Inter Milan Shirt History - All Kits, Sponsors & Manufacturers

Inter Milan’s registered name in Italian is Internazionale, which translates to international in English, and, as per the UEFA website, this is because they were founded by a group of AC Milan fans following issues over the signing of foreign players. What else can we find out about them through their kit manufacturing and sponsorship history? 

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Inter Milan Shirt History - Downloadable Checklist

Inter Milan Kit Manufacturing History

1998 – present – Nike

Inter have pretty much always donned those prestigious blue and black stripes and even their nickname of the ‘Nerazzurri’ refers to them. Although, Nike have been much braver than their predecessors and have moved away from conventional stripes on numerous occasions - from gradient edges to zigzagged sides, the American brand has tried a fair few tactics to spice things up. An interesting version came in 2017/18 when the stripes were different widths and this is because they took inspiration from the Milan Skyline. Another came in 2019/20, where the straightforward vertical stripes were broken up by a section of diagonal ones running across the front of shirt sponsorship area.

While it is true that the blue and black stripes are usually a mainstay on an Inter jersey, Nike and Inter did agree to make the bold move to remove them while dedicating a kit campaign to another one of their nicknames in 2021/22. Some know the Italian giants as ‘II Biscione’ which means ‘The Big Grass Snake’ and this stems from the reptile being a symbol of Milan, and all of the jerseys in the aforementioned season paid tribute to that. The home shirt was predominately blue with a snakeskin print, while away top was white with a snake image imprinted into it – barring the graphic, the away top was quite similar to one worn in 2010/11. References to this nickname had been made within shirts previously, albeit not to this scale (no pun intended), with a much subtler print being placed within the blue stripes of the 2018/19 home strip, although it is believed that this also took inspiration from the 1998/99 and 2010/11 home tops to celebrate 20 years of Nike being the club’s supplier. 

Due to on the pitch success, a favourable Inter collection came in 2005/06, when the likes of Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Luis Figo and Adriano fired the Nerazzurri to their first league title since 1988/89. The Italian Giants went on to win the next four Serie A campaigns following this, but then had to wait until 2020/21 for their next one. Under Nike, the club has won just one Champions League trophy, and this was achieved in 2009/10 – their treble winning campaign – which puts a lot of prestige behind that particular range. Julio Cesar was one of the clubs treble winning hero’s and in 2019/20 the club dedicated an away kit to pay homage to him by making it the same colour as his former goalkeeping jersey. 

Inter have an infamous sash away kit concept which goes back to the 60’s and Nike have created various versions of their own of this which are always impressive, however there has also been other alternate jerseys with plenty of personality about them. The perfect example is their 2018/19 third top which has various features paying tribute to the club’s heritage, such as a distorted map of Milan’s city centre, a subtle graphic inspired by the marble floors of the city’s cathedral and an embossed colourless flag of Milan running through it. The Milan flag wasn’t new the Inter jersey with it first appearing in 1928, and Nike also utilised the striking red cross previously themselves to celebrate the Nerazzurri’s centenary year in 2007/08. Another example of bespoke football shirt came in 2020/21, where their white away kit incorporated a grid pattern in the club’s principle colours – this design is believed to have been inspired by Memphis Milano, an Italian design and architecture group which was active in the 1980’s. 

As you would probably expect, the American brand have also been tasked with releasing a couple of special edition jerseys since this partnership begun and funnily enough they have both been mash-up designs. The one from 2018/19, which marked the pairs 20th anniversary, combined all of the historic home tops which we have seen Nike create, while the other, which came in 2020/21, brought together various different shapes, patterns and graphics using white, yellow, black and blue. Uniquely on the second shirt, the front of shirt sponsor ran down it vertically. 

1991 – 1998 – Umbro 

Before Inter’s lengthy marriage with Nike, they enjoyed an impressive seven season spell with Umbro. All of the home shirts which the Manchester brand pieced together were very much traditional and each of them enjoyed a classy polo necked collar. The two most striking were coincidentally the first and last ones which the double diamond brand had the honour of supplying. 

Umbro worked with Inter to flex their creative muscle on the alternate strips and it made for some awesome shirts. Their away top from 1991 until 1993 undoubtedly ticks the awesome box with its white base being paired with blue and black triangular stripes which begun on its right sleeve, ran right through its chest, but ended before it reached the end of the left sleeve. The third top from this period, which combined yellow and blue, also featured intriguing patterning, which seemed to start and stem from around the Umbro logo.

Another fantastic shirt is the 1995/96 away strip which involves a rather unique graphic on its chest which incorporates various parts of the Inter club crest. Various Inter associates are unsure about the third and fourth strips which were created to partner it though, with them both featuring quite prominent green.

During Roy Hodgson’s period as manager in 1996/97, the club were granted with a third shirt which has now become quite a rare collector’s item. It was a brilliant yellow with two parallel black colour blocks running on its front with Italian printing embossed inside of them referencing the club. The word Inter was also written just the once in a small text on its stomach. The shirt that replaced it in 1997/98 wasn’t too bad either and it also had its own stomach feature – which was an Inter club crest. It was hooped navy and black and Nike paid homage to it with a similar design in 2020/21. 

1988 – 1991 – Uhlsport 

Uhlsport, who enjoyed a league title with the club in 1988/89, is a German brand which was originally founded in 1948. Inter wore the same two shirts for all three campaigns, although notably a different club crest was seemingly in place for each season. 

The home top was rather straightforwardly striped blue and black, but the away shirt had a little something about it with its distinct blue and black striped pattern which only ran through the front of shirt sponsorship area. 

We don’t usually speak about goalkeeping shirts within these pieces, however we would recommend checking out the one from Uhlsport’s first campaign, it is quite something…

1986 – 1988 – Le Coq Sportif

We have seen rather jazzy Le Coq Sportif designs over the years, although the Nerazzurri’s two-year spell with the French brand wasn’t the home to any of them. Two minimal, traditional polo necked shirts were used throughout this period.

1981 – 1986 – Mecsport

The same traditionally striped Mecsport home top was worn for the whole of this five-season period. There was just the one change to the white away shirt, which incorporated a half blue and half black polo collar, and this came after the first campaign, when one blue and black colour block was added to each of it is sleeves. 

1977 – 1981 – Puma

Puma only made subtle changes to the home shirt throughout their time with the club, such as the thickness of the stripes. 

They were the creators of two away tops and one was white, while the other was yellow. They were both fairly simplistic, albeit the yellow edition did also feature the aforementioned half black, half blue polo collar.

1967 – 1975 – Atalasport

Italian suppliers Atalasport were the first brand to ever strike a manufacturing deal with the club. 

Notably, they also supported the Italian national team at the World Cup in Mexico in 1970 and also in West Germany 1974. 

Inter Milan Shirt Sponsorship History

Inter hasn’t been through a broad amount of front of shirt sponsors compared to other clubs, so let’s see what brands have been lucky enough to strike a deal…

2023 – present – Paramount+ 

For reasons that we will go into in the next section, Paramount+ took over the Nerazzurri’s shirt for two games at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, including the Champions League final, before extending their deal for 2023/24. 

Paramount+ is an on-demand American streaming subscription and their feature is simply their logo in either white or black – whichever best suits the colour of the jersey. 

Pic from Inter.it

However, there is seemingly an agreement in place that Paramount+ can replace their feature with something that symbolises a film or a show at certain points throughout the partnership. Up until April 2024, we have seen graphics that advertise the Transformers and the Ninja Turtles. In fairness, it is seemingly quite a cool concept, because both of them have been done in a none cheesy manner ensuring that it doesn’t overpower the jersey. 

2022 – 2023 – Digitalbits 

Given that Digitalbits sponsored the sleeve of Inter’s shirt in 2021/22, you would think that the pair had a trustworthy, positive relationship. However, all wasn’t as it seemed, with the text-based feature of the cryptocurrency company exiting the shirt early due to financial controversies – Inter reportedly didn’t receive any financial payments. Roma allegedly experienced similar issues. 

2021 – 2022 – Socios.com

Socios.com is a blockchain-based engagement platform which allows sports and entertainment organisations to monetise their fan bases. 

Their feature advertised their website, however part of the agreement also allowed them to promote their $INTER Fan Token at various points. 

1995 – 2021 – Pirelli 

Pirelli had a lengthy partnership with the club and there is something quite romantic about that given that they originate out of Milan. 

The multinational tyre manufacturer pretty much kept the same text-based feature for the whole way through – this consisted of a large P flowing over the rest of the word – as seen in their logo. 

There were points where pirellifilm.com would be advertised in the 2000’s and this was a website created for a Pirelli short film called 'Mission Zero'. 

1992 – 1995 – Cesare Fiorucci 

Some sites report that Inter Milan were sponsored by Italian fashion company Fiorucci, however this isn’t the case, the Italian club actually had an agreement in place with a dairy and meat company which was formerly known as Cesare Fiorucci. 

It has to be said though, the confusion is valid, given that the word Fiorucci was the only thing that appeared on the shirt. 

1991 – 1992 – FitGar 

Although no definitive proof can be found, it is believed that FitGar was a sports drink. They had a white text-based feature on a black background. 

1982 – 1991 – Misura 

Misura baked healthy goods with wholegrain and natural ingredients. They were formed in 1975. Their feature incorporated small touches of red. 

1981 – 1982 – Inno-Hit 

Inno-Hit were the first brand to strike a deal as the club’s front of shirt sponsor. They were an Italian-Japanese-owned company which specialised in consumer electronics. 

Conclusion

Nike have penned a deal with Inter which is set to end in 2031, meaning that the pairs partnership will almost certainly, quite remarkably, surpass the 30-year mark. This deal is bringing the best out of Nike, as quite pleasingly we haven’t seen the American brand guiltily using templated concepts like in other cases. 

Due to the length of the deal and the fact that they are a Milan based company, it would have been nice to see Inter’s partnership with Pirelli extended and also surpass the 30-year landmark, although there are signs that indicate that the club had no say in the matter.