As regular readers and followers will know, I have a record of all the Kits worn by England Men’s National Team from 1960 up to the present day… you can find a full record of these Kits here.
Inspired by a recent post by our friend Denis from Muesum of Jerseys about a one kit worn by Germany I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at England and have their been any Kit Looks and Variations that have only been used by The Three Lions once since 1960.
So, how do we define this…
I am only looking at the Kit Elements by colour (shirt / shorts / socks) and those combinations that have only ever been worn once in a full international game between 1960 (and 2026 at the time of original posting).
Of course there have been individual kits that have only been worn once, for example England against Argentina in 1998 with that Umbro Home Kit being worn with Umbro Away shorts for the only time but will consider this look “All White”, so a popular Kit Look for England over the years and worn first in my records in May 1960 against Spain.
Over the period we are looking, from 1960 there have 10 examples of England wearing a Kit Look / Colour Combination that they only wore once, lets take a look at these kits in a little more detail.
No.1: England v Wales, November 1960
White Shirts / Navy Shorts / Hooped Socks
For our first unique Kit Look we go back to November 1960, with England hosting Wales and England who had worn a variety of different socks with the default Home Kit look of white shirts and navy socks, however this game was the only time that these red, white, navy hooped socks were ever used…. maybe one to revist in the future Nike if you are reading this.
The game was notable for as the first goal scored by Jimmy Greaves (5-1 Victory for England) being the 1000th Full International Goal for National Team.
No 2: Austria v England, May 1961
Red Shirts / White Shorts / Navy Socks
Our second Unique look is one of just two on this list with Red Shirts, this look was worn against Austria who being the Home Team wore their first choice of White shirts and Black shorts, socks, England wore their Away Kit with a pair of socks that were only ever worn twice (more on that soon), which were navy blue with a large white band.
No.3: Wales v England, October 1961
White Shirts / Navy Shorts / Navy Socks
And as you can see below this is other use of those navy socks, the game against Wales a year after our first entry was the only time that England ever played in navy shorts and socks, and the 6th different pair of socks matched with their Home Kit between 1960 and 1961!
You may notice Sir Bobby Robson lining up for the Three Lions in this game.
No.4: England v West Germany, February 1966
White Shirts / Navy Shorts / Red Socks
England famously played West Germany in 1966, however its the not that game we are referring to in this piece it is that game that took place earlier that year in February.
England were in that classic look of the 60s, however in this game they wore their Away socks with that kit as West Germany were in their Away with white shorts and socks.
There is no colour pictures of this game, but you can see in this video the socks are a different shade to the shorts.
No.5: Brazil v England, May 1976
White Shirts / White Shorts / Yellow Socks
We now jump over 10 years and the kit landscape has changed dramatically in that time, England Kits were now produced by Admiral and some different colours were introduced into the England colour palette. However it was the use of Yellow Socks against Brazil that is our next unique Kit Look when the teams met in Los Angeles (Bi-Centennial Tournament).
Where the socks came from is a mystery, were they the socks from the alternative look worn three times by England in the summer of 1973 or training socks, or maybe even just brought from a local sports store to avoid the clash with Brazil??
No.6: Brazil v England, May 1977
Red Shirts / White Shorts / Royal Socks
One year later, England faced Brazil again and this time in Brazil. England wore their Admiral away kit for just the second time since they moved from Umbro in 1974, and with the introduction of Royal Blue as blue to match the home and away kits.
Alternative Royal socks were worn in this game, which matched the trim in sleeves and shorts for a striking look and given my love of “Tri-colour” kit combinations my favourite on this list.
No.7: England v Bulgaria, November 1979
White Shirts / Royal Shorts / Red Socks
Staying in the 70s and with these Admiral kits, it was a Kit “Mash Up” of Home and Away kits that gave us our 7th Unique Kit Look and another “Tri-Colour” Kit look. It had been 5 years of England wearing this Admiral Home Kit and in the final National game of 1979 we saw the only time it was paired with red away socks.
Unusually it was England playing at Wembley but they still went for an alternative look in this game, which makes me wonder if this was a last minute change with Bulgaria playing in white socks.
No.8: England v Argentina, June 1986
White Shirts / Sky Blue Shorts / Sky Blue Socks.
It would be nearly 7 years to our next one off look and possibly the most well known of these Kits we are looking at in this list, England have now returned to Umbro to produce their Kits, with these kits being the first in a partnership that would last nearly 30 years.
This unique kit look is the first that we see used in a Major Tournament, Mexico 86 World Cup. England faced Argentina in the Quarter Finals of the competition and wore a mash up of their Home Shirts and Away shorts and socks…. yes, the sky blue kit was considered the Away Kit in this competition only.
No.9: Sweden v England, June 2012
Navy Shirts / Navy Shorts / Navy Socks.
It would be 26 years unit we see our next one off kit look, and it was at another major tournament Euro 2012.
Navy blue was introduced as the Away colours, with Sky Blue shorts as a default look, the alternative navy shorts were worn in their Group game with Sweden for the only time (the “Home” Goalkeeper kit was used here as well, in all red for an interesting overall kit look for The Three Lions.
No.10: England v Italy, August 2012
White Shirts / Red Shorts / White Socks
After waiting 26 years for a new unique Kit Look for England, it was just two months and three games later that we our final one off kit look used.
England’s Home Kit of this time was all white, however used red detailing for the only time and with that kit we had an alternative set of red shorts that were used just once against Italy at the start of the 2012/13 season.
Poetically was the final Umbro produced Kit bookending nicely from the Umbro era with the unique look used in 1986.
So our 10 one off Kit Looks for England are:
- White Shirts / Navy Shorts / Hooped Socks
- Red Shirts / White Shorts / Navy Socks
- White Shirts / Navy Shorts / Navy Socks
- White Shirts / Navy Shorts / Red Socks
- White Shirts / White Shorts / Yellow Socks
- Red Shirts / White Shorts / Royal Socks
- White Shirts / Royal Shorts / Red Socks
- White Shirts /Sky Blue Shorts / Sky Blue Socks
- Navy Shirts / Navy Shorts / Navy Socks
- White Shirts / Red Shorts / White Socks
And there we have it, any surprises in these 10 Kit Looks and given the way kits are used now, will this list ever be added to in the future, unlikely but time will tell!
Any thoughts and comments please let me know over at my Socials…
X – @kit_geek or Bluesky – Kit Geek
If you liked this, then check out the below posts that have recently been published on the site…
England Kit History: 1960-1969
England Kit History: 1970-1979
England Kit History: 1980-1989
England Kit History: 1990-1999
England Kit History: 2000-2009
England Kit History: 2010-2019
England Kit History: 2020-2024
