5 Vintage Football Shirt Experts On How To Source And Value Them (2024)

Welcome to Vintage to Vogue, which sees the Vogue team take on a different trend or occasion each month and show you how to shop it second-hand.

Brat summer might already be over, but football shirt summer certainly isn’t. Proof? Self-professed Gooner (aka Arsenal supporter), Mabel, recently sported a brilliant retro Arsenal 92-94 home jersey in Los Angeles to watch Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-1 in a pre-season friendly, delighting football shirt spotters like me. And on 10 August, K-pop group New Jeans electrified the Spurs vs Bayern Munich crowd pre-game with their hits and customised Ambush X Nike jerseys in Seoul. If the Euro 2024 final didn’t get you hooked on football like Euro 2004 did for me, or at least open to rocking a football shirt beyond the final whistle, consider these looks a great kick-off.

Beyond this year’s Euros, the Olympics and the 2024 Community Shield – the traditional curtain-raiser – have pushed football shirts further into the mainstream. On the fashion landscape, the hype has manifested as collaborations, including Reebok X Botter, Umbro’s partnerships with Aries and Palace, and Adidas X Arsenal X Labrum London. Appetite for pre-loved versions has grown exponentially, too. League tables don’t lie and neither does Google Trends: searches for “vintage football shirts” grew more than 5,000 per cent worldwide over the past few months.

Whether you actually support a team, subscribe to the “blokette” trend, or wish to follow Sabrina Carpenter or Cardi B’s lead (both women have championed football shirts of late), I’m sure you’re wondering how to source your next football shirt. Speaking as someone who owns several, I have expanded my collection of conventional footie shirts to feature directional, fashion versions. I scored one of the upcycled Conner Ives’s spring/summer 2024 “football T-shirts” from Ssense, which attracted many compliments when I wore it in Berlin. Even a diehard Chelsea FC fan like me can’t deny the delicious coquettish appeal of a shirred football shirt, sans rival club crest, which independent brands like Kitten Studio and Hairy Mary are also exploring. I also bought one of Hattie Crowther’s printed “f*ck the Fans” jerseys (another burgeoning trend), and I’m now debating whether to pre-order a brown autumn/winter 2024 Martine Rose jersey via her website.

With more official and buzzy collaborative football shirts sure to drop over the course of the 2024/25 season, and the women’s Euros taking place next summer, momentum is still building. So how do you ride this wave with originality and nod to – but ultimately transcend – knee-jerk trends, and minimise the resulting landfill? By subbing one of the millions of vintage football shirts in circulation into your wardrobe. To help, Vogue spoke to six vintage football shirt experts who shared their winning tactics.

Systemarosa

Soft-launched in New York in 2023 by editorial consultant Naomi Accardi and brand consultant Sam Herzog, groundbreaking interdisciplinary platform, Systemarosa, curates beautiful vintage football shirts alongside special designer pieces, in addition to offering creative services, and a rentable archive.

“If we told you how we source Systemarosa jerseys, we’d have to kill you! Just kidding! It consists of spending hours scouring the internet and places in person to find exactly what we need. For ourselves, it depends. If we are looking for a specific kit – Crystal Palace for Sam, for example – it starts from looking at old club photos or videos and honing in on a particular piece.

“The next step is to start searching for the exact year on Depop, Etsy, eBay, or Grailed (e.g. Crystal Palace 2003-04 Home kit). Add similar products you find to your watchlist or favourites because those platforms have really strong algorithms and they will start suggesting similar products to you. Or if you have the money to spend upfront, you can look on Classic Football Shirts, Cult Kits, or any curated website.

“The best way to take care of vintage football shirts is by handwashing and air-drying. We advise our customers to soak them in OxiClean if they present some stains or wear. A good rule of thumb for any piece of clothing you want to preserve for a long time is to avoid the dryer and hang dry all of your new purchases. Then, you should store them in a closed space, and depending on the material, folded cotton or wool, or hung-polyester, in your wardrobe system.”

Louis Bever

London-based photographer Louis Bever has a rolling seminal series, Flat 92, for which he shoots models wearing football shirts and recreates paintings, while spotlighting his own vast football shirt collection at the same time.

“I use bidding websites, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, various collector groups and online and offline marketplaces. I used to have a London charity shop route but sadly, the youth discovered them, so I rarely find any gems any more. I am built like Mike Wazowski, so tight modern shirts don’t always flatter my body, and I tend to sway towards shirts with more room.

“I am one of the scruffiest and most disorganised people, but I’m proud of my football shirt collection and I put a bit of welly into storing them. I have an unhealthy number and now own a double-decker mega rail where all the shirts are hung up in colour order, which helps me pick shirts and match them up with paintings for portraits. I never wear them out because I am too paranoid that I’ll spill food on them. I have a great England collection, but there’s no way I’m wearing them to the pub when people are flinging pints like frisbees.

“My only issue is that the prices of shirts are increasing, and young people have to buy fakes. The Brazil 98 shirt and training jacket have recently been reissued, and the reselling prices are extortionate. You can find an original 1998 Brazil home shirt for a fraction of the cost on auction websites and apps. I’m yet to hold the new 1998 in the flesh; however, I own an original, and the quality is top-notch.”

The Football Boutique

Los Angeles-based store, The Football Boutique, launched by Anthony Magana in 2020, platforms burgeoning football brands like A Store Like 94, artists including Hincha FC, and stocks rare, vintage, and exclusive pieces. Watch parties and game nights strengthen the community spirit.

“It’s definitely more difficult in the US to source vintage football jerseys and you can trace most reasons, either directly or indirectly, to football not being the most popular sport. For example, we don’t have 100 year-old football clubs. Our grandparents and parents didn’t purchase football jerseys for their children, so there’s just less inventory.

“Without giving away too many secrets, we have several sources. Besides doing our own hunting online and in local thrift stores, we have friends in South America, Europe and Asia who provide us with football jerseys. I rarely go hunting for myself because that can be dangerous. Instead, I’ll keep anything I really like from the lot that comes through. You should try to handwash with a mild detergent or use the delicate cycle with cold water and always hang dry!

“I feel like the vintage aesthetic is trending at the moment. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and brands recognise that. The MLS recently dropped third kits for a few clubs and they all had a retro vibe. I think the repurposing and upcycling of old kits trend is going to continue to grow. Ironically, making the ‘uniform’ more individualised is the next “blokecore”.”

Chillie London

“Re-love, re-wear, re-style” is the concept that drives Chillie London – a Notting Hill-based vintage clothing store founded by seasoned stylists Natalie Hartley and Lydia Mcneill. The duo also release original upcycled collections and run a kids club.

“We find football shirts everywhere: charity shops, eBay, people around Portobello bring us stuff. We look for colour when we’re sourcing brands like Adidas and Nike. We had proper collectible ones like old Pelé or old goalkeepers tops in our pop-up. The real England stuff was amazing, but that all went last summer and the one before that. Football shirts go for £25 to £50, but collectors pieces and true originals can reach the £200 mark.

“We’ve had a few goodies without realising it. I’ve got this amazing Australian one: It’s orange with black and says ‘Balmain’ (like the designer) on it. I was walking down the street and this guy was like, “Where the f*ck did you get that top from? There’s an area called Balmain in Australia and this is one of the worst teams in Australia.” That makes it even better for me because it’s a sh*t team and a really cool top.

“Vintage is the only way because they all tell a story, they’re about old teams, and they mean something nice. The more worn football shirts get, the better. A collector probably wouldn’t agree if you want to resell them. The good thing with nylon or polyester football jerseys is that they don’t really need any ironing, they wash easily, dry in two seconds, and travel well. You can wear them any way in winter and summer, over and underneath hoodies… they’re actually like the perfect T-shirt.”

Vintage Threads

Charlie Oxley and Freddie Rose identified a gap in the market for unique, handpicked affordable vintage pieces while studying at university and set up their business, Vintage Threads, in 2016. Now, it’s known as one of London’s leading vintage and reworked clothing retailers, with two standalone stores and stock in Selfridges.

“We source football shirts by using our digital contacts – global collectors, international thrifters or Facebook groups – and negotiate via WhatsApp and Instagram. One Malaysia-based collector is such a big Stone Island fan that I just trade him pieces I find in Italy for his incredible shirt collection! The other way we source is on global buying trips, which can be the best way of finding football shirts at the best prices. Either way, we vigorously authenticate the shirts as there is a huge rise in counterfeit shirts emerging in the vintage football shirt market, partly driven by the rise of “blokecore”.

“People restoring vintage shirts using modern-day heat press printers to replace sponsors, player names and numbers is becoming a very hot topic among vintage football shirt collectors. Some true collectors feel this illegitimises the items, whereas others argue it’s a way of rescuing relics that have been around for 30+ years. It’s really important to wash them at the right temperature and make sure they aren’t packed into overloaded washes as this is often where sponsors peel off or letters get stuck together.

“Trends explode onto the scene, settle down, and then people find their own unique spins. This is where our VT Rework offering has been so successful. This year we did a huge collection of unique one-of-one pieces created from damaged football shirts, scarves, boots, tracksuits, and even bed linens. Shirred football tops and England bandeau style shirts proved extremely popular for womenswear.”