Tottenham Hotspur Shirt History
Way back in 1901, Tottenham Hotspur became the first and, to date, only team with non-league status to win the FA Cup. Fast forward to 2023, they are now a well-known, well-established Premier League outfit. Let’s find out more about their history through shirts…
Spurs Shirt History - Downloadable Checklist
Tottenham Hotspur Shirt Manufacturer History
2017 – present – Nike
So far, Nike have been fairly successful with their feature choice for Spurs’ white home shirt, with various smart, considered touches. For their first attempt in 2017/18, they added a 1950’s inspired club crest with a navy shield surrounding the cockerel. On the face of it, the 2021/22 edition comes across to some as plain, but within the side panels of the jersey is a pattern that has been put together by distorting and realigning the aforementioned cockerel emblem – the reason for this was because it marked 100 years since the cockerel first appeared on their strip. Moving forward to 2023/24, this home top is an all-Lilywhite shade for the first time since 2012/13 and it features overlapping lines and circles in its background representing the sounds of London N17 and the area’s broadcasting history.
The home shirt donned in 2018/19 is famous for two reasons – it was worn in the campaign that they moved into their brand-new state of the art stadium and because they wore it in a Champions League final, albeit they lost. It was a bold gradient design where the white eventually faded into navy.
On the subject of their new home, the impressive turquoise third jersey from 2018/19 is filled with an imprinted graphic that is inspired by the outside of it. The Nike logo used is also one more common in the 90’s. However, not every Nike alternate shirt has been a success, with disappointing efforts coming in the form of the 2022/23 away top and the 2021/22 third kit.
Nike struck a whopping 15-year-deal with the Lilywhites in 2017, so there is at least a decade more of Nike branded Spurs shirts to come.
2012 – 2017 – Under Armour
With it being their last season at the beloved White Hart Lane, Tottenham supporters will always have a special place in their heart for the 2016/17 Under Armour home kit. It was white with navy colour blocks on either of its shoulders and it also had gold touches to its sleeve cuffs and neckline. In fact, gold became the theme of the campaign, as the navy away shirt also had striking gold features and the third top was predominately gold with navy pinstripes.
It appears that the 2015/16 home top is the first time that Spurs have donned a sash on their primary shirt. However, it was a sash with a difference as it was made up of six different sized navy stripes. The idea behind the away kit for this season was fairly similar, with Under Armour opting for various different sized hoops looping around it.
A classic alternate jersey from this era is the 2014/15 away top – it was black with yellow pinstripes running down its centre. It’s side panels and sleeve cuffs were also yellow.
2006 – 2012 – Puma
In 2007/08, Puma released three plain kits that had stitching under the club crest to commemorate the landmark. However, they didn’t leave it here, they also took this as an opportunity to release a special edition shirt that was worn for one Premier League game in a 4-4 draw against Aston Villa. It was a polo design that was half white and half light blue.
The North London clubs fourth place finish in 2009/10 meant that they would walk out in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history in 2010/11, therefore, both of these collections are particularly memorable for Spurs followers. This is despite the fact that the inclusion of quite a lot of yellow on the 2009/10 edition divides opinion.
2002 – 2006 – Kappa
Kappa didn’t try anything too extravagant during their time with Tottenham, with the navy sleeves and thick side panels added to the home shirt in the final year being the most adventurous that they got. Their first home shirt, worn from 2002 until 2004, was also fairly eye catching with its broad navy collar and stitching.
Although, simplicity doesn’t necessarily mean everything was perfect, with the 2005/06 away kit and the all purple strip from 2003/04 being disapproved by many.
1999 – 2002 – Adidas
Adidas’ three-year stint from 1999 saw the creation of some solid football shirts. With its navy polo collar topping off the traditional white base, the home top donned from 1999 until 2001 was tipped to be hard to beat, but the German brand managed it in with a fine V neck edition worn in 2001/02. It’s main talking point was the lighter shade of blue underlining the navy features on its neckline and sleeve cuffs.
The away strip used from 1999/00 was certainly different, but it seems like it was fairly well appreciated across the fanbase. It had a golden yellow base, with navy sides and sleeves which came together halfway across the chest. Making it even more unusual, it had a white polo collar to finish it off. Another with a polo collar is the 2000/01 away top and due to its cool, crossover feature around the neckline it is another treasured shirt.
1995 – 1999 – Pony
Pony made quite the introduction in 1995/96 with a home strip that was embossed with Tottenham emblems. It also had ‘Audere est Facere’ stitched centrally under its polo collar – this stands for ‘To Dare is To Do’ in Latin. A second version of this with Pony logo’s running down its sleeves was later released.
The away shirt from the 1996/96 campaign, which also stayed on as the third kit for the following year, is another respected shirt. It was purple with tonal stripes and it had small Pony logo’s smartly hooping around its sleeves.
The navy 1997/98 away top also had tonal differences throughout. Another memorable feature is its white V-neck crossover collar that had a conjoined yellow and navy loop hooping around it. The same yellow and navy feature also hooped around the end of the sleeves, which were halved white and navy.
1991 – 1995 – Umbro
The first shirt that we’re going to give a mention remarkably managed to survive the whole of the partnership. It was used as the away kits for three campaigns and the third shirt for one. It was mostly yellow and it had a unique, distinctive patterning on its left sleeve and shoulder combining light blue and purple.
A third jersey that lined up alongside it for three seasons is also unique in its own way. It was light blue with purple pinstripes that became thicker and more often across the chest and it was coolly designed so that you could make out the word ‘Spurs’. A ‘THFC’ pattern was embossed throughout both of the aforementioned shirts bases.
It may have only been worn for one season, but the 1994/95 away shirt is just as impressive as those spoken about above. It had a tonal purple pattern taking up the left side of the shirt and its right sleeve.
1985 – 1991 – Hummel
The home shirt worn for the first two campaigns had navy pinstripes running vertically on the chest area. At the bottom of the pinstripes, navy horizontal lines were printed and shaped into the Hummel logo. It’s away counterpart was filled with diagonal light blue tonal stripes, with navy and white pinstripes also mixed in.
Despite the boldness mentioned above, the much simpler home strip used from 1989 until 1991 is the most famous. A reason for this is because it was worn the last time Spurs won the FA Cup in 1990/91. The ‘THFC’ stitched centrally on its neckline is a really nice feature.
1980 – 1985 – Le Coq Sportif
Le Coq Sportif honoured the club’s centenary year in 1982/83 and they did so with a special edition club crest used on both the home and away jersey. It had ‘Centenary Year’ and ‘1882 until 1982’ elegantly stitched around it.
Another collectors item is the tonally striped white 1983/84 UEFA Cup Final shirt. The occasion is recognised beneath the club emblem. Spurs beat Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties in the final in Brussels, making it even more sought-after.
An interesting observation from this period is that all of the previously mentioned shirts had the Le Coq Sportif logo and the Spurs crest in the common place, whereas the regular shirts were all central crest designs with the manufacturers branding on its arms.
1977 – 1980 – Admiral
Tottenham wore the same Admiral kits for three years, but luckily the home jersey in particular is a classic. Complimenting its white base was a polo collar combined with a V-neck. The neckline had a navy feature with Admiral logos patterned through it. A similar navy feature ran down its shoulders.
The away was similar, except it had blue colour blocks running from each of its shoulders down to the stomach area.
1965 – 1977 – Umbro/In-House
From 1965 until 1977, Spurs had a basic collection of jerseys that were manufactured in-house and by Umbro. It wasn’t until 1975 that the double diamond brand had their logo feature appear on a strip.
Tottenham Hotspur Shirt Sponsor History
Spurs have had a fairly confined shirt sponsor history compared others, but nevertheless, let’s get right into it…
2014 – present – AIA
AIA is leading life insurer in Asia and they use their partnership with Tottenham to promote a healthy lifestyle through sports. As part of the deal, two fully-qualified members of the Lilywhites’ Global Football Development coaches are based permanently in Asia to work with players of all levels.
AIA’s feature is simply ‘AIA’ in a bold, unmissable font, however for one off games the life insurer have chosen to use the slot to bring attention to initiatives such as AIA China Reading for Dreams, ISF Cambodia and AIA Better Lives Fund.
So far, it has been a good partnership for all parties.
2010 – 2014 – HP
HP, which stands for Hewlett-Packard, is a technology company most famous for their laptop production. However, the recognisable logo of HP only featured for one campaign – and this was probably the best look!
Autonomy, a software and services provider, was acquired by HP in 2011 and their branding featured until 2013. The word Autonomy was switched for Aurasma, an augmented reality platform, for two campaigns.
2006 – 2010 – Mansion Casino
Mansion Casino is an online gambling company. They trialled a few variants of their branding, some of which crammed more in than others, but, sadly their large red logo just made it in an eyesore regardless of what design they opted for.
2005 – Standard Charter
Standard Charter is a British multinational bank and their famous branding appeared for a one-off game in the Peace Cup, an invitational pre-season friendly, in 2005.
2002 – 2005 – Thomson
Thomson, now known as TUI Airways, is a large UK airline. The branding of TUI appeared for three campaigns and its simplicity meant that it fitted in fairly nicely.
1999 – 2002 – Holsten
Holsten is a German brewery and their relationship with the club was long lasting, given this was their second partnership together. They had a simple text-based feature.
1995 – 1999 – HP
Like Holsten, HP have also had two deals with the club. This time around, as well as the well-recognised HP logo, their full name ‘Hewlett-Packard’ also appeared alongside it. Given the font used, it didn’t look too bad, but, nowadays, it is fairly unusual to see ‘Hewlett-Packard’ feature on HP branding at all.
1985 – 1995 – Holsten
The aforementioned Holsten were the clubs first ever front of shirt sponsor and the deal remarkably lasted for a decade.
Conclusion
To date, Spurs have avoided having too many disaster designs and they are seemingly leaning towards valuing long term partnerships more and more. Their deal with AIA is in its ninth year and, like we mentioned earlier in the piece, Nike have around a decade remaining on their current contract.