41. Adidas Toque 13 (2013-18)
Chris Oakley | 20 November 2024
The uncompromising splendour of Annapurna. The reverential enormity of Kanchenjunga. The colossal dominance of Mount Everest. It would be fair to say that none of these were the inspiration for the Adidas Toque 13 shirt template, yet who can deny its similarity of form to those colossal, formidable mountains? (Whoever just said ‘I can’ - please go to the back of the class.)
There’s no doubt this design has one selling point and one only, namely the zig-zagging upper section at the top of the shirt. Some may say it screams of non-league teamwear, some may say it looks plain stupid, but I say it’s brilliantly original.
From left: Aberdeen (2013-14 away), Angola (2015 away), Belgium (2015 away), Burundi (2017 home).
To add yet another template to my list titled ‘How I imagined kits would look in the future when I was nine years old’, we have to individually decide how much we like those diagonal ups and downs. For me, they provide an imaginative solution to the quandary of how to divide a shirt up into two coloured sections. Many teams have gone for some sort of vertical division, and more recently we’ve seen cut-offs across the shoulders horizontally or even on an incline. Employing something tantamount to a mountain range in silhouette, however, is unheralded in its innovation.
Admittedly, the Toque 13 template would be laughed out of town by those with a more traditional liking for football shirts, but it justifies its position in history by presenting something unconventional for teams who preferred that kind of thing. Adding the reassuringly confident three-stripe trim of Adidas on the sleeves only added balance to the design, and many were tempted to wear it throughout its four-year tenure.
From left: Celta Vigo (2013-14 away), Central African Republic (2013 home), Chad (2013-14 home), Djibouti (2017 away).
A commercial arrangement between Adidas and the CAF meant that teams all over Africa wore Toque 13, each with its own eye-catching colour palette. Though the two-colour approach was undoubtedly the most popular, Eswatini (still known then as Swaziland) were lucky enough to bring in a third colour for extra effectiveness. Their white shirts with yellow upper section and blue trim wouldn’t have looked out of place when Leeds United switched to Adidas four years ago. Angola went one better with their four-colour away shirt, but they were clearly just showing off.
Far away from Africa, Toque 13 was also worn by a smattering of clubs across the UK. Swindon Town and Sheffield United opted for one of the popular red-and-white / yellow-and-black versions, while Aberdeen rocked a very nice white and black away kit with red trim. Yet it was in Wales that perhaps the most vibrant version appeared; not the smart and understated red and white worn by Wrexham, but the deep violet and yellow of Swansea City’s Premier League away shirt of 2013-14. Such a choice of colours applied to a team’s kit can be enough to challenge even the strongest relationships between fan and kit supplier.
From left: Eswatini (2016 away), Germany Women (2013 away), Mauritania (2013 away), Seychelles (2013 away).
One of the most remarkable aspects of this template is the uniformity of the neckline that appeared constant throughout every instance. As discussed often in this series, templates are made to be customised in any number of ways, not least with the collar style. Here, however, we see the same simple v-neckline being worn by everyone from Belgium to Burundi. Attaching a winged collar would have been an unnecessary flamboyance, and though a crew neck might have worked satisfactorily, it feels right that Adidas never really provided that option. The shirt doesn’t need it, and the v-neck works just fine anyway.
Toque 13 was worn in Europe and Africa intermittently over a five-year period, and often as a change shirt. It was seen by a great many people, yet I wonder how many would have appreciated its modern aesthetic? Maybe those mountain-like peaks across the shoulders weren’t in keeping with our strongly-held memories of football shirts long past and the heroes that wore them. Consider, then, the words of the great philosopher, Gerard Pique, who said: “Evolution is all about looking forward.” Football shirt design was doing exactly that around ten years ago, and it continues to do so to this day.
From left: Sheffield United (2014-15 third), Swansea City (2013-14 away), Swindon Town (2013-14 home), Wrexham (2013-14 home).
Many thanks go to FSWorld and Adam's Shirt Quest for their help in researching this template.
To see the full set of Adidas Toque 13 kits, visit the Adidas Toque 13 template gallery page.
Update:
I'm very grateful to Lee Hyde who contacted me on X to tell me about Ipswich Town's third kit from the 2015-16 season. He reliably informs me that "it was brought in as an 'emergency' kit after there wasn’t enough stock remaining of the previous season’s Orange away kit (which was due to become the third kit for 15/16) for the first team squad."
Great knowledge, Lee - and that Ipswich Town third kit has now taken its place in our template gallery. But not only that - we've also had confirmation of a kit I wanted to include in the original article, namely Burundi's bright light green home kit from 2014. For that, I'm also very grateful to FSWorld on X, who's always a great help with researching the kits featured in these articles.
Finally, a shout out to FIFA Shirts on Bluesky. He told me that Sudan also wore the Toque 13 template at the 2018 African Nations Championships. It's therefore the latest that any of these kits were worn, but a very fine example indeed in white and red.
Great work, all of you, and thanks again!
