1990s Umbro Shirts Authenticity Checks

The shirts I get asked "is this legit" he most has to be the 1990s Umbro shirts. There are so many fakes of these shirts on the market it is hard to spot them if you don't know what you are looking for. Here is a really simple guide to spotting the authentic shirts just from the labels in the neck. 

All 90s Umbro shirts have a blue label in the neck, some of them have a white one underneath. These labels make it easy to spot the authentic shirts from the fakes.

Authentic Umbro Labels

Blue Umbro Labels

Here is what they should look like - 

As you can see on the above photos there are clear dots in the UMBRO on the label. All the fake Umbro shirts I have seen do not have these dots. In general there are a flatter design with less stitching. 

Under the blue label there is a white label that shows the size and wash care instructions. These are not always there on the earlier 1990s and are almost always there on the later 1990s shirts. As well as being a way to check the authenticity of the shirt they are good for seeing the condition. The print washes off them easily so if they are excellent it is usually a sign of a well looked after shirt. 

In the 1990's there was less quality control than the modern shirts so labels like the one below are still authentic, just poorly added to the shirt. 

Umbro Labels post 1999

Around 1998-2000 Umbro changed the underneath labels. During this period both the above labels and below labels were used. They would ave come from different factories so it can be the case that the same shirt has different labels. 

The top blue label with the dots in the UMBRO stayed the same - the sizing label underneath changed to this - 

During this time they started adding the labels inside the shirts.

White Umbro Labels 

In the 1990s they also used white labels on some shirts with the Umbro in blue. This is common on Celtic shirts. The same applies to the dots in the UMBRO although they are less prominent. They should look like this. 

The underneath label is identical to the blue label, it is just the label on top that is different. 

South American Umbro Labels 

In the 1990's Umbro had factories in South America producing shirts for South American countries. These included England shirts and major European teams shirts. The labels are slightly different on these shirts but still follow the same check of the dots in the UMBRO.

Here is how they look - 

I hope this has helped!