Burnley Shirt History
Burnley started out as a rugby club named Burnley Rovers, but in 1882 the Clarets switched codes to become one of twelve founding members of the Football League. Let’s take a look at the history behind some of their shirts…
Burnley Shirt History Checklist
Burnley Kit Manufacturer History
2019 – present – Umbro
Three of the five Umbro home jerseys produced so far feature a reference to the clubs’ previous successes.
The 2020/21 version has blue sleeves that start a little lower on the arm, as well as a blue hoop running just below its neckline. This shirt was made was made in honour of the Burnley First Division title winning side from 1921.
In 2022/23, we saw a modern remake of the famous 1991/92 strip. A kit renowned for their league topping Division Four campaign. Its main feature was a pixelated pattern printed in the club’s traditional colours of claret and blue.
Finally, the 2023/24 home jersey has a blue knitted polo collar, blue arms and a claret base which has a jacquard background. This is made to remember the 1994 tier three play-off final win.
Personable touches have also been added to the third shirts donned in 2022/23 and 2023/24. The pink, blue and orange pattern on the black 2022/23 top represents the different travel routes across the town which lead to Turf Moor. Their home is also the inspiration behind the 2023/24 design, as it represents the ‘iconic floodlights of Turf Moor’ to celebrate playing football under the lights.
2010 – 2019 – Puma
This was a fairly bland time for the club in terms of shirt design, but a couple of the strips are weighted in history with two Premier League promotions and a seventh placed Premier League finish.
Finishing seventh in 2017/18 meant that Burnley secured European Football for the first time in 51 years. It was short lived having fell short of full qualification with defeat to Olympiacos in the play-off round, but Puma saved their best work for that famous 2018/19 campaign. The traditionally coloured home shirt and the silver third strip both had a subtle V shaped pixelated graphic in tribute of a ‘V strip’ which they wore in the 70’s. The black away jersey was mixed with silver and it had a cool honeycomb pattern printed on its front.
2005 – 2010 – Errea
Premier League promotion for the first time means that the Errea’s 2008/09 collection has its place in the Burnley history books forever. The home shirt worn in this campaign is quite peculiar with its one blue side panel, in addition to its two blue sleeves. Quite fittingly, their first ever Premier League shirts paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of the clubs 1959/60 title win. Errea added their logo to the shirt’s arms instead of the chest, giving a vintage feel to it.
Errea also had the pressure on producing an 125th year anniversary shirt in 2007/08. It was striped white and blue with claret pinstripes. A reference to the landmark was etched into the crest and onto the arms. Anniversary strips are supposed to feel special, so fair play to Errea, because this did.
2002 – 2005 – TFG Sports
Several successes came from this three-year stint with both the 2002/03 and the 2003/04 home jerseys being Burnley classics. The latter is a central crest polo and the former has a V-neck neckline looped in claret and blue.
Yellow and black, colours worn during the club’s early years, were striped vertically on the 2002/03 third shirt to mark their 120th anniversary.
1999 – 2000 – Super League
The 1999/00 Burnley home strip is an attractive one. It has a white polo collar which has claret and blue features, while both the claret base and blue arms have subtle tonal pinstripes. ‘Burnley FC’ was written elegantly between them.
The white away jersey, which followed a similar concept, had a collar with slight differences and a base which was broken up by claret and blue side panels which stretched to under the arms.
Despite promising so much in this first campaign, Super League didn’t deliver too much for the rest of their contract.
1996 – 1999 – Adidas
Some of these Adidas shirts will live long in the memory, especially the home shirt which was worn from 1996 until 1998. It has a base that was split into four quarters alternating from claret to blue, while the two colours also take up half of the collar each. To go with that, it had one claret and one blue sleeve. It sounds crazy, but it worked.
They also delivered on away jerseys, with the best coming in 1997/98. It was white with a centralised crest that had three blue broken stripes running by it. They are outlined black and only just get past the chest area before they are pixelated out.
1993 – 1996 – Mitre
All of the polo shirt designs that were produced by Mitre had a cool chevron like pattern within their collar. While the 1993 – 1995 home top is a classic, the 1995/96 version is arguably more interesting because of its features. It unusually had a large embossed club crest on one half and multiple Burnley lions on the other.
1991 – 1993 – Ribero
Burnley’s website claims that the Ribero 1991 – 1993 home shirt has won several polls and is crowned the ‘best ever Burnley retro shirt’, so it was smart of Umbro to produce a modern remake of this. However, it isn’t the only Ribero shirt that Umbro has earmarked with the 2019/20 away jersey being inspired by the 1991/92 away kit.
1989 – 1991 – Ellgren
One Ellgren collection was worn over two seasons and all three of the kits had the same background pattern. This included tonal stripes, where the darker stripes were broken by diagonal lines and ‘BFC’ imprinted. Footballs were embossed onto the lighter tone.
1988 – 1989 – Spal
Spal produced a smart home and away jersey which also involves tonal differences. The home’s claret base was chequered, while the away strip included diagonal stripes.
1987 – 1988 – En-s
Speaking of tonal diagonal stripes, this is also what featured on both En-s manufactured kits in 1987/88. However, En-s ‘branded them up’ by spacing out E’s throughout them.
1981 – 1987 – Spal
The most striking thing about this period is that from 1983, all of the shirts produced erased the club crest and instead featured an elegantly stitched ‘B.F.C’. Although, a lovely white shirt with blue pinstripes was used as the third kit in 1982/83.
1975 – 1981 – Umbro
Umbro were the first manufacturer to strike a deal with the Clarets, but the first shirt produced, which has a centralised crest and a blue V running deep down its chest, is questionable.
Burnley Shirt Sponsor History
Burnley have seemingly had their fair share of front of shirt sponsors since their first one back in 1982, so let’s get right into it…
2023 – present – W88
W88 is a sports betting and online casino operator. W may be in their name and the letter may be largely printed above ‘W88’ on the strips, but, in terms of appearance, it isn’t a W for Burnley. It just isn’t that attractive.
2022 – 2023 – Classic Football Shirts
For a single campaign Classic Football Shirts sponsored the Clarets’ home and third jersey. As the home shirt was a 1991/92 remake, for one round of fixtures they got into the spirt of their name by allowing Burnley to replace their feature with the branding of the front of shirt sponsor from that campaign.
2022 – 2023 – EMA
EMA is an investment vehicle dedicated to strategic investment and partnerships. They sponsored the away kit for one season. Their branding was fine, there wasn’t much to complain about at all.
2021 – 2022 – Spreadex Sports
This is a British-based company that offers financial spread betting. Spreadex’s feature was fairly sound, although if we’re being picky, the word ‘sports’ underneath looks a little random and not part of it.
2019 – 2021 – LoveBet
When this deal was originally agreed, it was announced that it would last for three seasons, however, due to the gambling brand allegedly experiencing ‘serious financial difficulties’, it only ended up lasting two. Burnley fans might’ve been glad to see the end though, with the branding just not complimenting a football shirt too well.
2018 – 2019 – LaBa360
Another not looking too great is LaBa360’s feature. The poker chip logo of the Malta-based betting company just takes over the shirt.
2016 – 2018 – Dafabet
LaBa360 took over from fellow gambling site Dafabet. Usually Dafabet’s branding on football tops gets a firm no from us, but in comparison to the likes of W88’s on this occasion, it doesn’t look too bad.
2015 – 2016 – Oak Furniture Land
Furniture brand, Oak Furniture Land, took over the shirt for a single season in 2015 and we can’t lie, the results weren’t that great. Their name is long and when it isn’t done right it can look overpowering and that is what happened in this instance.
Ironically, sofastore.com, a URL linked to Oak Furniture Land, featured on the away shirt and it actually looked the better of the two.
2014 – 2015 – Fun88
Yet another deal that lasted for only one season was Fun88’s. The gambling brands branding wasn’t perfect, but it did look a lot smarter than some of their competitors’ choices.
2012 – 2014 – Premier Range
Premier Range is a leading provider of kitchen and bathroom splashbacks. They used two different, but similar, variations of their branding and neither of them looked too bad.
Although, their time is jaded by the fact that, unlike Puma, they didn’t relinquish their sponsorship feature on the centenary jersey which was released in 2013/14.
2010 – 2012 – Fun88
Fun88’s logo is a familiar site for Burnley fans, as the pair also linked up from 2010 until 2012.
2009 – 2010 – Cooke Fuels
Cooke Fuels is one of the UK's oldest heating oil, lubricant and red diesel suppliers. Their branding featured the word ‘Cooke’ with their proud establishment year (1845) underneath it. Simple, but effective.
2007 – 2009 – Hollands
Lancashire formed pie and pudding brand, Hollands, had the opportunity from 2007 until 2009. The name of the brand was written out across the shirt in their famous Hollands font, with the year of their formation just above it.
2004 – 2007 – Hunters
Hunters’ expertise is written out within their feature. The estate agency opted for a printed, sticker like yellow and blue look. It wasn’t overly big, so it didn’t appear as bad as described.
2003 – 2004 – VK Vodka Kick
VK is an alcoholic beverage. Their logo, thankfully without the black background, featured on the away kit a campaign.
2001 – 2004 – Lanway
In all but their final year, Lanway appeared on all of the Burnley shirts. They did squeeze a lot in to their feature, but it was done to a bearable size.
1998 – 2000 – P3 Computers
Burnley-based computer service, P3 Computers, are still trading to this present day. Their simplistic feature gets a huge thumbs up from us.
1988 – 1998 – Endsleigh
Endsleigh specialises in bespoke insurance solutions and their partnership with the club lasted for a decade. There wasn’t much to their feature, as it was simply ‘Endsleigh’ in an elegant text in whatever colour fitted the shirt the most.
1984 – 1988 – Multipart
Unfortunately, we don’t have much information on Multipart, but there are suggestions that they operated as part of Leyland Bus and Truck.
1983 – 1984 – TSB
TSB’s logo is recognisable across the UK and that is exactly what featured on the Burnley strips back in 1983/84. The colour was edited to appear best on the strip and it actually looked quite good.
1982 – 1983 – Poco Homes
Poco Homes’ feature was the clubs first ever front of shirt sponsorship deal. The simplicity of it meant that it was a sound introduction.
Conclusion
The Clarets have struggled to find stability on the shirt sponsor front since their deal with Endsleigh, leading to quite an extensive history. On a positive note, recently Umbro has been smashing the modern remakes of Burnley classics, while providing unique personable touches on others, some of which relate to their beloved Turf Moor, which is no doubt a huge part of the Burnley community.