Modern American soccer is getting to an age where we can look back on a recent heritage both on and off the field. Recently, Jacob Gallagher of the WSJ wrote a piece titled "Nostalgic for '90s Soccer Style? Men's Fashion is, Too," where he highlighted the current increase in prominent streetwear labels collaborating with soccer companies that arguably underwent their respective golden ages in the mid-to-late '90s.
Last month, in an act of pure coincidence and inspired half by a contest presented by Howler and half by a random picture of Noel and Liam Gallagher from the abovementioned era, I searched the Internet for a reissued, sky blue Umbro Pro Training jersey that I could use for my weekly five-a-side games. I was surprised to discover that the most prominent online U.S.-based soccer retailers did not offer this product. A search on Soccer.com yielded 19 results, and although most of these were jerseys, the particular jersey I was seeking was not among them. I also checked Urban Outfitters, who in the last few years has increased the amount of vintage soccer-influenced gear it sells. No success here either, though they did have similar Umbro products arising from a recent collaboration with British streetwear label House of Holland. I then broadened my search to include Amazon and eBay, which were a little bit better in terms of volume and assortment of Umbro goods, but they did not offer the jersey. (I also checked Etsy, which had a lot of good stuff, albeit preowned, from Umbro's heyday.) Having exhausted all of the usually reliable sources for soccer products in the U.S., the only place online in the world that I found carrying the jersey was Pro:Direct Soccer, the renowned soccer megastore located in London, so I bought it from there.
But in 2017, why is this the case?
In fairness to Umbro, it does have an option to buy its products online from its U.S. regional page. But there are two issues. First, not all of its product lines are available, particularly its throwback Pro Training line, which I had to access directly by searching Pro:Direct Soccer's website. Instead, you'll mostly find replica jerseys from its more high profile teams and its latest soccer cleats. Second, even though the products have a "Buy Now" button on Umbro's official website, clicking on this link redirects you to a product page on Pro:Direct Soccer's website.
I'd like the record to show that I love Umbro, who is celebrating its 90th year of existence in 2017. To paraphrase the eternal Wayne Campbell, in the '90s, every youth soccer player in America had at least one pair of checkered black Umbro shorts. If you lived in the suburbs you were issued them. They came in the mail with samples of Tide. One summer, at soccer camp, I traded a pair of new, in-bag Nike Inter Milan socks to a Scottish camp counselor for a pair of Umbro Pro Training shorts I once saw in an Umbro instructional VHS tape. (I knew in that pre-e-commerce era that you couldn't get them in the U.S., and I still think it was a great deal.) I actually had a partner at my law firm, not that long ago, fondly recall lounging in his Umbro shorts during his college days.
I am not alone in possessing this affinity. Over the last decade or so, Umbro, though retreating from an era when it outfitted global names like Manchester United, Chelsea, Ajax and the English National Team, has sought to make up ground by engaging in certain projects aimed at Generation Y's fashion-conscious soccer enthusiasts, betting that quality products with modern, recognizable collaborators can still resonate with a demographic that regards the brand as the weekend uniform of their adolescence. The British sportswear company as of late has collaborated with revered fashion designer Kim Jones and current streetwear man of the moment/design icon/Kanye guru Virgil Abloh's OFF-White label. In closer alignment with its soccer pedigree, it has also joined forces for a throwback-inspired showcase of upcoming apparel with Los Angeles-based soccer lifestyle blog Kicks to the Pitch, while also producing apparel for the fictional club Asbury Park FC, the brainchild of a group of creatives that includes U.S. soccer culture influencer Shawn Francis.
Note that Umbro's offerings in the past few years haven't been exclusively engineered with an eye towards Hypebeast posts. It still manufactures performance apparel the likes of which fight for the same consumers as those produced by competitors Nike, Adidas and Under Armour, as well as soccer cleats ranging from the iridescent Velocita 3 to the revered, no-frills Speciali model, a boot that has amassed a cult-like legion of devotees over generations, particularly in the United Kingdom.
Umbro has also managed to survive in the domain of on-field professional apparel and equipment outfitting, sponsoring an impressive silo of club and national teams in an era when several of its competitors, in a span of less than 20 years, have comparatively faded away. As of the time of this post, you'll find the double-diamond on the chest of the Irish, Canadian and Peruvian men's national team jerseys as well as on this season's Everton, West Ham and PSV Eindhoven shirts, just to name a few. The brand also sponsors a slew of Latin American clubs, and recently, a rumor surfaced that legendary Italian side Napoli had entered into an agreement with the company. And in an act of cross-pollination that appeals to both millennial cool kids and those who are in it primarily for the love of American soccer, Umbro recently unveiled this season's jerseys for USL side Phoenix Rising FC, which counts as co-owners Diplo and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy fame, among others. The jersey even features Mad Decent, Diplo's record label, as its shirt sponsor in an uncommon (but still cool and possibly unprecedented) diagonally aligned placement across its chest.
In an era where two soccer gear manufacturers have largely absorbed the marketshare and minds of soccer product consumers in America, Umbro has found a very unique (and very valuable) niche, which is integral to its survival. It's a niche that blends authentic, American and British soccer nostalgia with a more than respectable presence as a shirt supplier for clubs that, while not necessarily the most global of household names, are nevertheless impressive and well known amongst those familiar with the game (who are also the same people that recognize Umbro's legacy of quality). Umbro's honesty with itself as a brand and its realization that it may not have the clout that Adidas or Nike possess (an honesty which many of its other competitors have failed to exhibit) enables one of its greatest strengths: nimbleness. Umbro is more a quality independent boutique whereas Adidas and Nike are more big box retail. And in 2017, as other industries demonstrate, these two business models can coexist (think the relationship between blockbuster movies and independent films or Barnes & Noble and your locally-owned bookshop down the street). This status enables Umbro to be a seller of soccer wares you'd see available from other brands, but it also allows it (in part by leveraging its history) to do the unexpected and collaborate with designers like the ones mentioned above to create some unique, original and good soccer paraphernalia.
Given the paragraphs above, it is hard to grasp why purchasing a lot of Umbro materials requires U.S. buyers to use a third-party website and pay additional trans-Atlantic shipping costs and also why the company hasn't presented a more accessible mode for making more of its wide range of gear available to U.S. consumers. In recent years, one of the best sources of Umbro creations in America has been off-price retail chains like Ross. I know this because, for three years of law school, I lived across the street from one. Usually once a week, I would walk over to find gear that I saw a short few months ago on Umbro's website now priced at a law student-friendly discount. England shorts, Manchester City jerseys, New York Cosmos t-shirts, and just standard soccer gear with the double diamond were to be had and were gladly snatched up, not just because it was cheap, but also because it was quality stuff. My point is, while that was really convenient, I was only able to get that gear at an off-price retail store, whose offerings generally just appear at random, with no predictability as to what I would encounter. That was my main way of purchasing Umbro products, which I'm sure is the case for many other people in the U.S., and though you can argue that places as wide-ranging as Soccer.com, Urban Outfitters, Asos, Gilt and Amazon sell Umbro gear, those individual retailers don't offer a one-stop, reliable source for any U.S. buyers to purchase all Umbro product lines they may stumble upon, whether it be on a field or a fashion blog.
I wish Umbro would open a single, brick-and-mortar retail location (that also took online orders) that was modeled more like a boutique shop than what we have come to perceive as a typical sportswear store and base it somewhere in New York City, the junction in America where so many of its target markets converge. Fashioning a store comprised of one-third replica soccer apparel, one-third modern performance apparel, and one-third specialty collaborations/primarily fashion oriented products in the same spirit as an independent coffee shop or bookstore would stay true to its niche status in the American sports/soccer/fashion retail spectra while simultaneously serving as a foil for the larger athletic apparel/athleisure stores that are becoming more common in metropolitan areas (which, don't get me wrong, I like). New York City is also home to a multitude of 20 and 30 somethings who grew up with the brand in this county and/or comprise probably the largest assembly of soccer savy residents of any geographic area in America. NYC is a fashion mecca as well, with knowledgeable residents willing to pay premium prices for streetwear and vintage-inspired popular pieces, both of which have proliferated under Umbro's watch as of late. Additionally, New York's status as the capital of civilization means walk-in customers with different cultural backgrounds, whether they be full-time residents of the city or tourists (which would, in theory, aid in the sales of international club and national team articles). All of this of course supplements the fact that there are 8.4 million people in that town, many of which would look to an Umbro store to buy soccer gear for their league games or general athletic apparel for working out.
Of course, doing this immediately may not be ideal, given the current shaky status of tradition brick-and-mortar retail shops in modern times. But at the very least I'd go.