Manchester United have had some amazing shirts in their history. This comprehensive guide includes details of the popular shirts, manufactures and sponsor history. You can also download a collectors tick list of all the Manchester United shirts from 1990 through to this seasons shirts - How many do you have?
Manchester United Shirt History - Downloadable CheckList
Manchester United Goalkeeper Shirt History
Here are all the United goalkeepers from 1990 onwards? Can you collect them all?
Like the look of the shirts above? Shop authentic Manchester United shirts here.
Manchester United Shirts - Every Shirt from 1990 Onward!
1990/1991 & 1992/1993
91/92 & 92/93 Home Shirt
91/92 & 92/93 Away Shirt
Manchester United Kit Manufacturers History
2015- Current Season - Adidas
Adidas are the current manufacturer of the United shirts. They have come back from the 1993 season when they were replaced by Umbro ahead of a golden period of shirts. Their time with United has been a little lack lustre with some very poorly designed shirts in the first few seasons.
What has been a highlight is the Adidas Originals range that they have produced. We have seen an excellent remake of the 1992 away, 1990 goalkeeper and more recently the 1986 home and away shirt.
Here's my top 5 modern Adidas Manchester United shirts
- 2018/2019 Pink Away Shirt
- 2017 Adidas Originals 1990-1992 Away Shirt
- 2019 Year Of The Ox CNY Shirt
- 2023/2024 Rose style Home Shirt
- 2017/2018 Third Shirt
You can see my top 3 modern Manchester United shirts here. This is the top 3 from 2005 onwards covering Adidas and Nike.
Adidas also launched the Chinese New Year range, now called Lunar New Year. This started with some funky designed pre match shirts and has evolved into a range of t-shirts, jumpers and jackets. You can read about the history of the CNY shirts here.
2002 - 2015 - Nike
Before the borefest of Adidas shirt Nike were in charge of the designs from 2002 onwards. The replaced the triumphant Umbro and made shirts for a period of trophies at Old Trafford. The majority of the Nike shirts were rather forgettable but there were some stand out shirts.
During this period they played around with the collar designs but never quite nailed it. This was the period where Manchester United went from having new shirts every 2 years to new shirts every year. They started with moving the away to the third kit the next season before moving to 3 new kits in their final season in 2014/2015. For me this was the season the away shirt (white with a black collar) finally nailed a good collar like the popular 1990s shirts.
Here's my top 5 Nike Manchester United shirts
- 2007/2008 Home Shirt
- 2007/2008 Away Shirt
- 2003/2004 Away Shirt
- 2014/2015 Away Shirt
- 2012/2013 Away Shirt
As you can see from the above list the home shirts were always a little lacking in style. These were mainly unmemorable other than the 07/08 * 08/09 home shirt with the MUFC stripes on the back.
1992-2002 - Umbro
The greatest period of Manchester United kits in history! Umbro opened up in 1992 with the collared red home, large badge away and the iconic green and gold shirt. Throw in 2 amazing goal keeper shirts and you have, in my opinion, the greatest season of shirts in Manchester United history. Every shirt can be called a classic, there's not many seasons you can say that for.
The next season saw the first black shirt in United history which is another classic along with a funky goalkeeper shirt.
Almost all the 1990s shirts from Umbro where hits with the grey away standing out for obvious reasons (or not standing out enough!).
The launch of the European home shirt to meet with UEFA rulings on sponsors was another golden period of Umbro shirts. The long sleeve 1998/1998 home shirt and goal keeper shirts were iconic and incredibly collectable 20 years later - if only they'd made the zips a little stronger though!
Here's my top 5 Umbro Manchester United shirts - This was a tough one!
- 1992/1993 Away Shirt
- 1993/1994 Away Shirt
- 1998/1999 Home Shirt (long sleeve)
- 1997-2000 European Home Shirt
- 1994-1995 Goalkeeper Home Shirt
Surprisingly one of the shorts from the Umbro period made it into my 5 worst Manchester United shirts!
1980-1992 Adidas
The 80s was a generally plain period for football shirts in general. The designs didn't change as often as the modern shirts and they were a much thicker material and tighter fit. Sharp were the only sponsor in this period.
For me the highlight of the 80s shirts was the 88-90 blue third shirt. These are very hard to find now and have recently been re done in the Adidas Originals range of re made shirts.
The early 1990s Adidas shirts changed and the designs stepped up. The 1990-1992 home and away are well rememberered. The 1990 snowflake shirt is iconic in the clubs history and the pattern has been remade and redone in various modern designs. The snowflake featured in my top 5 1990s Manchester United shirts - see the full list here.
My top 5 1980s & 1990s Adidas shirts
- 1990-1992 Snowflake Away Shirt
- 1998-1990 Third Shirt
- 1986-1988 Third Shirt
- 1990-1992 Home Shirt
- 1991 European Cup Shirt
1975-1980 Admiral
Admiral had 5 years manufacturing Manchester United kits in the 1970s. They had the same away shirt for all 5 years and this was a great shirt. This would look great as a modern design with some tweaks. The home shirt had some special editions for cup finals.
1945-1975 Umbro
Umbro had the longest period of making kits for United. They did not regularly change them and they weren't massive sellers in those days compared to the current shirts. They were responsible for the blue third shirt that United won the European Cup final in 1968.
Manchester United Sponsor History
Manchester United have only had a handful of sponsors compared to other teams that change them every 2 years. They do have a lot of corporate partners but there are not many companies who have adorned the front of the shirt!
1982 - 2000 Sharp
Sharp is the longest-serving sponsor in United's history. They started out in 1982 and finished in 2001. We saw them on Adidas and Umbro shirts. They left just before United moved to Nike in 2002.
Over this period they used slightly different brands on the front of the shirts including
- Sharp Electronics
- Sharp
- Sharp Viewcam
- Sharp Digital
These were mixed up with the Veiwcam often appearing on the away and goalkeeper shirts and the home just having the SHARP sponsor. Sharp Digital only appeared on the last away shirt in 1999/2000.
2000 - 2006 Vodafone
Vodafone replaced United and the red of their logo worked well with some kits. On others, they used a white logo or a black logo on white shirts which worked well. The Vodafone sponsor was one that did not fair well on some shirts. The 2003-2005 third shirt had a full print and these always crack or peel. Some of the shirts around 2002 have a thicker more metal-like sponsor and these are prone to peeling!
2006 - 2010 AIG
AIG replaced Vodafone as the front shirt sponsor for the 2006/2007 shirts. This move lead to one of the races Manchester United shirts for collectors -the 2006/2007 third shirt with AIG. This had been the away kit in the previous season and was only sold in the Megastore in tiny quantities. Other than that it is only players' shirts that are available.
The AIG period saw United lift the Champions League in 2009 with the iconic home shirt with stripes on the back. They also produced a special shirt for the 45th anniversary of United winning the European Cup for the first time in 1968.
2010 - 2014 - AON
AIG was replaced with another 3-letter company with AON replacing AIG. This was a clear trend for being sponsored by companies that no one really knew what they did! Again this threw up a rare short with the 2010/2011 third shirt having the AON sponsor but never being commercially sold. The only authentic shirts you will find for this are the player-issue shirts.
2014 - 2021 Chevrolet
Finally, a sponsor where we all know what they do - cars! Chevrolet came at an incredible price for the company. The person who signed the deal off at Chevrolet reportedly got fired for how much it cost them. At the time this was the biggest ever sponsorship deal in football history.
2021 - Onwards - Team Viewer
Team View came in with another record contract at United and has since tried to get out of the deal. They have stuck around though and increased the size of their sponsorship in the 2023/2024 season to maximum size!
Conclusion
Overall Manchester United has very few manufactures compared to other clubs. They have has some great shirts over the years.