ALBION AND ADIDAS

 

Rumours of an Albion/Adidas deal are gathering pace, with a return to the German manufacturer's books largely viewed as popular move in Sussex. It's all rumour of course, and Errea have one year left, but while Albion would probably be paying more per shirt than the current deal, the revenues that would be gained from associated apparel and other merchandise would far outway profit garnered from Errea's range of 90s-esque trackies.

Adidas have a certain cult resonance that will get even the most cynical sticking their necks round the door at the Megastore. The three stripes, and their eternal status, would be a common site in the county, a brand that kids will happily flaunt unlike our current Parma-based nylon monkeys.

'But what about the templates!' people will shout, 'Errea always give us a unique kit'. Well, if that was Errea's strong point then sadly they've made a bit of a meal of it. We don't ask for much, just some blue and white striped shirts, blue shorts and white or blue socks. It's a simple art, over complicated and poorly executed by the Italians with little design nous and a seeming lack of craft or style. The yellow away kit this season for example, a lovely kit lauded by the fans, but somewhat ruined by the mismatching shorts and unnecessarily messy socks. It was like Errea had enlisted the chief designer for the top bit, but gave the shorts gig to the intern.

Adidas do use templates, of course they do. This years are a little disappointing, especially for teams in stripes, but the details are nice and they don't mess around with the basic premise (though we wouldn't put a Southampton style stripe cull past the club at the moment).

The templates, of course, do have some history too. Some of the most beautiful shirts have come out of the factory doors in Herzogenaurach, including examples embedded in this here post. It's been tough but we included Porto's famous 80s kit, a mid-90s effort for Heerenveen, last season's very smart IFK shirt (IFK and Albion always shared a Subbuteo box), and finally the minimal beauty of Real Sociedad's 80s kit with manufacturer and club badge in unorthodox opposite sides.