We were lucky enough to get invited to the National Football Museums recent launch event for their new Strip, How football got shirty exhibition. This exhibition is all about the story of football shirts and is told by the over 200 shirts all in one place. The event couldn't have been any better especially for someone who loves football shirts, seeing the different styles and how they have progressed over the years. With a variety of teams from numerous leagues & countries they have something for everyone.
There are plenty of shirts around this exhibition with something for everyone. It really does go through the history of the shirts as well as showing off the fashion side of them, something which has always intrigued me how different aspects of the game have changed shirts over the years such as the introduction of sponsors.
Dotted around the exhibition you will see STRIP! Myths, these are bits of information about different teams and how they kit became the colours they did etc. You can actually learn quite a bit from them, I know I did, like why certain teams wear certain colours.
As I said there are plenty of shirts meaning there is something for everyone. So obviously I was thrilled to see the Bradford City 93/94 shirt hung up and another picture of a City shirt printed on the wall. The City shirt hung up is one of my favourites with the print on the sleeves, the collar (I think all my favourite shirts have collars) and the Admiral print which is all over the shirt but not too in your face.
There are some absolute stand out shirts dotted all around the exhibition which will definitely draw your attention, like that Nigeria shirt that when released basically sold out and was super hard to find. This shirt is one I definitely wanted to add to the collection and loved seeing the players in during the World Cup for both the men & women. That is something else that is great about the exhibition, it isn't just all men's shirts there are women ones thrown in too, so even if you are a fan of the women's game there is something for you.
One of my favourite sections definitely had to be the fashion section which showed how clubs have worked with those big brands in the fashion world to create some brilliant pieces. It was fantastic to see the latest Juventus x Palace shirts hung up too, when they were released just a few month ago I was honestly considering buying one and now actually seeing them hung behind that glass I really wish I had done.
Not only do they have the fashion section, they also have the new Adidas shirts such as the Scotland one which is starting to grow on me, it is simple but doesn't really jump out at me. They also have the new Adidas Japan shirt which in the flesh looks even better than on the images, I would love to add this to my shirt collection but do I really need a Japan shirt? That print says yes I do.
If you want a break from wandering around the shirts you can also stop and watch what the museum are calling the STRIP! Show. Which is a quick show (around 20 mins) where a panel are talking about kits from every angle, covering a lot of the basis surrounding kits along with their personal experiences with kits. I stopped to watch a bit of this as it features hullcitykits.co.uk along with John Devlin from True Colours.
This exhibition is on until June 2020 so if you live in Manchester or can get to the museum before it ends I would definitely recommend going and checking it out yourself, especially if you are a shirt geek like me. I know I will be heading back at some point to have a look around the whole museum once again. You can check out the museums website for directions (it is right next to Victoria station) & all opening times, especially over the festive period.
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