How a Leicestershire textile firm created the replica sports kit

When England take on Panama in New Jersey this evening, the MetLife Stadium will be packed with fans wearing replica shirts bearing names such as Bellingham, Kane and Anderson. But there was a time when adult replica football shirts did not exist—until a Wigston-based textile firm, Admiral, changed that with the 1982 England World Cup shirt.

To celebrate the company, which began life making underwear, a free exhibition is being held this summer at Wigston Library until 7 July, explaining its connection to World Cup tournaments of years past.

From underwear to sportswear

Founded as Cook & Hurst Ltd in 1908, the company initially produced woollen underwear. In 1914, it began making exercise clothing for the Royal Navy under the Admiral brand name. The firm was based in Long Street, Wigston, for more than 80 years and manufactured kits for clubs in the UK and for the England team throughout the 1970s and early 1980s—including for the Three Lions' trip to Spain in the 1982 World Cup.

Inventing the replica kit market

"Admiral actually started the replica kit market, we say they invented it," said exhibition curator Emma Buckler, who is also an events and communications officer at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council. "Before that [1982] there was no opportunity for fans to buy their own version of the kit. It started out for children and then for the 1982 World Cup kit that was the first adult replica kit that was available on the market."

Buckler credited Bert Patrick, Admiral's owner at the time, with spotting trends. "Bert Patrick was really good at seeing trends also with the development of the colour television that made the kit much more visible to people, and they wanted to look like the people they saw on the television."

Unexpected issues with the 1982 strip

The exhibition explains the firm's unexpected problems with the 1982 World Cup strip. In the heat and humidity of Spain, the polyester fabric caused players to sweat "very heavily," and numbers also fell away from their kit, Buckler said. Admiral was forced to source a more "breathable" fabric for England's second game of the tournament against Czechoslovakia.

Gordon Banks and the 1966 World Cup

Prior to the replica kit revolution, goalkeeper Gordon Banks chose to wear an Admiral-manufactured shirt during the 1966 World Cup after being impressed with a new lightweight fabric the company had designed a year earlier. Buckler said a visit to the factory swayed him. "Just before the World Cup they designed a really powerful and new type of fabric which was ideal for playing sports and football in and he was personally impressed with it. He was aware of Admiral when he was playing at Leicester City, he really thought the kit was really high quality, really practical as well and cutting edge."

Local expertise and legacy

Local historian Bill Boulter noted that much of the expertise and skills needed to create these products could be found in Wigston. "Right from framework knitting in the 1800s all the way through, the skills were here to make different things when men's trousers got longer, socks got shorter. Making underwear the skills were there, making up, overlocking, lock stitching, cutters, so the skills were there to produce the goods and introduce fashionwear into it moving forward."

Mark Atton, an apprentice knitting machine mechanic at Admiral between 1976 and 1979, recalled: "They were ground-breaking in everything they were doing at that time, they had got their fingers in a lot of pies. They worked hard and Bert Patrick went to sort the Leeds [United] contract, and the England contract and things sort of flourished from there. The kit they produced was very good and the design, the styles were different and led the way to where we are now. It was a great place to work, it had a real sort of good atmosphere... [with] my mum working there making the kit for the teams I was fortunate to get some samples as well."