The Heat Press ’25: Kit Round Up, 27th June

It’s back…..!

As we approach the end of June, teams are now starting to kick off their pre-season training and of the course the Club World Cup is still in full swing with the completion of the group stages, I thought it was time to dust off The Heat Press and take a look at some new kits….

To pass these summer weeks I will take a weekly (or maybe more) look at the Kits launched across the English Leagues and beyond, the discussion points and anything else Kit Related that comes up. I will only share those kits that have been officially released, as there are plenty of leaks that do the rounds but we will keep this official.

You will also find my Kit Overview illustrations for each of the four divisions.

Premier League – 11 / 60 Kits

New Kits:

Everton, Home: The first kit to be worn at The Hill Dickinson Stadium, which takes inspiration from the new stadium’s location on the banks of the River Mersey and shows a ‘wave’ that flows throughout the shirt. Blue socks will also return as first choice colour, the first time since 2014 / 15 season, although they were navy blue, this is time royal blue socks will be used in the kit’s default look since 2012 / 13.

Tottenham Hotspur, Away: Tottenham Hotspur have followed up their Home Kit, by launching their Away Kit, this is all black kit with a subtle checked pattern within both the shirt and shorts, the kit is being labeled as “In Darkness we Dare” which is a spin on the club’s motto “To do is to dare”. The first team in Premier League to launch Home and Away kits.

Wolverhampton Wanderers, Home: The second season with Sudu as manufacturer and it’s another classic looking Wolves kit, simple but effective, I like that they keep the Home Kits simple and it works well in my eyes, nice collar too and detailing within the shirt.

Championship – 6 / 72 Kits

New Kits:

Preston North End, Away: A fairly standard offering from Castore in terms of the Home Kit, some nice details within the shirt which take inspiration from Deepdale. The talking point here is the sponsor, Spud Bros… but from my point of view, they are local company supporting their local team, so fair play to them, much more appealing than a betting company, so a win from this Kit Geek.

Millwall, Home: If you follow me on Social Media you will know that I’m a Millwall fan, so been waiting for this one, last season’s Home Kit was wonderful, one of my favourite Millwall kits of all time, so any kit this season will have some big shoes to fill in my eyes…! And they have delivered, a simple and clean look, something classical about this shirt with it’s central placement of logos, one happy Millwall Fan here.

West Bromwich Albion, Home: Macron 2nd season with WBA, an interesting collar and some additional detailing in the socks, which also contain a single stripe.

League One – 14 / 72 Kits

New Kits:

Bradford City, Away: Bradford City launched their new Away Kit at the end of last week, and its light, almost metallic all blue look on the road this season, paired with a Pink 3rd Kit which was released at the end of last season! This kit also carries “UK City of Culture” detail on this shirt.

Northampton Town, 3rd Kit: Its the 3rd Kit first up for Northampton Town and another almost metallic futuristic look in League One, with aqua green, gray kit and detailed with neon yellow… a nice look, that works well for me.

Cardiff City, Home: New Balance remains as Cardiff’s kit manufacturer for a 4th season, and this season will see the club play in pinstripes with white shorts and blue socks!

League Two – 18 / 72 Kits

New Kits:

Shrewsbury Town, Home: A nice looking kit, based on one worn by the club between 1983 and 1985. Some nice details within the shirt and the red trim is something that I particularly like and works for me. Oxen delivering some nice designs again.

Cambridge United, Away: Umbro and Cambridge United are a partnership that have consistently delivered and this season looks to continue that trend, with new Home Kit launched last week and the Away proving to be a classic look that will work perfectly as a change kit!

Cambridge United, 3rd: The full kit set is completed for Cambridge, with this black kit which is paired with gold shorts and black socks, a nice balance from Home Kit.

This week’s Kit News…..

Chelsea wore their 2025 / 26 Away Kit for the first time in the Club World Cup Group Game against ES Tunis. The Kit was worn with alternative socks, rather than the Green default socks.

It appears the Brentford x Joma deal is confirmed, with the launch of their training range this week.

Barnsley have confirmed they are moving away from Puma have signed a new Kit deal with Oxen, who now will supply at least three teams in League One this season and four in total in EFL.

Carlisle United who were relegated into National League last season, launched their new home kit and its another look to the past with Umbro, this time taking one of their classic Away kit looks but giving it a home kit spin as they look to bounce back to League Two this season!

You might wonder why the announcements of Liverpool’s new signings has been using last season’s Nike Kits, the new deal with Adidas does not start until 1st August, so all activity including pre-season friendlies in July will be in Nike playing and training kits.

Manchester City used their alternative shorts and socks with their Home Kit in the final World Club Cup Group game against Juventus, the navy shorts and socks give a really interesting look that I think works well with the navy details within the shirt, a look I hope we see in Premier League this season!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or 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…

Premier League – Kit Observations

Premier League – One Kit Wonders

Premier League – End of Season Review

Premier League – Top Trumps

EFL, The Championship 24/25: End of Season Kit Report

The 2024 / 25 The Championship Season came to a close on Saturday 3rd May 2025, with Leeds United securing the title in stoppage time on the final day of the season from Burnley, with both teams amassing a staggering 100 points. Sheffield United, Sunderland, Coventry City and Bristol City will compete in the Playoffs for the final promotion place.

I am taking my annual in depth look at the kits worn during the league stage of the season (not including Play Offs).

Overview of Kits Worn

Kit Stats

  • 1104 Kits worn (552 Games)
  • 95 Different Kit variations used by the 24 teams.
  • Home Kits – 34% of Kit variations used
    • 32 Home Kits worn in total 
    • 8 Home Kit variations worn
  • Away Kits – 35% of variations used
    • 33 Away Kits worn in total
    • 10 Away Kit variations worn
  • 3rd Kits – 29% of variations worn
    • 24 3rd Kits worn in total
    • 4 3rd Kit variations worn
  • Special Kits – 2% of variations worn
    • 2 Special Kits worn in total

Kit Log – Match 1 to Match 23

Kit Log – Match 24 to Match 46

Kit Variations

Looking in more detail at the kit variations worn by the Championship Teams

  • Luton Town in 9 Kit Variations: Home x3, Away x3, 3rd x3
  • Plymouth Argyle in 6 Kit Variations: Home x4, Away, 3rd
  • Sheffield Wednesday in 5 Kit Variations: Home x2, Away x2, 3rd
  • 12 Teams wore 4 Kit Variations
    • Cardiff City: Home, Away x2, 3rd
    • Coventry City: Home, Away, 3rd x2
    • Hull City: Home, Away, 3rd, Special
    • Middlesbrough: Home, Away, 3rd, Special
    • Millwall: Home, Away x2, 3rd
    • Oxford United: Home, Away x2, 3rd
    • Portsmouth: Home, Away x3, 3rd
    • Preston North End: Home, Away, 3rd x2
    • Sheffield United: Home x2, Away, 3rd
    • Stoke City: Home, Away x2, 3rd
    • Swansea City: Home, Away x2, 3rd
    • Watford: Home x2, Away, 3rd
  • 9 Teams wore 3 Kit Variations (Home, Away, 3rd Kits)
  • Most Variations of Home Kit – 4 Kits
    • Plymouth Argyle:
      • Default Home
      • Home with Home Shorts & white (Away) socks
      • Home with black (3rd) shorts & white (Away socks)
      • Home with Black (3rd shorts) and Home socks
  • Most Variations of Away Kit – 3 Kits
    • Luton Town
      • Default All Navy Away
      • Away with Orange (Home) socks
      • Away with White (3rd) socks
  • Most Variations of 3rd Kit – 3 Kits
    • Luton Town
      • Default All White 3rd
      • 3rd with Navy (Home) shorts
      • 3rd with Navy (Home) shorts and Navy (Away) socks
  • 11 Teams only used Kits with no variations
  • Most worn Home Kit – 39, Norwich City
  • Most worn Away Kit – 14, Leeds United
  • Most worn 3rd Kit – 12, Hull City and Millwall

Something that I have created last season which provided to be popular was an overview of when each of the new kits were first worn, for example… Burnley wore 3rd Kit, Home Kit and then Away Kit in their first three games

Match 1 to Match 23

Match 24 to Match 46

Kit Grid

Below is a graphic of what kits where worn against what teams, its one that I share on a weekly basis on my Twitter Account – @Kit_Geek

Kit Highlights and Summary

In 2024 / 25 Championship season teams wore 95 Kits, this was an increase on the number kits compared to last season where 85 Kits were worn, this is the joint with League One with the fewest number of Kit Variations seen this season with Luton Town using nine Kit Variations, 9.5% of the total Kits used in The Championship

The single most worn Kit in the League was Norwich City for the second season in a row, who wore their Home Kit in 39 of the 46 League games, however this was a reduction from last season having worn their Home Kit 41 times in 23 / 24 Season.

Luton Town were the Kit Lovers Team of the Championship, with a perfectly matched set of kits that was able to be mix and matched, providing nine different looks with some wonderful mash ups!

Plymouth Argyle were another team that made good use of their Kit Set, using 3rd Shorts (Black) and Away Socks (White) to provide alternative Home Kit Variations with white / black shorts and socks.

A theme seen within The Championship was the use of the Kit Set to create new looks, several teams used their Kit in this way, Luton Town and Plymouth Argyle above, there were other notable examples.

Watford made good use of their Black Away Kit shorts and socks, to keep kit looking very much to the club colours.

Preston mashed up their 3rd Kit (shirt) and Away (shorts and socks), to give a different Kit Look at Sheffield Wednesday but one that tonally worked perfectly.

Also Cardiff City, Coventry City, Millwall, Oxford United, Portsmouth, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City and Swansea City, used another set of socks to create a different Kit Look, with most of these looks being used against Sheffield Wednesday!

Sheffield Wednesday’s Away Kit was an interesting story this season. When released it was shown with black / white socks, that were nice in their design, something a little different, however during the season we did not actually see these socks in action, rather plain white ones worn four times with their Away Kit (and used three times for an alternative Home Kit Look).

There were two “Special Kits” on show in the 2024 / 25 Season…

Hull City wore a special 120th Anniversary Kit against Cardiff City on 28th September.

Middlesbrough wore a “No more Red” Kit, which was a charity kit against Knife Crime, this was worn against Coventry City on 2nd November

There we have it, The Championship’s End of Season Kit report for 2024 / 25, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over on my Socials.

X – @kit_geek or Bluesky – Kit Geek

You can find other End of Season Reports below when they are published…!

League One – 2024 / 25

League Two – 2024 / 25

Premier League – 2024 / 25

Millwall x Hummel

As many you of you know I am Millwall supporter and have been over 30 years now, when it comes to posting and writing articles I always look to remain neutral and do not tend to focus on my own club, however for one post I need to make an exception and here’s why….

Today (Wednesday 20th April 2022), Millwall announced a new Kit Partnership with Hummel and honestly this makes me feel like I am 10 years old again…. in fact, the closest feeling to this is when Millwall first had their kits produced by ASICS, which at the time I found amazing that we had the same kit manufacturer as two of the biggest clubs at the time, Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers (1994)

Looking at my years of supporting the club the Kits have been produced by likes of Spall, Errea, Bukta, Macron and even a brand owned by then club owner Theo Paphitis (Strikeforce), so the thought of my club having what I would view as a World Class Kit Manufacturer really makes this Millwall Supporting Kit Geek excited.

Over the past few seasons in Macron’s second spell with the club have really delivered some wonderful kits, very much taken their influence from kits from late 80s, early 90s and I thank them for this, so there are decent size “shoes” to fill but given some of kits designed and produced over the past few seasons for clubs in English Football I cannot wait to see what this iconic brand have in store for my club.

The deal is a long-term deal for the next five years, starting from 2022 / 23 season and will provide “Bespoke” kits for the club’s teams and coaching staff, as well as taking control of Club Shop and online retail, this is a huge step for the club.

The full statement can be found here

In the meantime, here is a Concept Kit design created by a “Friend of Kit Geek” @KonceptKitz just to give you an idea of what Millwall x Hummel kit could look like!

Let me know your thoughts, especially you Millwall fans out there!

Thank you for indulging me in this little love in… normal service will resume.