Preston North End Shirt History
Historically, Preston North End were the first team to ever win the English Football League and they did so in fine fashion with an unbeaten campaign. Time for a run down of PNE’s shirt manufacturer and sponsorship history.
Preston North End Shirt History Checklist
Preson North End Kit Manufactuers History
2023 – present – Castore
A classy vibe shone through Castore’s first attempt of a Preston home strip with navy and gold smartly combining within its V-neck crossover collar and sleeve cuffs. Its base was also finely filled with tonal white stripes. The accompanying away strip was predominantly red, and it had imprints of the most famous architecture and buildings in Preston embossed throughout its base.
In February 2024, Castore worked with the Lilywhites to provide an anniversary shirt in memory of the late Sir Tom Finney – a PNE legend who netted 210 times for the club in 472 appearances. The club wore the shirt for a single Championship game against Middlesbrough and they did this to honour the tenth anniversary since Sir Tom’s passing. The jersey incorporated the great mans stats and it also had a navy ‘splash’ design which was inspired by a famous photo taken at Stamford Bridge in 1956.
A blue away kit is the most eye-catching strip for the 2024/25 campaign, with it being the first time that the club has paraded a central crest concept since 2009/10. It has the City of Preston’s flag imprinted on its front.
2013 – 2023 – Nike
Despite a decade of responsibility, Nike didn’t display their creative flair on many occasions throughout this period. They had the opportunity to go all out in 2013/14, with it commemorating PNE’s remarkable invincible campaign, but instead the only thing with noticeable significance was stitching that was added to the club crest referring to the landmark.
Subtle tonal chequers imprinted up until the chest area of the 2015/16 home top was as exciting as things got for a while, at least until the navy 2016/17 away strip which boasted a white sash with broken stripes.
In 2017/18, the American brand opted to use green on the third jersey, a colour which isn’t usually associated with the club, and it remained the colour of that strip up until 2021/22, when it became the colour of the away top for a year. Coincidentally, with navy and blue patterned sleeves, 2021/22 is also the season with arguably the most striking home top.
2010 – 2013 – Puma
Puma provided two cracking polo collared designs in 2011/12, however it is undoubtedly the 2012/13 collection which is the most eye-catching. This is because, despite all the shirts following the same design brief, pink and navy combined on both alternate strips for the first time in the club’s history.
2009 – 2010 – Canterbury
Canterbury, a brand perhaps better known for its work in rugby, paraded their logo proudly on the sleeves of all three jerseys during their season of responsibility – the home and away jerseys were particularly appreciated.
The home top had navy side panels as well as a smart V-neck neckline with obvious stitching also in navy, while the red away kit had a central club crest with the base Canterbury logo printed upwards more towards the shoulder area than usual.
2005 – 2009 – Diadora
Preston were no strangers to a strip with a central club crest pre-Canterbury as it played a key role throughout Diadora’s four-year-deal. The only outfield shirt that didn’t utilise the feature came in the final home shirt which the brand manufactured for Preston in 2008/09.
It was in 2006/07 when we saw the best representation of the feature, with a combined black and grey vertical stripe running through the centre of it making it stand-out. It was closely rivalled by a classy away top which combined red and gold in 2007/08 – the gold touches were within its sleeves, neckline, lower trim and club crest. It also had multiple pinstriped sashes running through its red base.
2003 – 2005 – Admiral
Both home jerseys that Admiral supplied for the Lilywhites were relative successes. The first one was a simple, but effective, crewneck design with noticeable navy stitching and side panelling. The second one was toned down even further in terms of colour combination, but it did have a classical polo-like collar which gave it an edge.
Despite the design of the shirt being a decent one, the 2004/05 away top could be questioned due the shade of blue used. You could argue that it isn’t distinct enough to their primary colour, white.
2002 – 2003 – VOI
VOI had a short stay, but they certainly left their mark with a lovely home strip. The design of the shirt was minimal, but it oozed class with its white base being topped off by a central club crest, plus a navy neckline and navy sleeve cuffs. Interestingly, VOI opted to place no branding on the shirts front and instead printed it on the back of its neck. The branding on the away strip was a lot more traditional.
2000 – 2002 – Bloggs
The PNE faithful will not look back too fondly on the white polo home strip which was used for both Bloggs campaigns, given they fell short of promotion in 2000/01 with a 3-0 Championship play-off final to Bolton Wanderers.
Alternate shirts are where Bloggs attempted more, but without much to shout home about – switching from navy to yellow was as exciting as it got.
1996 – 2000 – In-house
In-house manufacturing didn’t look so bad to begin with, with the 1996 – 1998 collection being particularly impressive. The home and away top both had tonal spaced-out stripes in pairs, as well as a thick V-neck and polo combined neckline. It was the third strip which perhaps stole the headlines however, with it pairing navy, a purply blue and an illuminous yellow.
Unfortunately, the hype that they created with this first collection wasn’t quite lived up to throughout the second one.
1994 – 1996 – Pro Footy
Risk taking wasn’t something that Pro Footy was afraid of and it made for two memorable collections, albeit you can be the judge as to whether it was for the right or wrong reasons.
The first home top had plenty packed into it, including a central club crest, a vertical front of shirt sponsor, one navy stripe which was outlined by two yellow ones, plus stripey navy and white sleeves. In addition to this, it had white tonal abstract patterning throughout.
The vertical sponsorship feature remained present on the away top, which wasn’t any less outrageous really, with white, navy and yellow combining to make striped patterning.
The second collections main feature was more toned down; however, it did have ‘PNE’ and ‘Preston’ tonally embossed multiple times throughout each shirts background.
1992 – 1994 – Matchwinner
Pro Footy’s risk taking must have stemmed from trying to topple Matchwinner, with them having their own ‘marmite’ designs.
Admittedly, most people will probably not be too fond of the streaky patterning running through 1992/93’s home and away strips, although Matchwinner did produce a fantastic 1993/94 away kit which merged yellow, white, blue and navy in a fine fashion.
1989 – 1992 – Ribero
Each shirt from this period boasted some kind of tonal patterning, but with its classy V-neck collar which paraded navy, white and yellow, it is the 1989/90 collection which was by far the most pleasing on the eye.
1988 – 1989 – Scoreline
Scoreline produced a home and away jersey which followed the same concept, with each of them having noticeable tonal pinstripes. It was again the V-neck neckline which gave the shirt a classy feel.
1986 – 1988 – Hobott
The same two jerseys were worn for both Hobott seasons, and they both followed the same design brief. They are simply fine without being amazing nor hideous.
1983 – 1986 – John Harrison
The most striking thing about the John Harrison era of shirts was the fact that they had ‘P.N.E.F.C’ stitched into the area where you would usually find the club crest. Despite this, the actual club crest was still printed on the shirt, and it could be seen in the centre of the chest.
1978 – 1983 – Adidas
Adidas were the first brand to strike a deal with PNE and their shirts also featured the same crest concept that was mentioned in the John Harrison section. With the Adidas Originals branding looking as smart as ever, it was a classy start to life with a manufacturing partner.
Preston North End Shirt Sponsorship History
A fair few brands have taken up the opportunity to appear on the front of a Preston shirt, let’s find out who they are...
2021 – present – Par Group
Par Group manufacture and supply a complete range of rubber, plastic and insulation products. They had worked with the club for six years prior to agreeing to take up the front of shirt sponsorship slot.
Their feature, which includes their logo, isn’t a particularly bad looking one and it compliments the shirt quite well.
2018 – 2021 – 32Red
British online casino company, 32Red, took the sponsorship slot for three seasons. Their feature, which was text-based, was better looking on alternate jerseys due to the colouring complimenting the jerseys more.
They included their important message of ‘never chase losses’ in the final season.
2017 – 2018 – Tempobet
Another gambling company in Tempobet featured in 2017/18 – their branding was minimal.
2016 – 2017 – 888sport
Sports betting firm, 888sport, sponsored PNE for a single campaign. They deserve plaudits for staying away from their orange branding on the shirt and instead opting for black text.
2014 – 2016 – Virgin Trains
Virgin Trains is a well-known train operator and their well-recognised branding appeared in 2014/15 and 2015/16.
2013 – 2014 – Carers Trust
British charity, Carers Trust, which ‘works to transform the lives of unpaid carers’, received deserved exposure in 2013/14.
2012 – 2013 – Magners
The branding of Irish cider, Magners, appeared on the home top in 2012/13. Their branding was much larger than their beverage counterpart, who sponsored the remaining jerseys…
2010 – 2013 – Tennent’s
Tennent’s is a Scottish brewing company and before sponsoring the alternate jerseys in 2012/13, they appeared on all the strips from 2010 until 2012. Once they ditched the black background feature from 2010/11, it wasn’t a bad sponsor.
2005 – 2010 – Enterprise
The simplistic text-based feature of Enterprise, a Lancashire-based support services company, appeared for five years.
2002 – 2005 – New Reg
New Reg buys and sells car number plates. Their feature included their URL.
1995 – 2002 – Baxi
Baxi’s branding was minimal, and they are a manufacturer and distributor of domestic and commercial water and space heating systems.
1992 – 1995 – Coloroll
Wallpaper brand, Coloroll, took the slot for three campaigns and they even spent one season with their feature unusually printed on the shirt vertically.
1990 – 1992 – Ribble Valley Shelving
Ribble Valley Shelving is a Preston-based company that stocks all major brands of pallet racking and shelving systems.
1986 – 1990 – Garratts Insurance
Family run Garratts Insurance sponsored PNE from 1986 until 1990. They had a text-based feature.
1985 – 1988 – Lombard Continental
It appears that Lombard Continental, also an insurance firm, had some involvement with the jerseys up until 1988.
1984 – 1985 – LEI
LEI were the second business to partner with the Lilywhites and they also specialised within insurance.
1979 – 1984 – Pontins
Pontins operates British holiday parks and they were the first brand to ever appear on the front of a PNE shirt. In 1979, Preston were one of only four clubs to strike a front of shirt sponsorship deal.
Conclusion
There was a jazzy period within the 90’s, but, other than that, there hasn’t been anything overly exciting about a PNE jersey from a design perspective. However, if you like simplistic, minimal kits, then the Lilywhites’ shirt history may be for you, although Castore is beginning to experiment with a couple of interesting features.