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Nostalgia strip: Why we're obsessing over retro kits

Why is the nation turning its back on the class of 2018 for a Gazza 19 or Beckham 7?

England

You have to go back an entire generation to find a time when England can really class a tournament as a success.

Two semi-finals in the space of six years meant that the '90s was perhaps the best footballing decade since the 1960s, and it seems that fans really are harking back to the good old days.

Retro football shirts are more popular than ever before, and you'll spot plenty of '90s throwbacks on the terraces cheering the Three Lions on.

But why? Why is the nation turning its back on the class of 2018 for a Gazza 19 or Beckham 7?

The Cost...

Perhaps first and foremost is the sheer difference in price. The recent release of the New England shirt caused uproar thanks to its £65 price tag, while you can pick up a retro one for half the price.

UKSoccershop have noticed a significant upturn on retro England shirts and are expecting another large surge as the World Cup approaches.

They stock Scoredraw's range, who have become a huge business selling officially licensed retro products.

That's on top of the likes of Classic Football Shirts, who source genuine vintage shirts and sell them for a similar cost to the price of today's shirt.

Cool Britannia

That's all down to the resurrection of the '90s in popular culture. Today, fashion is very much inspired by the decade, while the likes of the Gallaghers, Stone Roses and Adidas Originals are as popular as ever.

The '90s are in, and nothing speaks the decade like football casual culture. That's making the likes of the Italia '90 home shirt a very sought-after garment indeed, particularly when there seems to be a constant stream of similar templates brought out by Nike and the like.

The '90s in both football shirts and fashion offered bold colours, sharp designs and patterns that offered a sense of fun and freedom you don't get with a climafit jersey that clings to your beer belly.

Few kits in 2018 offer that. Adidas themselves have even cottoned onto the trend with a number of their World Cup kits this summer taking inspiration from the '80s and '90s. Germany's offerings are a particularly good example of this.

Simply Put, Better Days

Ask any hipster football fan which they would prefer though and it'd be the 1990 shirt, no hesitation.

That's because retro shirts offer one big thing - an escape to the better days.

In the 1990s footballers had a personality. The likes of Gazza, Paul Merson and Eric Cantona weren't like the media-trained players of today and the shirts reflected that.

They were full of colour, identity and spirit. It can be argued that the billion pound industry of today has lost that.

We no longer have something that looks as cool off the pitch as it does off it. Where retro shirts seemed focused on design, today it's focused on technology. Finding the gains to earn the extra points. And while the football hipsters can cheer them on, they look a lot cooler in the Euro '96 shirt that helped Psycho banish the ghost of six years prior.

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