By Joshua Prior
MOMS got Villa supporter and owner of Vote Vintage, Joshua Prior, to have a look at what Villa supporters thought of Under Armour and review MOMS survey results of supporter’s brand preferences in both Villa shirts and trainers. You can check out his earlier article on retro Villa shirts here.
New Shirt
Many Villa fans felt a sense of relief when Under Armour replaced Macron as our shirt manufacturer this season. Although Macron had some good ideas and eye-catching designs (the 2013/14 claret & white quarters shirt springs to mind) the frankly poor quality of their shirts did not go down well with fans.
I’m sure many of you shared the anxiety on examining the shoddy printing of the sponsor’s logo after a blast in the washing machine.
Under Armour is one of the World’s fastest growing sports apparel manufacturers. In 2016, 20 years since founder Kevin Plank started the company in his grandma’s basement, the Baltimore-based company boasts a wide array of top athletes and teams on their ever expanding books.
The likes of Andy Murray, Anthony Joshua and Michael Phelps are just a few sportsmen whose kit is emblazoned with the relatively young UA insignia. Their sponsorship, along with a growing number of Football teams like Villa and Spurs, is responsible for bringing the company to the sporting world’s notoriously fickle attention.
The end result of Villa’s new partnership with Under Armour is a home shirt design elegant in its simplicity. A claret body with light blue arms is nicely offset by a sharp collar that creates a retro feel similar to the 95/97 AST Computer Reebok shirt that we all remember so fondly.
Furthermore, this year’s away kit is clearly inspired by our 1996/97 away shirt with its two horizontal halves, white bottom with blue top and a horizontal claret hoop completing the look. Personally I think the sponsor should have been better in claret rather than the clashing black they have employed. Perhaps it is this nod to a pair of 90’s classics that has connected so well with our fan base.
The average mark out of 10 for what Villa supporters thought of the new Under Armour shirts in our survey was 7.3/10 and the most popular mark was 8/10 voted by 32.5%.
Aston Villa Fan Favourite Shirts
Under Armour have already jumped to second place in our list of favoured kit makers. This will certainly please the supplier, although a younger demographic and the ‘nowness’ of the shirts may have impacted the vote.
However, it is Nike’s cultural dominance that reigns supreme with a whopping 42.8% of fans surveyed holding the swoosh designs of the late 2000’s & early 10’s close to their hearts. I must admit that my YOUNG number 7 long sleeve home Nike Acorns kit is still my go to Villa shirt.
Trainer culture
If Under Armour are the young whippersnappers of the industry then Adidas are Titans. When it comes to trainers Adidas is the king of the terraces with 36% of fans surveyed pledging allegiance to Die Brand mit Three Stripes.
Adidas have dominated the marketplace since the brand was divided into three main groups in the mid to late 1990’s: Adidas Performance, which was designed to maintain their devotion to the athlete; Adidas Originals to focus on the brand’s earlier designs, which remained a popular life-style icon; and Style Essentials, which dealt with the fashion market.
Adidas Rules
It is Adidas’ Originals range that consistently proves so popular with football fans, especially classic models like Samba, Gazelle and Spezial. Cast your eyes to the floor on the Holte End and I guarantee you’ll see at least one pair of these bad boys amongst the programmes and curry sauce stained chip trays.
Nike come in a strong second with 29.7% of the vote but they just don’t carry the same weight as their German counterparts. This is mainly due to America’s patchy yet expanding association with Association Football. Perhaps the number of football fans opting for Nike will increase as the company expand their Football portfolio in the future.
The rest of the brands are evenly spread. The usually popular Converse took only 5.3% of the vote. While huge brands like Asics, Reebok and Puma are simply also rans, barely making the cut. Our new suppliers Under Armour came in with a measly 2.9% but if they keep making shirts like this year’s, I can’t say I’m that bothered.
See results of our survey below:
Favourite Trainer Brands of Villa Fans
Adidas – 36%
Nike – 29.7%
Converse – 5.3%
Others – 5.3%
Asics – 5%
Reebok – 4.6%
Puma – 4.6%
New Balance – 4.6%
Under Armour – 2.9%
Vans – 2.2%
[Survey sample 500 supporters]
UTV
Follow Josh on Twitter here – @VoteVintage
Check out Vote Vintage’s 50% OFF sale here – www.votevintage.co.uk
Also, check out the huge range of shirts, tracksuits, boots and other bargains for Xmas at CLASSIC FOOTBALL SHIRTS – don’t forget to use the code MOMS10 for 10% OFF!
Interesting. We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on the Under Armour shirts. As you read above, I love them. I know what you mean about the claret but it has grown on me, it’s a bit of a change. Quality is great when worn in my opinion and they are supposed to be thin because they are fitted – if they were thicker players and fans would get too hot. Not only ours but the Spurs and Southampton ones are really impressive. UA are young in terms of football but have been doing great work in USA sports and cricket for a while now. Pretty certain they are going to go from strength to strength over the course of our deal.
Sponsor logo is a sticker because it’s cheaper – simple as. Also in these strange times of rape cases, paedophiles in sport and trial by Twitter, companies and clubs like to keep their options open (see Ched Evans & Oldham fiasco) i.e. they want to be able to change the print run of shirts at the click of a button without heavy manufacturing costs. But mainly it’s like everything in life and football – money.
Totally agree with you on Umbro and Nike – just great shirts all around. Honourable mention for Asics too. Obviously shocking material in the 90s but my green & black 10 HOUGHTON muller away is priceless to me!
I have to disagree about the Under Armour home Villa shirt. My main gripe is the colour of the ‘claret’, it is almost a ‘pinky purple’. Next is the thin-ness of the shirt, yes, it should be light, but it just looks poor quality. The collar looks pretty pathetic too, more like a 1920’s public schoolboys shirt collar. There is no embossing in the shirt, with just the slogan on the inside of the neck-line it’s only saving grace. Admittedly, I have only seen the home shirt for sale at Rebel Sport in Perth, Australia (owned by Under Armour), so can’t comment on the away shirt.
Another gripe for most shirt suppliers that I have, is the sponsor logo. Why is it always (nearly) a semi-plastic sticker, why not imprinted at manufacture level? I know sometimes in the past, a sponsor has not been organised in time, but surely in these days when 2,3, or 4 year sponsorships are agreed, then the logos could be incorporated at manufacture level?
For me, Umbro and Nike have been far the best kit suppliers we have ever had. I have nearly every shirt from the mid seventies till mid Macron, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve got older and bigger, I would still be able to wear my Umbro shirts, and happily, I can still wear my Nike shirts. Macron are definitely the worst quality (not design, although their ‘claret’ was not good either), and I will not be buying Under Armour, until they get the right claret and improve the design.