed showing my age!) it’s worth noticing manufacturers that are absent, e.g. The likes of Admiral, Bukta and possibly Lonsdale who did have a spell of providing kits (Birmingham and Sunderland spring to mind) before disappearing almost as quickly from the football scene.
Jay (1),
No, Do You Football absent from the Bundesliga this season. For the record: Bayern Munchen, Schalke, Hamburg, Wolfsburg, Leverkusen, Nurnberg: adidas; Freiburg, Mainz, Bremen: Nike; Dortmund, Hoffenheim, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf: Puma; Monchengladbach: Lotto; Hannover, Greuther Furth, Augsburg, Frankfurt.
For the record (2)(Bundesliga 2): Hertha Berlin, Dresden, Duisburg, Bochum, Aue: Nike; Koln: Erima; Kaiserslautern, 1860 Munchen, Union Berlin: Uhlsport; St Pauli: Do You Football; Paderborn, FSV Frankfurt, Regensburg: Saller; Braunschweig, Sandhausen: Puma; Ingolstadt, Aalen: adidas; Cottbus: Umbro
Sorry, Hannover, Furth, Augsburg and Frankfurt are Jako
Thanks, Denis.
Le Coq Sportif is the biggest name absent in my opinion Ronan.
Didn’t even think of them Ciaran. They made some great kits for the likes of Everton. Portsmouth and (dare I say) Tottenham in the ’80’s and of course Everton again very recently. Big name in their heyday.
Le Coq as a brand is actually on the rise (sponsoring Tour de France jerseys, quite big advertising campaign etc.), they’rejust out of football recently.
I have only just noticed that John has posted my article as i’m just back from holiday. If anyone is interested in the split by country or indeed any other leagues i’ll be happy to provide. One manufacturer which no one seems to have mentioned (and I for one am glad to see the back of) is Diadora.
Any reason for the Diadora hate, Mark?
They are still around. Birmingham, Walsall and the Serie A match officials being their most visible deals.
I believe they have been purchased by JD Sports, along with Fila and Cabrini, and they are releasing kits under those brands.
I’m a Leeds fan for my sins Eric and the kit they did for us a few years ago was appalling. Other than that no particular reason!
Fair enough, Mark.
Although, I find it funny that anyone could be worse than Macron! 😛
Don’t generally mind the Macron kits although the cut of the latest one is slightly bizarre! I dream of the day that we might one day return to Umbro though!
I saw Leeds play Southend a couple of seasons ago Mark and I was appalled at the cut of the Leeds Macron shirt, since then though I’m really impressed at what the company are producing. Bold designs with some real innovations.
Wait, people like Macron?! I’m so out of touch.
By the way Mark, what is your opinion on Leeds not wanting to “sully” the home kit by switching to an away kit in the event of shorts/socks clash?
I think it’s massive revisionism, especially as they have often done it in the past.
IMO, a team should seek to wear its home shirt as much as possible.
Ha! I think Macron are one of the most improved kit companies around Eric – they’ve been making great strips in Italy for a few years – they’ve just taken a while to start doing it over here too!
Denis, like Arsenal, Leeds have more often than not changed away from home when there’s a shorts clash. I remember a brief period in the mid 90s (Puma era) when they would were the occasional pair of blue shorts, but I believe they generally changed – this goes right back to the 70s as well.
Leeds used to wear Blue shorts regularly during the Umbro / Admiral / Puma days. During the 70’s I remember them regularly wearing Red socks. This would be seen as sacrilage nowadays by the Man U haters among us.
In 1993-94, away to teams with white shorts they changed socks too for some reason: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/sport-football-the-fa-carling-premiership-1st-january-1994-news-photo/79650757
Blue socks also worn, not sure against whom: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/noel-whelan-leeds-united-news-photo/78980762
Interestingly, Man Utd didn’t change shorts at Elland Road that season http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/mandatory-credit-clive-brunskill-allsport-news-photo/1245584
They have been very inconsistent, though. Against Everton in the late 90s and early 00s, blue shorts http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/darren-huckerby-of-leeds-united-is-pulled-back-by-david-news-photo/1241790, no change http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/robbie-keane-of-leeds-clashes-with-richard-gough-of-everton-news-photo/973122 and away kits http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/mark-viduka-of-leeds-is-tackled-by-scott-gemmill-of-everton-news-photo/1102593 were witnessed.
It’s also worth nothing that in the FA Cup game at Old Trafford a couple of years ago they wore all-white http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/leeds-uniteds-english-midfielder-jonny-howson-has-a-news-photo/95569690
What’s not in doubt is that they had no business changing to blue against Cardiff recently
Personally I like the Asics Leeds with the yellow and blue band across the chest (with royal blue away shorts) – the yellow and blue striped shirt from that era was lovely too. Also the first range of Nike kits. As we’ve discussed many times on these pages, I’m all for traditional home/away combos with only trim changing to reflect the latest templates. So for me, Leeds should always be in a predominantly white home with yellow away and (if they need it) royal blue third, just like in the 70’s.
Martyn, I’ve linked to pics of that shirt, with blue shorts and yellow socks, just waiting for John’s approval!
Leeds wore Man.Utd black away shorts in 80/81 i think to avoid a clash.
I’ve just worked through the Dutch eredivisie, the results for which are; Nike 4,Macron 2, Patrick 2, Jako 2, and one each for Errea, Adidas,Klupp, Hummel, Masita, Lotto, Puma and Erime. I’m currently working on Turkey but this is proving difficult as most of the new kit sites only seem to feature the top 5 or so Turkish teams.
The results for the Greek Superleague are: Hummel 4, Puma 2, Nike 2, Lotto 2 and one each for Adidas,Legea,Umbro,Macron,UnderArmour and Tempo.
Can anyone out there explain why Inter wore all Red at WHL last night? Not one element of their iconic kit clashed with Spurs. Crazy!
To generate replica sales I’d imagine Andrew
@ Andrew #29. Interesting to see Masita on that Dutch list. A relatively small Irish manufacturer if im thinking of the same one.
Error i meant Mark at number 29 rather 🙂
Never knew that either, good spot David!
Turkish Süper Lig kit count is as follows:_
Nike – 6
Adidas – 4
Umbro – 2
Puma – 2
Lotto – 2
Hummel – 1
Lescon – 1
Lescon by the way are a Turkish manufacturer, and as is usual in the Turkish league, some teams have quite a number of kits – some of which are completely superfluous.
Take for example Gaziantepspor
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hEMm_7N4MOk/UDFl455lhKI/AAAAAAAACS8/sm4QbKAOass/s1600/201208170108_gaziantep.jpg
Madness, and there’s Elazığspor, who would have trouble playing a red and white striped team: _
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jT1uzRLZUos/UDFmF7ZMy1I/AAAAAAAACUE/OH98Ne_LFUw/s1600/201208170117_sanica_boru_elaz%C4%B1%C4%9F.jpg
I was surprised to see it’s three years since I did my annual update of manufacturers for Europe’s top five leagues but here it is,
Adidas. – 21
Nike. -19
Puma. – 10
Kappa. -9
Joma. -6
Macron. -5
Lotto. -4
New Balance. -3
Umbro. – 3
Givova – 2
Le Coq – 2
Jako – 2
And one each for Xtep, Acerbis, Kelme, JDSports, Errea, UnderArmour, Erima, Legia, HS, Hummel, Patrick and Burrda.
In summary nothing much has changed since 2012 other than Nike and Adidas increasing their dominance. Puma still hanging on from Kappa in third. No more Duarig, MiFit, li-ning, Luanvi, Astore and Uhl. Good to see Patrick and Le Coq making a comeback.