Everton Shirt History - Every Kit Manufacturer and Sponsor
Everton consider themselves the shirt number pioneers as they, along with their opponents on the day Manchester City, were the first clubs to wear numbered jerseys in an FA Cup final when the pair matched up in 1933, despite it already been trialed in a league game by Arsenal and Chelsea before being banned by the FA. Let’s see what else we can find out about the Toffees through their shirt history.
Everton Shirt History - Downloadable Checklist
Everton Kit Manufacturer History
2020 – present – Hummel
As per stats released by the club, Hummel have enjoyed five record breaking kit launches with the Toffees and it is easy to see why with a number of cool, bespoke jerseys hitting the shelves.
Instantly, in their debut year, the Danish brand resonated with Everton supporters by releasing three strips that incorporated features that pay recognition to a part of the club’s history. The home strip had an embossed sound bar of the club’s anthem Z-Cars, the blue and amber colouring on the away shirt pays tribute to when the club lifted their seventh league title in 1969/70, and the stunning seafoam and charcoal third top was a nod to Liverpool’s waterfront.
The 2020/21 campaign wasn’t just a one off though, with the brand and club continuing to work together to produce a number of meaningful football shirts on a number of occasions throughout the partnership. For example, the 2021/22 home shirts tonal graphic, which appeared on just its front, was inspired by Liverpool’s role in painting some of Britain’s naval ships during the First World War. Another example is their smart 2023/24 polo home strip, which has a pattern etched into its collar and sleeve cuffs that pays homage to Goodison Park's famous Archibald Leitch pattern. Furthermore, the whole of the 2022/23 collection pays recognition to the centrepiece of Everton’s crest, Prince Rupert’s Tower, in various ways.
Hummel even used one shirt in 2023/24 to celebrate their own history with the grey third top, which included a stripped back club crest, paying tribute to their 100th birthday. The landmark was earmarked by the brand using their famous Denmark 1986 concept.
2014 – 2020 – Umbro
This was the fourth time that Umbro struck a deal with the Toffees and the double diamond brand delved into the nostalgic feeling of the deal with a home shirt inspired by the ages in 2015/16.
Nostalgia was also explored in the following season, with the navy third kit featuring salmon touches to signify the clubs first league title win in 1890/91. Alongside this, Everton wore a home shirt which may mean more to supporters once they officially leave Goodison Park. It has the coordinates of their beloved home printed on the inside of the neck, as well as a criss-cross print which was the architectural signature of Archibald Leitch, who played a hand in designing the stadium.
Although, it perhaps would have been better timed to hold on to their stadium themed home jersey until the following season given it marked 125 years since Goodison Park hosted its first ever game. The landmark was instead recognised by a limited-edition strip which made use of an old club crest – this was worn by the squad for one friendly game against Sevilla.
This Umbro era was topped off by two stunning home jerseys and a coral away top, which again, paid tribute to the historic 1890/91 season. Coral was primary colour used for the aforementioned season as it was 11 years before they permanently switched to blue.
2012 – 2014 – Nike
Nike only spent two seasons as Everton’s suppliers and there were no ground-breaking, eye gripping shirts released throughout this period. Although, the minimality of them did make for a solid black and gold polo away shirt in 2012/13.
Another pleasant polo was worn in the following season, but this time at home. Its blue base was matched with a white collar and two white hoops on its sleeves.
2009 – 2012 – Le Coq Sportif
Le Coq Sportif partnered with Everton in the early 80’s and the first home shirt that they released of this partnership in 2009/10 is a throwback to one which was worn back then. It incorporated a large white V colour block running below its blue and white hooped collar, as well as blue tonal pinstripes.
The home shirts after this were a little plain, but the French brand certainly made up for that with a couple of funky alternate strips. One came in the aforementioned 2009/10 season in the form of a black polo away strip which featured horizontal pink stripes. Another pink away kit came in 2010/11.
2009/10 became quite a season for Everton jerseys, as the club also wore purple for the first time in their history that year. This was in a bid to raise funds for Liverpool Unites, a campaign which aims to improve the lives of young people on Merseyside by inspiring them to break the cycle of crime and poverty. The limited edition third strip, which had the charities crest in the bottom left, was sold individually boxed, numbered and presented with a certificate of authenticity.
2004 – 2009 – Umbro
Umbro’s third spell with the Toffees got off to a decent start with smart black and blue third strip released in 2004/05, however, unfortunately the alternate jerseys that followed were not that impressive at all.
In 2005/06, Everton wore a not so appealing grey away top which included a number of black features throughout – the main one was its bold side panels which were outlined by blue on one side. In the same campaign, the amber away top was let down by thin alternating yellow and black vertical stripes.
It was a fairly standard spell of Everton home strips, but there were a couple of features which spiced up the 2006/07 and 2007/08 editions, which consequently made them standout a little bit more.
2000 – 2004 – Puma
Due to Wayne Rooney’s debut and, later, his stunning first ever Premier League goal against Arsenal, the 2002/03 Everton home top, which is blue with obvious white stitching, is by far the most memorable shirt of this period.
Although, its predecessor has its own interesting talking points with the rather large white side panels making the colour more prominent than usual for an Everton home jersey...
Salmon returned on their 2001/02 third top and this was partnered with a silky silver away strip. Puma experimented with a sky-blue alternate shirt in the final campaign.
1986 – 2000 – Umbro
If you’re a fan of the Toffees or if you just love collecting retro football jerseys, then please take some time out of your day to have a browse of this stunning period of Everton shirts.
The first home strip that Umbro produced in 1986 wasn’t the strongest of starts, but things got a whole lot better as two wonderful polo home tops came in 1989 and 1991. Both of these jerseys had an eye-catching tonal pattern embossed and each were used for two years. However, albeit not as attractive, the 1993 – 1995 home top, which had Everton crests and an Umbro logo imprinted, perhaps has more prestige to it given it was worn for the 1995/96 FA Cup final – the last time the Merseyside club lifted a piece of silverware.
From 1997 until 1999, Everton donned a home shirt where Umbro experimented slightly with their branding. It had consecutive double diamonds hooping around each of its sleeve cuffs and the word Umbro appeared where you would usually expect to see the manufacturers logo. It also had a nice club related feature to its neckline, with ‘Everton’ being written in the centre of it.
The alternate jerseys from this period didn’t disappoint either, with striking designs coming in 1994 and 1996, although, a much more laid-back yellow edition, used from 1990 – 1992, was probably the pick of the bunch.
1983 – 1886 – Le Coq Sportif
Le Coq Sportif’s first Everton home jersey was referred to earlier in the article, but their second is also deserving of a mention. Its white chest had a yellow outline and its stomach and sleeves saw blue tonal stripes imprinted. Some of the tonal stripes had the French brands logo embossed consecutively.
The away kit used for the first two seasons followed the same concept as the home strip, but with the colours playing reverse roles. The rest, though, were fairly plain with only tonal differences.
1974 – 1983 – Umbro
Umbro’s lengthy history with Everton started back in 1974 and they were indeed the clubs first ever shirt manufacturers.
A particularly striking feature from this era was the double diamond logo proudly scaling consecutively down both of the sleeves from 1976 until 1981.
Everton Shirt Sponsor History
Compared to other Premier League outfits, Everton’s front of shirt sponsorship history isn’t that large. Let’s see who they have paired with…
2022 – present – Stake.com
The deal between the Toffees and Stake.com, which is a leading casino and sports betting platform, is the highest value partnership of its kind in the club’s history so far.
With links to the UFC, Sergio Aguero and Drake, Stake.com seems a rather respectful brand within their industry, however, their text-based feature has led to a number of memes involving food…
2020 – 2022 – Cazoo
Cazoo is an online car retailer and, on the design front, there is nothing to fault with their all-text feature.
You also can’t fault Cazoo with some of the initiatives that they ran alongside the club, one of which included them once donating £1,000 to Everton in the Community for every Premier League goal that the club scored (up to the value of £50,000).
2017 – 2020 – SportsPesa
Following a strategic review of the club’s commercial operations, Everton cut their deal with Kenyan gambling company, SportsPesa, two years early.
Design wise, there wasn’t much wrong with it, but admittedly there wasn’t much to it.
2004 – 2017 – Chang
Chang are by far the clubs most memorable front of shirt sponsor with the Thai beverage company proudly printing their logo on the front of an Everton shirt for 13 years.
Their lengthy relationship ended respectfully, with the pair agreeing a new community partnership which continued beyond 2017.
2002 – 2004 – Kejian
Chinese telecommunications company, Kejian, had the slot for two seasons and their feature also included text written in Chinese.
There are some claims that the brand played a part in the clubs signing of two China internationals – Li Tie and Li Weifeng.
1997 – 2002 – One2One
One2One, now known as EE and formerly known as T-Mobile, were Everton’s partners for five years.
Despite both of the features that they used including a background of some sorts, they were both thankfully coloured in a way which best matched the jerseys.
1995 – 1997 – Danka
Danka were office equipment suppliers based in Florida. Their feature was text-based with an outline and a coloured background that best matched the shirt.
1986 – 1995 – NEC
A simple all-text feature that read ‘NEC’ sat on the front of an Everton shirt for nine years. NEC (Nippon Electronics Company) is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation.
1979 – 1985 – Hafnia
Danish meat manufacturers, Hafnia, were the first brand to strike a front of shirt sponsorship deal with the club.
Their decision to do so paid off when the Toffees won the FA Cup in 1984 – this was Everton’s first trophy in 14 years.
Conclusion
There is little doubt that the standout era of Everton’s shirt history is the period with Umbro from 1986 – 2000, but Hummel certainly deserve some credit for working with the club to add a number of bespoke features to the jerseys that we have seen more recently – there a couple there that could, within their own right, be sought-after in years to come.