1990S SHIRTS

Two things happened at once. Replica sales exploded, so far more shirts were made than in any decade before, and design went completely loose. Sublimated patterns printed straight into the fabric, colour blocking, goalkeeper jerseys that looked like nothing else on the pitch. A nineties kit is instantly datable from ten metres away, which is exactly why the designs have outlived the seasons they were made for.

The cut changes too. Shirts are baggy through the body and long in the sleeve, and the fabric turns to lightweight polyester with mesh panels under the arms. Compared to a 1980s shirt it feels like a different garment entirely.

Serie A is the heart of it. Juventus in Kappa with Del Piero, Zidane and Baggio, AC Milan across their Lotto and Adidas years, and Inter with Ronaldo and Zamorano.

From England there is Manchester United in Umbro with Cantona and Beckham, Arsenal with Bergkamp, and Chelsea with Zola. On the international side, Italy at the 1994 World Cup in Diadora, Argentina with Maradona, Germany with Matthäus and the England kits of Gascoigne and Shearer.

Beyond the obvious names there is a deep run of smaller clubs, the shirts that were never mass produced and are now the hardest to find. Napoli in Lotto, West Ham in Pony, Vitesse in Uhlsport, RKC Waalwijk in Diadora.

This is the one decade where the label flatters you in the wrong direction. Shirts were cut deliberately loose, so a nineties medium often measures like a modern large through the chest. Use the pit to pit and top to bottom figures on each product page instead of the size on the tag. Condition varies more here than in later decades, because these shirts were worn rather than kept, and every listing carries an honest grade.

The tighter cuts and the Galácticos era start in 2000s football shirts. If you would rather search by maker, the big three of the decade are Umbro, Adidas and Nike, with Kappa covering the Italian side. National team kits from this era sit in national team shirts.