When Hull City were founded in 1904, the team wore a kit consisting of amber and black striped shirts, black shorts and black socks. That design remained almost constant until 1947 when plain amber shirts became the new norm and (save for a short period in the early 60’s) were the default choice when the 1970’s arrived.
At this point, Hull’s home kit was as plain as it was possible to be. Towards the end of the 1960’s, there had been some multi-line trim around the crew neck and cuffs, but even that was gone during the 1969-70 season. Such paucity of detail was, of course, was not uncommon back in the day, and even the tiger’s head badge wasn’t due a return until the 1971-72 season. That said, close inspection of one particular team photo from 1969-70 shows a few of the shirts had the feint remnants of what looked like a previous badge application, so the tiger head was certainly being considered at the time.
As for the manufacturer of the kit, that was most likely Bukta as they created the shirt worn between 1965 and 1969, not to mention the one worn from 1972 to 1975. The styling of the shirt certainly conforms to one seen in a Bukta catalogue from the early 1970's, so all the evidence suggests the Stockport-based manufacturer was probably the one responsible for this kit.
Hull City entered the 1980’s at a rare crossroads with regards to their playing kit. The 1979-80 season had begun with the East Yorkshire club wearing a white-collared Europa shirt first seen in 1975 married up with black Adidas shorts and amber socks. At some point in January 1980, however, the Hull City home kit became 100% Adidas with the introduction of a black-collared nylon shirt that featured the customary trefoil logo.
Europa were a clothing manufacturer based in Wigston, Leicestershire, and their white-collar shirt (seen right) was originally worn with white shorts and socks. In 1978/79, the shorts turned black - a look that Adidas retained for their own Hull apparel until 1982. In all probability, both the Europa and Adidas kits were made at the same location by the same people, but as the 1970's ended, the name of Europa disappeared from Hull's kit, never to return.
To the football kit connoisseur, this outfit looks a little confused with its combination of never-more-Seventies white winged collar and modern Adidas three-stripe trim, but perhaps that’s its inherent charm. Few other kits can claim to straddle two decades stylistically in such an obvious way, and for that it deserves its own notoriety.
The 1990’s arrived with Hull City nearing the end of a six-season run in the Second Division. On the pitch, they were wearing a modified version of the Matchwinner kit introduced in the 1988-89 season. Boasting wide red and black shoulder panels, the predominantly amber shirt had a red and black wrapover collar and a shadow pattern made up of diagonally skewed rectangles in alternating tones.
The shirt was different in one specific way compared to that worn the previous season in that the sponsor was now Dale Farm rather than Riding Bitter, but aside from that, everything else was the same. The black shorts had a checkerboard shadow pattern and diagonal flash across one leg, and there was continuity on the socks with similarly two-coloured trim on the turnovers.
This was to be the last time that red was used as an integral colour on the Hull home kit. Introduced by Admiral in 1982 at the behest of flamboyant chairman Don Robinson, the scarlet hues were said to derive from Robinson's time as chairman of Scarborough FC. Recently however, former player Dennis Booth suggested he was in part to blame when he told Robinson that his former club Watford had enjoyed a massive upswing in fortune after adding red to their shirts. Robinson, clearly superstitious in nature, added red to the Hull home kit in the hope of generating some good fortunes of his own, but it was never fully appreciated and the colour disappeared from the kit the moment Robinson left the club.
The first Hull City home kit of the new millennium was made by Avec and was the first to be chosen by fans in a public vote,although the initial mock-up had a v-neckline instead of a crew neck.
Based in County Durham, Avec created kits that were either simple and traditional or challenging (in modern design terms), and sometimes both. In 1999-2000, however, they opted for the former approach as they produced a smart striped outfit, predominantly in black.
The fit of the shirt and shorts was generally baggy due to all the player-issue shirts being in the XL size only, regardless of whether you boasted the solid physique of Gary Brabin or the diminutive frame of Clint Marcelle.
The kit featured amber and white trim discretely applied in most of the usual places, plus a less eye-catching use of red in the colour palette thanks to the shirt sponsor, IBC. Every bit as understated as the tiger-striped kits of the mid-90’s were radical, this strong design used a deeper shade of amber which had become the norm over the previous couple of seasons. In 2001, that would change again as a more yellowy tone was brought back at the end of Avec’s two-year stint.
The present decade began with Hull City working alongside Umbro for the first time in the modern era. Taking over kit supply duties from Diadora in 2007, Umbro started strongly with a relatively plain amber shirt followed by a striped one the following season. As if to prove that they weren’t sure which style was correct, the third and final year of Umbro’s contract saw the bold, black stripes dropped once again.
This time it was a return to pinstripes, last seen on Hull’s home kit in 1986. Looking not unlike a modern reworking of Umbro’s own template worn by Wolves in the early 1980’s, this was a stylish piece of retro with enough interesting detail to appeal to the most critical fan.
Aside from a modest cut-away v-neck and short black panels down the sides of the shirt, there was also black edging along part of the cuffs with a diagonal finish. Similar panels appeared in amber on the shorts, and the whole look was completed with some horizontal black pinstripes running down the socks.
Worn by the likes of Jimmy Bullard and Nick Barmby, this was a suitably smart kit to celebrate Hull City’s second successive season in the Premier League and was one of many great designs Umbro continue to provide to this day.
