Football Boots: Earliest Recorded – King Henry VIII in 1526
King Henry VIII’s football boots were listed within the Great Wardrobe of 1526, a shopping list of the day. They were made by his personal shoemaker Cornelius Johnson in 1525, at a cost of 4 shillings, the equivalent of £100 in today’s money. Little is known about them, as there is no surviving example, but the royal football boots are known to have been made of strong leather, ankle high and heavier than the normal shoe of the day.
Football Boots – The 1800’s
Moving forward 300 years saw football developing and gaining popularity throughout Britain, but still remaining as an unstructured and informal pastime, with teams representing local factories and villages in a burgeoning industrial nation. Players would wear their hard, leather work boots, which were long laced and steel toe-capped as the first football boots. These football boots would also have metal studs or tacks hammered into them to increase ground grip and stability.
As laws become integrated into the game in the late 1800’s, so saw the first shift in football boots to a slipper (or soccus) style shoe, with players of the same team starting to wear the same boots for the first time. Laws also allowed for studs, which had to be rounded. (more…)
Saturday, January 28, 2012 | Categories: Apparel, football, shoes, sport | 1 Comment
The Soccer kit has come a long way from the ‘jersey, knickers, hose, slip and anklets’ that were worn by players in the early days of the sport. UK Football manufacturers, Umbro, were one of the early pioneers in Soccer T-Shirt development, the picture above shows one of their kits being worn by Manchester City in the 1934 FA Cup Final win over Portsmouth.
In those days, the most techical of fabrics in the soccer T-shirt would have been a thick cotton twill and the goalkeeper would wear a heavy wollen garment similar to a sweater. The refree was pretty much in his Sunday best!
The modern day soccer shirt has evolved significantly from its humble origins.
The soccer apparel industry is a multi-million dollar business with key sportswear companies like Nike and adidas looking for the next best design or innovation that will provide their sponsored club with a performancing-enhancing edge over the competition.
Space-age fabrics and cool, fashion-led designs are key to making the soccer shirt right for the player and right for the fans. Some branded manufacturers deliver consistently strong looking soccer t-shirts…while others can get it hopelessly wrong! he best selling club soccer shirts globally are Manchester United and Real Madrid. Whilst exact figures on the number of replica jerseys sold cannot be provided, the numbers below provide an indication of the numbers involved.
Saturday, January 14, 2012 | Categories: Apparel, sport | Tags: Shoes, T-shirt | Leave a comment
Football Boots: Earliest Recorded – King Henry VIII in 1526
Sparta & Athena 