QPR Shirt History
Random fact: Queens Park Rangers’ mascot, Jude the Cat, is named after their real-life stadium cat. Now time to delve into the club’s kit manufacturing and sponsorship history.
QPR Shirt History Checklist
Queens Park Rangers Kit Manufacturing History
2017 – present – Errea
Hoops are a permanent feature of a QPR home shirt, but in Errea’s first campaign the brand opted to go with the same hooped template on all three jerseys that were in place. The third kit incorporated green as a nod to the clubs 100th year at Loftus Road. The London club formerly wore green and white stripes before switching to blue and white in 1926/27. The R’s moved into Loftus Road in 1937.
The 2018/19 home top had a little bit of spice to it with red applications and tonal pinstriping within its blue hoops, but it is the vibrant pink away look that was in place throughout that campaign which caught the most eyes. In QPR fashion, the pink strip also included tonal hooping.
Two classy polo collared jerseys were paraded in 2019/20 – gold was used on both in some capacity. Red again combined with the blue and white on the home strip in 2020/21, but it was much more prominent on the away and third kits. The third jersey is a particularly striking one, as the red was split evenly with white in a halves concept to modernise the 1975/76 away strip.
The QPR watermark became the showpiece in 2021/22, as it was embossed into the blue hoops of the home shirt and across the whole of what was an appreciated away top. That season celebrated the clubs 140th anniversary, so the Rs were seen repping a special edition shirt for a one-off game against West Brom. The shirt was sold and limited to one per person and it was evenly divided between light blue and navy. It featured an imprint of an old street map to display the club’s origins.
It was 80s season in 2022/23, with both the home and away top being modernised takes of jerseys used for the 1983/84 campaign. It was a fantastic initiative.
In contrast, it was time for ‘firsts’ on the 2024/25 home jersey, as it combined three shades of blue within its blue hoops. It was used alongside a stylish away top which mixed black, red, green and gold, as well as a gold third strip that incorporated a subtle pattern based on a QPR crest used between 1953 and 1972.
2016 – 2017 – Dryworld
Financial difficulties meant that the QPR and Dryworld deal was cut short. Their season in partnership brought a pleasant home and away top, but also a dubious third jersey that combined maroon with thin yellow pinstripes.
2014 – 2016 – Nike
Albeit unexciting, it was noticeable that the stripes on the 2014/15 home strip were a little narrower than usual. QPR also wore an all-white third jersey during this campaign which paid homage to their League Cup triumph in 1967.
Thicker stripes returned for 2015/16 and they were part of a home jersey that also incorporated red horizontal pinstripes. The away shirt followed the same concept in red, navy and blue.
An interesting third kit was also donned in 2015/16 – it utilised blue and navy chequers, but the tone of the navy faded as you got lower down the shirt.
2008 – 2014 – Lotto
Two Premier League promotions means that Lotto has two fondly remembered QPR collections, almost regardless of their design. The most famous of which came in 2010/11, the year the Rs were promoted as champions to end their 15-year absence from the top flight – it included a third shirt that tributed their aforementioned green and white look.
The second campaign where promotion was achieved was 2013/14 and this too included a green third jersey, although this time it was much more of a questionable look given it was partnered with thin horizontal yellow stripes and even thinner white stripes.
For the first two years of this deal, Lotto seemed to favour shirts with a centralised club crest. The trend was in place on all of the alternate kits in the first campaign, before being on every shirt in second. It was the 2009/10 campaign that highlighted the feature the nicest, with that season’s home top probably being the best Lotto had to offer.
By the time QPR begun their partnership with Nike, the Rs wouldn’t have been foreign to narrower stripes, as Lotto went down a similar route for the final two years of this deal.
1997 – 2008 – Le Coq Sportif
This partnership with Le Coq Sportif fell just short of a decade, but the French brand arguably peaked with their first attempt. The home and away top used for the first two seasons each had the same superb neckline which merged a V-neck and a polo. They both also had ‘QPR’ printed on both sleeves. For the 1998/99 campaign, a yellow and black third kit accompanied these jerseys, however, while the same classy neckline was in use, the QPR sleeve feature was swapped for numerous Le Coq Sportif logos.
Commendable efforts also came elsewhere throughout this team-up and the 1999/00 was the home of two of them. The home top had a slightly less traditional look with its obvious white side panelling breaking up the hoops and its solid white sleeves. The away top had a white base which boasted alternating thin red and black horizontal stripes.
A kit clash with West Brom meant that the 1999/00 away top also got an unplanned run out during 2000/01. To prevent this from happening again, a yellow third shirt was subsequently released midseason. Despite the issues it caused, the 2000/01 away kit was wonderful, as the polo top paired black with silver hoops that contained tonal polka dots and vertical stripes. It also included a small touch of blue.
Interestingly, a non-polo edition of the 2000/01 away top was worn throughout 2001/02. It lined up alongside a fascinating home top which saw a central club crest and the Le Coq Sportif branding incorporated within its neckline.
Despite a red and black halves concept being used away from home throughout 2002/03, the club instead opted for an all-white special strip for that season’s play-off final, which the Rs lost 1-0 to Cardiff.
The remainder of this deal didn’t see Le Coq Sportif provide anything else exciting, albeit nothing hideous came either. Noteworthily, green and white returned between 2003 and 2005, while red as again part of a home top in 2006/07.
1995 – 1997 – View From
The same home jersey was used for both View From seasons and, like every other shirt from this period, it utilised a central club crest and squiggly patterning on its sleeves. It did have one difference in comparison to the other shirts however, and that was the bold ‘QPR’ it had embossed into its front.
Navy and white horizontal pinstripes was as exciting as it got for View From alternate strips.
1992 – 1995 – Clubhouse
The work of Clubhouse’s predecessors was continued for 1992/93, but in the following season Clubhouse begun to add their own touches. In 1993/94, while the elegant collar patterning from 1992/93 remained in use, the neckline shape was altered on both jerseys. The gold applications from the home top was also removed, while the blue seemed a little darker. On the red away kit, the black hoops from 1992/93 were deleted completely and they were replaced by several imprints of the club crest.
The pairs third season together was steady and pleasant.
1991 – 1992 – Brooks
Brooks’ simplified era saw three hooped jerseys which incorporated classy collar patterning.
1989 – 1991 – Influence
The same two jerseys were in place for both influence seasons, although there was one small tweak to the home top for the second year, with the word ‘Influence’ being removed from its neckline.
1976 – 1989 – Adidas
The Adidas Originals branding complemented the QPR hoops quite brilliantly, but it wasn’t until 1983/84 when things started to get interesting from a design perspective.
In 1983/84, Adidas started to subtly introduce red to the Rs’ home shirt through pinstripes and slight touches to its neckline and sleeve cuffs. Although, due its success, between 1985 and 1987, the brand went much bolder with the redness.
The home shirt for the final two seasons didn’t include red at all, with Adidas instead experimenting with tonal diagonal striping.
Adidas’ alternate shirts transitioned from solidly red to having black hoops throughout this period.
1975 – 1976 – Umbro
Umbro provided minimal jerseys for the 1975/76 campaign.
1974 – 1975 – Admiral
The clubs manufacturing history became a little murky at this stage, but it is believed that Admiral is the first brand to have supplied for QPR. The home kit from this season has a particularly smart neckline.
Queens Park Rangers Shirt Sponsorship History
QPR have a lengthy list of front of shirt sponsors, so let’s delve right into it…
2024 – present – CopyBet
CopyBet has collaborated with the club as their official betting partner since 2022 but have now also taken the front of shirt feature.
They have text-based branding, with the ‘O’ coolly designed as a football.
2022 – 2024 – Convivia
This is a property and tech investment firm which is wholesomely founded by a lifelong QPR fan. Unfortunately, the font Convivia opted for is hard to read.
2021 – 2022 – Ashville Holdings
Ashville Holdings works within construction and critical infrastructure. They used a simple all-text look.
2020 – 2021 – Football Index
Football Index allowed customers to gamble on the future successes of football players. However, things came to an unfortunate end with some users still trying to get their money back to this day…
2017 – 2020 – Royal Panda
Casino platform, Royal Panda, opted for a feature that incorporated their logo. However, due the gambling firm pulling out of the UK Market, BetUK took over midway through 2019/20.
2016 – 2017 – Smarkets
Fellow gambling firm Smarkets held a cool text-based look for a year.
2011 – 2016 – Malaysian Airlines / Air Asia
Malaysian Airlines sponsored the 2011/12 home top, but Air Asia appeared on every other shirt from this period.
Conveniently, Air Asia has links to the club’s former co-owner Tony Fernandes.
2008 – 2011 – Gulf Air
Bahrain-based airline, Gulf Air, tried three different branding techniques in three years. One included Arabic text and another promoted their URL.
2006 – 2008 – Cargiant
Cargiant is said to be London’s largest used car dealership. Their feature was a subtle promotion of their URL.
2003 – 2006 – Binatone
Binatone is an electronics manufacturing company. Their feature included their simplistic logo.
2001 – 2003 – JD Sports
The memorable old logo of high street store JD Sports was in place for two years. Sadly, it wasn’t the best look.
1996 – 2001 – Ericsson
Ericsson is a Swedish telecommunications company. They opted for their complimentary minimal logo.
1994 – 1996 – Compaq
American technology company, Compaq, utilised a lovely all-text look.
1993 – 1994 – CSF
Unfortunately, we cannot pinpoint CSF’s exact speciality, but nevertheless their feature wasn’t that great.
1992 – 1993 – Classic FM
Classic FM is one of the United Kingdom’s independent national radio stations. The white background made their branding unattractive.
1991 – 1992 – Brooks
Brooks manufactured and sponsored the 1991/92 collection.
1990 – 1991 – Influence / Fly KLM
Influence sponsored the Rs’ shirt up until December 1990, from then, the clubs previous sponsor returned…
1987 – 1990 – Fly KLM
Dutch airline, Fly KLM, made their origin known within their feature. It was text-based, but quite large and overpowering.
1986 – 1987 – BlueStar
BlueStar is believed to be a bus operator. Their feature had a star graphic separating the two words.
1983 – 1986 – Guinness
Popular Irish ale Guiness was the first brand to sponsor a QPR shirt. They held an all-text feature.
Conclusion
QPR’s shirt history is rather traditional and they have very rarely branched away from that and, despite its prestige, it does lead to some repetition at times. Although, it should be said that Errea, the current suppliers, are doing a fair job of adding creative flare. The standout brand from the past is by far Le Coq Sportif.