Bolton Wanderers Shirt History
Bolton Wanderers were historically among the twelve founding members of the English Football League. Let’s delve into their past through their shirt history…
Bolton Wanderers Kit History - Free Download
Bolton Wanderers Sponsor History
2020 – present – Macron
The COVID-19 pandemic caused an early ending to the League One campaign in 2019/20 and given the method that the final league placements were finalised, it meant that Bolton would spend the 2020/21 campaign in League Two – something that hadn’t happened in over 30 years. Although, this had its benefits for the 2020/21 home and away jerseys, with the fact that instant promotion out of the division added history and prestige to them. The red and navy away top was coincidentally a nod to jerseys worn between 1993 and 1995.
The 2021/22 home strip was also inspired by the past with its white base being imprinted with subtle chequers, just like in the late 80’s. This was worn alongside an impressive yellow and black polo away top.
Macron’s third home top of this spell paid tribute to the club’s old home, Burnden Park. This was because the campaign marked 25 years since they departed the stadium. It was referred to by a silhouette of the stadium, plus ‘1997 – 2022’, being embossed into the reverse of the shirt. The home strip was, again, used alongside an eye-catching away strip, with this one being royal blue and boasting an interlocking tonal rhombus pattern. In 2022/23, for one game against Barnsley, the Wanderers wore a brilliant retro jersey that celebrated their 1923 FA Cup win. It had a laced-up neckline and supporters who purchased it received it in a commemorative box.
On a collective, it is the 2023/24 range that probably steals the crown for the strongest Macron collection so far – it featured a home strip which is based on the 1983/84 season, a black away top with tonal abstract patterning and a striking sea-green third top which celebrates the towns landmarks.
In 2024/25, via their home top, Bolton feature a centralised club crest design for the first time since 2010.
2019 – 2020 – Infinity Apparel / Hummel
The Wanderers’ relationship with Macron actually begun in 2014, however due to the pairs inability to find an initial agreement over an extension, they spent the 2019/20 campaign apart.
To begin with, the season saw a makeshift Hummel designs before Bolton eventually turned to in-house manufacturing in collaboration with Infinity Apparel.
The latter’s’ shirts strikingly saw ‘Established in 1877’, the year that the club became known as the Wanderers, appear where you would usually find the manufacturers branding. The home top combined the club’s usual colours, but the away combined an ‘out there’ hi-vis yellow and black – they were both subtly imprinted.
2014 – 2019 – Macron
Macron’s first ever Bolton collection followed a classy polo concept, with both the home and away tops looking similar but in reversing colours. Personal Wanderers touches were added to both of them, such as the Bolton Wanderers elephant, the town motto, 1877 and the Lancashire Rose. These specific touches continued on a few of the collections throughout the deal, including on the black and gold away jersey from 2015/16 which had a unique neckline.
The shirts worn in 2016/17 felt a bit of a let-down, although that was mostly down to the club’s choice of front of shirt sponsorship. This did result in the 2017/18 shirts being eagerly anticipated and the campaign certainly delivered with a stunning purple away top that incorporated with tonal patterning.
The brands final manufacturing campaign before the pairs brief break-up also produced the goods, with all three jerseys catching interest. The home shirt incorporated thick tonal white stripes across its base and it was smartly outlined by red and navy combining within its sleeve cuffs and neckline. The away shirt fairly prominently also used red, although its most intriguing feature was its black tone-on-tone graphic. Completing the collection was a brilliant navy third top which had sections of tonal pinstripes grouping on its front – this made out thicker vertical stripes on first glimpse.
2012 – 2014 – Adidas
Adidas’ famous stripes which run down the sleeves of most Adidas branded shirts brought a fair bit of life to the Wanderers home tops in both of these campaigns, albeit the colouring around the arm pit area of each had its part to play in that too.
The navy and blue vertically striped away shirt, which was worn in 2012/13, is probably the most appreciated alternate strip of this era, even if it is stained by Bolton’s relegation from the Premier League that year. An unmissable bright orange and navy kit replaced it in 2013/14.
1993 – 2012 – Reebok
Worn by club legends such as the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha and Kevin Davies, the Reebok era is a significant period of Bolton jerseys.
Bolton wore various versions of shirts where the club crest was placed in the centre up until 2003/04. This meant for a number of impressive home strips, but the 1995 – 1997 edition is arguably the best. The period of 1994 until 1997 also saw a number of eye-catching alternate jerseys, starting with a yellow and dark navy design which had pinstripes spaced out in pairs on its base – the Reebok logo was placed strikingly high and centrally under the neckline. It became the third top in 1995/96, with an impressive blue and navy top replacing it – this one had alternating Bolton and Reebok emblems imprinted. This feature remained on the following dark green 1996/97 away top. Another favourite of this Macron era is the blue sash away top used in 1999/00.
The clubs deep League Cup run added some prestige to the unexciting 2003/04 collection – Bolton lost 2-1 in the final to Middlesbrough, but did manage to see off Aston Villa en route. Steady home jerseys were worn throughout the 2000’s, but another intriguing away kit was worn in 2005/06. It had a navy base that boasted grey pinstripes of various lengths and it was historically used in a campaign that the club played European football. UEFA Cup participation means that the 2007/08 collection is also well-appreciated.
A broken stripe feature is splattered on the 2009/10 home and away tops, given that they both follow the same concept. In both of the campaigns following this, the jerseys see a large Reebok logo parading on their shoulders, although Premier League relegation sours the 2011/12 collection.
1988 – 1993 – Matchwinner
A crewneck crossover neckline, tonal chequers and shoulders taken up by colour blocks appeared on all of the Matchwinner Bolton shirts for the first two seasons, but in truth, the collection wasn’t that exciting, without being ugly.
The following away top used from 1990 until 1990 is intriguing though, with small navy and white chequers making up its base. It was topped off with a classy polo collar, as was all of the strips within this period.
1977 – 1988 – Umbro
All of the shirts used within this period seen fairly minimal designs and most of the shirts were in place for multiple seasons. Up until 1982. It was the pattern running down the sleeves that was inspired by conjoined Umbro logos provided the most intrigue. However, there was also a brief trial of a green away kit in 1981/82, breaking the trend of having either sky-blue or red in this particular partnership.
Following 1982, it was the thick old-school V-neck neckline that was used that captured the most attention – it looked particularly great when red was added to it from 1985/86.
1975 – 1977 – Bukta / Admiral
From August 1975 until January 1976, Bolton used Bukta branded strips. Bukta provided shirts with a central club crest, something Admiral kept initially when they took over from January. They eventually switched to a more traditional look for 1976/77.
Bolton Wanderers Shirt Sponsorship History
Compared to other clubs of their stature, the Wanderers front of shirt sponsorship history isn’t that large. Let’s take a look into who the lucky brands have been…
2023 – present – Victorian Plumbing
The logo and URL of Victorian Plumbing, the UK’s largest retailer of bathroom products and accessories, appears on the front of a Bolton home and away jersey at the time of writing this article.
Unfortunately, the green text colour used on the home top doesn’t best match the home jersey, although it looks absolutely fine in white on the away top.
The third strip is donated to Bolton in the Community.
2022 – 2023 – Service My Car
Service My Car is an online car servicing and repairs network that was originally founded by Bolton-born Ozair Puda. After success in the UAE, the company now also has a Bolton-based headquarters.
Despite it being mostly text-based with an image of a car replacing the A in the word car, it didn’t look the greatest – perhaps it was the size of it?
2019 – 2022 – Home Bargains
The recognisable logo of Home Bargains, one of the UK’s most popular discount retailers and store chains, appeared on the kits for three seasons.
Despite it not looking amazing, the brands colouring of red and blue did go in its favour.
2017 – 2019 – Betfred
Like with Home Bargains, Betfred’s branding also works in its favour. Betfred is a betting firm that was originally founded as a single betting shop in Salford.
2016 – 2017 – Spin and Win
Spin and Win is a gambling firm that offers casino slots online. As alluded to earlier in the piece, their text-based feature wasn’t that great – the font of the text just made it seem a little tacky.
2015 – 2016 – Rok Mobile
Rok Mobile claimed to be a music focused mobile network and they supposedly launched the UK’s first phone and music streaming package.
The logo had a red background on the home top and it was less than impressive, but when they removed the background and made it gold to match the features of that campaigns away top then it actually didn’t look too bad at all.
2013 – 2015 – Fibrelec
The speciality of Fibrelec is data cabling and fibre optic installation. Given their feature was ‘sticker like’, it didn’t look very appealing.
2009 – 2013 – 118Bet
Betting firm 188Bet simply opted for their logo in the centre of the Bolton jersey and it didn’t look horrendous at all. The only inconvenience was the orange colour bubble around ‘118’ on the home version.
1990 – 2009 – Reebok
Not only did Reebok supply the shirts for quite a length of time during this period, but they also became the front of shirt sponsor. Reebok formed quite a relationship with the Wanderers, having also agreed to secure the naming rights to their home stadium for a significant length of time. It made a lot of sense, given that Reebok was originally founded in the town in 1958.
Over the years, we seen plenty of variants of the Reebok feature, from their logo, to the word Reebok, to simply RBK and neither were that much of an eyesore.
1986 – 1990 – Normid
Normid was a chain of superstores that eventually merged with United Co-operatives. Their feature was fairly basic in comparison to others.
1983 – 1986 – HB Electronics
Keith Harris, a late Bolton supporter and General Manager of radio station Bolton FM reportedly played a key part in HB Electronics becoming Bolton’s partner due to his working life there. The branding of HB Electronics included their logo.
1982 – 1983 – TSB
The well-known branding of TSB Bank appeared on the shirt for a single campaign.
1981 – 1982 – Bolton Evening News
The clubs first partnership was with news outlet Bolton Evening News. Their feature was their abbreviation, BEN, diagonally.
Conclusion
Bolton’s most iconic period is undoubtedly with Reebok and with the brand being Bolton-based there is still hope for perhaps a reunion in the future. To sympathise with brands, it must be difficult to make a shirt that needs to primarily be white exciting and although it has been executed a few times, it is within the alternate shirts where interest piques the most.