Historical Football Kits

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Tottenham Hotspur

Change kits

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Kit History

Background

Since 1898 Spurs have worn white shirts and navy shorts as first choice but Richard Essen discovered in April 2020 that white shirts were introduced in 1890 as an alternative to the red shirts that were first choice at the time. Chocolate and gold stripes were adopted as an alternative in 1895-96 and these would become their first choice colours the following season. The plain white shirts were also worn in some games.

During the Edwardian period various striped shirts as well as red jerseys appeared. On several occasions alternative shirts were borrowed for FA Cup matches as well as one or two League games. This pattern continued until 1928 when broad navy and white hoops were generaly used.

After the Second World War, Spurs' wore red shirts with their usual navy blue shorts and stockings when a change was needed (occasionally white shorts appeared).

Navy shirts with white knickers were adopted on 3 December 1949 followed by striped shirts a few years later between 1953 and 1956.

An all-amber strip in shiny rayon was used three times in floodlit matches in the London Challenge Cup (October 1958). Tony Sealey, Andy Porter and John Matthews have discovered that a similar strip was worn in the Football League three times in 1960 but this was made from conventional cotton.

Tony Sealey has provided these notes from the first Spurs programme of the 1969-70 season: Supporters who travelled to Leeds on Saturday must have been surprised to see the team turn out in yellow shirts with a blue cockerel emblem. As Leeds wear white we were forced to change. Our change strip in recent years has been navy blue shirts, but this colour has now been banned by the League as it clashes with the referee's outfit.

Yellow and navy became Spurs' established alternative colours and when Admiral designed their new kits in 1977, they took up the theme with a unique shirt with navy blue epaulettes. Over the next few year Spurs established themselves as real innovators in kit design. Le Coq Sportif introduced the first shadow-striped kits for the team in 1982, featured both on the home kit and the new powder-blue away kit.

In 1985 Spurs signed up with Danish manufacturers, Hummel, who continued the trend for innovation with a striking all-white home kit paired up with a light blue away kit featuring white and navy diagonal pinstripes. Their navy third kit was even more innovative, adding diagonal purple stripes trimmed in light blue and white.

Umbro took over in 1991 with two striking designs. The yellow change kit featured an abstract chequered design in navy with grey patches while their light blue third kit sported "SPURS" woven into the fabric. These were followed by an all-navy change kit with purple splashes in 1994. After Umbro, Pony took over with some striking kits: purple with navy stripes (1995-96) and then navy and "ecru" in 1997.

In 1999 Spurs once again changed manufacturer, signing a contract with Adidas that lasted three seasons. Their designs incorporated three tradional pallettes, yellow and navy, navy and white and pale blue and navy. They were replaced by Kappa in 2002 who introduced some striking designs over the next four seasons, including an all-mauve outfit (2003-04) and a blue and yellow kit (2005-2006) that broke with tradition.

Yet another change of kit partner came in 2006 when Puma took over the franchise. Their understated but striking designs have an all-chocolate kit with gold trim that was inspired by Spurs' colours worn in 1896 when they joined the Southern League. Puma also designed the club's 125th anniversary kit (worn once only) which was based on Spurs' 1884 colours, originally adopted as a tribute to the great Blackburn Rovers team.

In 2012 Spurs commissioned Under Armour as their kit supplier. Their first away kit in all-navy bore more than a passing resemblance to the original Hotspur FC kit but on the reverse it featured a unique diagonally striped panel in two shades of blue.

Sources

• A = Away (change) kit
• 3rd = Third choice kit
• EUR = European home kit
• WCF = Worthington Cup Final

Information on kits 1901-1966 provided by Andy Porter, official historian to Tottenham Hotspur with aditional research by Tony Sealey.