The Evolution of the Football Kit Launch - From early '80s to the new millennium Over the years, the presentations have gradually refined, defining the changes that football itself has undergone

The growth of football shirts in popular culture and fashion has been an ongoing phenomenon for a few years now. The technology used in the fabrics evolves and the visual designs change from year to year, with new co-collaborators and designers adding to the hype around new releases, but one aspect of shirt culture has undergone possibly a more drastic change than any other: the kit launch itself. 

Kit launches today are a different animal to those of early days in the 80s, when there were two basic types. For the first and most common, a few players, or sometimes the whole squad, would be assembled for a run of the mill photoshoot to show off the new strips. Players stood as if they were posing for their school yearbook, decked out in their team’s latest jersey, shorts and socks. Either the club’s stadium or training ground was the backdrop. These were football players, the product was a football shirt, made to wear while playing football or attending a football match.

One very noticeable change in and around this period, however, was the disappearance of the previously omnipresent smile. Slowly but surely, the cheerful expressions that had been a trademark of these marketing campaigns began to be phased out. Perhaps involuntarily in the beginning, as the players' facial muscles were bound to get tired after hours of looking happy for the cameras at live events, but it was definitely the beginning of a more intentional shift that would happen in the years to come. 

When comparing the pictures from the 80s with those from the 2000s, developments are clearly visible - the quality of the photos, the style and fit of the shirts and some of the poses adopted - but a lot of similarities remained. In line with the exponentially accelerating speed at which technology has been advancing over the last 10-15 years, the greatest changes in how shirts are marketed have come in that same period. Part two of this article will delve into how we have arrived at the current peak, aided by the aggressive marketing techniques made possible by social media.