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How often do football clubs change kits?
You can’t picture football without thinking about all of the unique and iconic kits that all of the football clubs have to offer. The colours and designs are central to helping every football club stand out and getting the fans hyped up for a new season. They’re at the forefront of every moment on the pitch and give every club a unique identity that the fans can get behind.
It’s no wonder why there's so much anticipation whenever new kits come out, as fans eagerly await their favourite team’s new kit designs. Keep reading as we take you through all you need to know about why clubs change their kits, how often they do and why they need three separate designs.
How often do football clubs change kits?
Football clubs change their kits once every season, but it wasn’t always like this. Before the 2000s, there were no official rules on how often a club should change their kit, although an unspoken rule was at least once every two seasons. This meant fans were able to keep the same kit and memorabilia during this time and didn’t have to worry about replacing them. However, as this was never a set regulation, this was slowly phased out by 2010/11 and was replaced by the official rule that kits should be changed once per season.
Why do football clubs change kits?
Now we know how often these Premier League football clubs change kits, let’s discuss the “why”. There are a few reasons why football clubs change their kits so regularly, from changing trends to increasing demands, but changing kits once per season wasn’t just a random decision after being an unwritten rule for so long. Turning it into an official rule was due to a number of these factors, such as:
Keeping up with football kit trends
One of the biggest factors in why football clubs change their kits (and do so once per season) is to keep up with trends. Trends in the modern day come and go very quickly, such as retro football kits, which were largely influenced by events like the Euros and World Cup. Many fans began looking to get their hands on a retro national team jersey and changing club kits once per season allowed them to jump onto the retro look.
So in order to stay with the kit trend changes and keep fans happy, football clubs change their kits regularly to offer styles and designs that are tailored to what's popular each year.
The increase in demand for football kits
With football being the most played and watched sport in the world, it’s no wonder that the market for kit designs has drastically increased. Classic kit designs have especially seen a rapid increase in value, and this hasn’t gone unnoticed by sellers on platforms such as eBay and Depop. Due to the sheer scale of football memorabilia demands, there is a huge opportunity for rapid kit changes.
The increase in high-profile deals
The high-profile deals between Premier League clubs and leading football kit manufacturers have grown since the early 2000s with many clubs making deals with kit manufacturers to make their kit as well as permitting them to sell replicas to the fans. This eventually resulted in high demands for more kits which led to kits being changed every season.
Why do football clubs need three kits?
Every season, clubs release three new kit designs: a home, away and a third kit. Having three kits helps to distinguish teams from each other so fans who are watching don’t get confused. Each kit is worn on different occasions for different reasons. Below you can find a list of the three types of kits and when you’d be expected to see your favourite team wearing them.
- Home kits - These kits are exactly what they sound like, they’re the kits the teams wear when they’re playing in their home city.
- Away kits - These are the kits a team wears when they’re playing in someone else's home city
- Third kits - these are essentially a backup kit to ensure there’s no clash in colours or design when playing another team to ensure fans can easily tell the teams apart. If you want to learn more about third kits and their purpose in premier league football then you can read through our What is a third kit in football blog for more information.
Traditionally, clubs have always had these three kits, but when the 2010/11 change came into play, people worried that frequent kit changes would make it harder to associate a single kit with certain clubs. People also worried that this would prove more costly to fans who want to buy the jerseys and support their team with every new season.
Despite this initial response, the kit changes proved to be successful, and now fans look forward to the new seasonal kit designs, with a lot of anticipation and hype to see what their favourite clubs do with their three kits as the new football year rolls around.
Create your seasonal football kits with Avec Sport
New football club kits are being released more frequently than ever in order to meet the demand of the ever-changing modern-day trends and to follow the increase in growth and value of brand deals between the biggest football clubs and kit manufacturers.
If you want to follow along with your favourite premier league team by grabbing your team a new kit for the new season to represent all the modern-day trends and help you stand out from the competition - here at Avec Sport we offer a wide selection of premium football team wear kits from jerseys to socks. All featuring customisable options for nailing those popular trends as well as incorporating your sponsorship logos, make sure your team is supported in both style and comfort with our full collection.