In a year that has seen Scotland and Northern Ireland flock the Umbro nest, and England announce that a new deal with Nike set to run from 2013 it’s good to see that Wales have stuck with the Manchester based manufacturer.
And Umbro has rewarded the Welsh with another classy design for the 2012/13 season that has kept in line with the ‘less is more’ aesthetic that the Tailored by Umbro range has so wonderfully introduced back into football.
The new home shirt was released in August and was worn for the first time in the friendly against Bosnia. It harked back to the wonderful Admiral shirt of the late ‘70s with a solitary yellow and green stripe running down the left side through the crest.
The away kit, by contrast, was quite a radical approach. Over the years Wales have had several away kits crazy enough to resemble a Jackson Pollock and rival any Refreshers packet that David Seaman ever wore, but recently those have made way for a more simplistic plain white or yellow design.
For the first time Wales have used the half split design and a fold over, button down collar for a more traditional feel. The shirt also has the increasingly popular mesh panels on the sides to aide breathability.
The away shirt has been available since October and both can be purchased from a number of retailers for around £30-35.
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The home kit is an absolute delight. Not as good as the 1976-79 Admiral shirt (on the grounds that the shorts allowed for the continuation of the stripes’ trajectory) but has probably surpassed the Adidas 1984-87 and Hummel 1987-90 kits in my estimation. High praise indeed.
I’m less enthusiastic about the green and white halves change kit but it’s better than the grey kit that preceded it and is nice enough