Three years with Kappa Türkiye has yielded ten outfield kits, but now the end of that deal is in sight. Before we learn the successor to Acun Ilıcalı’s brand licence of the Italian marque, let’s look back and rank those outfield kits bearing the ‘Omini’ logo of a man and woman sat back to back.
This article will feature my ranking and opinions first, because hey I pay the bills round here, but we’ll also go through the views of those kind souls who filled in a Microsoft form last week.
Caveats
- I’m going on aesthetics alone, not how we performed in the kit. I understand that past kits become ineluctably attached to good or bad matches and seasons, but we’re really assessing the work of the people who designed the kits, and frankly designers are not responsible for Tim Walter’s grim football. Nope, I’m judging solely on how it looks and how much it fits in the Tigers kit pantheon.
- Build quality isn’t factored in too, so don’t @ me telling me your crest fell off after a single wash on 30°. Aesthetics!
- These things are subjective, you’ll no doubt disagree with several of my decisions and that is all good. This is a subject being discussed purely out of love for the art form.
1. 2024/25 Change kit (Fan vote: 3rd)
The club drafted in amateur kit creator extraordinaire Barry Wilson to funk up the change kit in our 120th anniversary year, and funk it up he did, like a Falkirk dwelling George Clinton.
White is our traditional change colour, has been since our inception, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bland. Here, all the funk happens on the Raglan sleeves, which feature a Jackson Pollock like amber and black paint splash pattern that creates a loose look of tiger stripes without being so on the nose and cliched/gimmicky.
We also get a polo collar, which we’d gone 20 years without, and the classic repeating Kappa ‘Omini’ running from the shoulders to the competition patch/sleeve sponsor ‘free zone’.
This is magnificent, and is the nearest thing for me to challenge the 2007/08 change as my favourite white City shirt. The full kit works too, as we get the repeating ‘Omini’ again on the shorts, well, unless you’re Mo Belloumi at Oxford.
Respondent comments: “Brought back memories of my school days and visiting Prem on Anlaby Rd and wishing my Mum & Dad would buy me a Kappa trackie top. The shirts were different and I loved the designs by Concept Kits, which I don’t think Umbro or adidas would have let us do.” – Jamie Kelwick
2. 2024/25 Anniversary kit (Fan vote: 2nd)
The use of metallic gold on a kit is a decision that’s fraught with danger. There are many examples of it looking pretentious and/or tacky AF. Hat’s off to City then for executing the production of a kit that uses gold tastefully by making it the accent colour (even if there are a LOT of accents) and justifiably, for the club’s 120th anniversary, and not just for LOLs.
I’ve never heard anyone complain that there is no amber in this kit, which could be seen as a legitimate criticism if one were made, and I think that’s because it just works, the design is restrained and classy, and you can immediately tell there is a story behind it, rather than it being blingy for the sake of it. Gold is a proxy for amber here, and why not? Amber can be termed a ‘golden tone’ in between yellow and orange.
City didn’t just make a great looking kit however, they complemented it with a magnificent tracksuit in the finest Kappa tradition, and then had the balls to use these garments only once, against Cardiff. Supoib!
Respondent comments: “The anniversary kit clears the rest by 100 miles, fits perfect and the black and gold are incredible.” – Anon
“Even my mate who’s a Leeds fan said it was nice. Eventually.” – Sam H
3. 2024/25 Primary kit (Fan vote: 5th)
There’s something about thin stripes that gives a shirt an ‘old-timey’ quality, and that’s appropriate for a ‘home’ kit celebrating 120 years of the club’s existence. This shirt owed more to Hull City’s design sensibilities than Kappa’s, and the shirt it replaced, which stuck rigidly to the Pro Kombat ‘24 template, which meant no back stripes and plain sleeves, whereas here the stripes extended to the Raglan sleeves.
One fly in the ointment on the player shirts was back-of-shirt sponsor Safiport insisting their wordmark went above the players names rather than under the numbers, which cramped the style of the fine ‘120 years’ applique under the neck, but overall this was the classically styled, striped City shirt from Kappa that we deserved. Smart.
Respondent comments: “The 24/25 primary is a near perfect City kit.” – Greg Whitaker
“It looked like what I love a City shirt to look like. Full amber and black stripes, on both the front and back panels. They also find a place on the sleeves, too, which is a detail I adore and the ribbed V-neck collar finishes it off nicely. It is a shirt that was worthy of being an anniversary year home shirt.” – Mike Carter
4. 2025/26 Change kit (Fan vote: 1st)
Falkirk funkmeister Barry Wilson was back with a follow-up to his white-hot first change shirt, and smartly didn’t remix the elements that worked so well on that kit. That meant the placket-less Polo collar and repeating ‘Omini’ on the shoulders were reprised, on a shirt with amber stripes that are too thin to be termed ‘pinstripes’, so I’m going with ‘chalk-stripes’.
Some may disagree, but I think the two white stripes containing the ‘Omini’ add balance when the sponsor and name/number appliqués are also in white.
The respondent collective put this top of the pile, which **might** suggest some recency bias, but then it’s a fine offering, and Mr. Wilson will be happy that both those who kindly took time to take part and myself put one of his designs top.
Respondent comments: “This year’s change strip is just up there as an all-time classic for Hull City in my eyes. The pinstripes (who doesn’t love a pinstripe?), the ominis down the arms, the collar. Kits can get over-complicated easily but this is kept simple and clean and it just works so well. Also who doesn’t love a predominately black Hull City shirt?” – Steve Toogood
5. 2023/24 Primary kit (Fan vote: 6th)
Now, I know I said in the 2024/25 ‘home’ entry that I prefer that kit’s look taking more from City’s design lineage than that of Kappa’s, but it’s still true that when Kappa were first announced as the Tigers’s supplier, a kit utilising the trademark stylings of Kappa was exactly what I wanted to see.
The Italian brand’s skintight PRO KOMBAT range revolutionised all of football kit design when they released it in late 1999, and soon after the baggy shirts that looked like resistance parachutes on nippy players (think of Michael Owen racing in on goal as the Argentinian defence collectively evacuate their lower intestines in 1998) were gone, as Kappa’s form fitting look set the style tone for the 2000s, firing the starting gun on an era of performance focused design instead of “what looked good with jeans”. City getting one was mind blowing.
It wasn’t perfect, someone didn’t account for scaling issues, so teeny player shirts had just three amber stripes on the front, whereas a shirt for someone with ponderous bulk (like me) would have many, many more, advertising that I take up more space on earth than Jaden Philogene, Jason Lokilo, Tyler Morton and Liam Delap combined, though I reckon I’m only one and a half Ozan Tufans. Still, I was excited to see Tigers players wearing them, not me, so eeeeeeeeeehh.
I know some people really didn’t like how dark it was, and often I’ll say I want more amber on striped shirts to make them bright, but I was on board with the ‘black as possible to have an all-amber change kit’ method as a one-off. Sourcing bespoke amber numbers to fill the black ‘free zone’ on the back totally won me over too, again as a one off. High crest and marks, again I was okay with it because for their first kit, I wanted ALL THE KAPPA TRIMMINGS. Fight me.
Respondent comments: “My least favourite is the 2023/24 primary. They say it’s a game of two halves well this is a shirt of two sides, I love the front, the stripes, with more amber than black, but the all black back doesn’t work for me, in fact I found it confusing at times, it was like there were three teams on the pitch at the same time.” – Mike Kirman
6. 2023/24 Third kit (Fan vote: 10th)
It always surprises me when people say blue has nothing to do with Hull City, when the club had blue home shirts in both 1935/36 and 1946/47, the latter being for the first season at Boothferry Park no less.
What’s more blue has a lot to do with the City of Hull; look up at the buildings when you walk round the city centre and you’ll see a plethora of azure blue shields containing three gold coronet crowns, the symbol of our enchanting burgh upon two rivers. The city was also a powerhouse for synthetic ultramarine blue dye production, first by Reckitts and later by Holliday Pigments.
Anyway, football kits, that’s right… The royal blue third looked suitably regal, and featured an asymmetrically trimmed V-neck style that wasn’t shared with many Kappa stable-mates. A strong look in my view.
Not a view that respondents share however, they put it dead last.
Respondent comments: “As a huge fan of a blue kit, my distaste for the 25/26 third surprised me. But those black/navy/just plain wrong stripes down the sides ruin it completely. The 23/24 third colour combo is magnificent.” – Kate Ogram
7. 2025/26 Primary kit (Fan vote: 4th)
Perhaps it was too much to expect a trio of striped primary shirts, though maybe it shouldn’t be since we had back to back all-amber ensembles. In fairness though this is pretty good, it’s as if we’ve made a highly enhanced version of the 2024/25 third shirt, showing restraint to keep a tiger stripe pattern to the Raglan sleeves, but keeping the fine Polo-collar.
The tone is a little odd though, under certain lights it looks our regular amber, but in daylight it seems oddly pale, significantly lighter than the amber used on the first two Kappa primary kits. I wish I could just ignore it but it irritates me a bit every time I notice.
Respondent comments: “The 2025/26 season uniform was fantastic, but it sold out before I could get my hands on one. This is the first time since 2013 that I haven’t bought a uniform.” – Youri Komatsu from Japan
8. 2023/24 Change kit (Fan vote: 9th)
I really like the concept of all-amber away, and for a single season I don’t mind having a very dark home kit to justify it. It reminds me of AC Milan’s Lotto era, when they had four kits but all of them used the base colours of red, black and white, with an all-white change, an all-red third and an all-black fourth. Four kits using the same club colour scheme? Impressive.
The execution though, disappointed me. The shirt was the same template as the third but on that it was the flood of colour that worked, here the amber was a little darker that we’re used to (it was used on the primary shirt too but it’s easy to miss that when the amber is contrasted heavily by so much black. The Pantone is called ‘Apricot’.) and when you add a darker element still, the stripes made up of the words ‘UP THE TIGERS’ repeating, then the ’amber’ looks darker than the bright tone that colour psychologists will tell you represents vitality, confidence and safety. I’ve also never been a fan of ‘UTT’, it’s always struck me as a bit twee.
From the stands, this kit looks great, but close up, it loses me.
Respondent comments: “Not a fan of the all amber 2nd/3rd kits.
Hope we don’t see them again.” – Liam Marsh
“My favourite is the 2023/24 away shirt, the plain amber with the Up The Tigers writing all over the shirt. It should have been the home one, even the black logo made that very particular.” – Leonardo Annoscia (Italy)
9. 2025/26 Third kit (Fan vote: 7th)
Now, I like the colourway, and having written a quasi-treatise on the relevance of blue in the Tiger’s palette it would be hypocritical of me not to, but after that I’m out. It’s the kaleidoscopic treatment of the tiger-head, it just looks amateurish to my eye, a hasty circular motion on an iPad screen rather than than a real considered approach.
Some of that might come from me not liking the current tiger-head, which I think is a real mess. The tiger-head in use from 1973 to 2019 was imperfect but much loved. In reality it was more of a snow leopard than a tiger, as tigers have quite angular heads and the City crest was more round headed like a domestic cat. Still, it just needed improving upon and simplifying with digital content in mind.
What happened was the tiger-head stripes became much busier and fuzzier, the opposite of what needed to happen, and the tiger’s chin was hacked off. I can never look at the current tiger head without seeing the hacked off chin, which makes it less realistic looking than it was before, and don’t come at me with that crap of the fans chose it, those invited to take part were given several pre-designed elements that could be mashed together as options to chose from, and the severed chin tiger was on all of them.
So in effect no fans voted for the amended tiger-head, that choice had already been made, which frankly makes the whole ‘fan-input’ claim dishonest. So, any repeating pattern of severed-chinned isn’t going to appeal to me.
Again though, looks fine from the stands.
Respondent comments: “Not sure if my opinion has recency bias after seeing us wear the third kid on Friday at Oxford, but what a shirt.” – Anon
10. 2024/25 Third kit (Fan vote: 8th)
The same problem with the 2023/24 away is replicated here: using darker amber for your contrast pattern darkens the full shirt, especially when it’s as widespread as an all over tiger stripe print. That leaves this shirt not looking like amber, but something nearer to orange, and our main colour is neither yellow nor orange, it’s somewhere in between.
I get the sense that the third kit was going to be in the olive drab colour used on the coaches jackets and other lesiurewear, but that executive meddling changed that late on. It’s entirely possible that kit would have been awful, but it would have been something different and I’d like to have seen it.
Instead we replicated the 2023/24 change and slapped on a tiger-skin print, something I fear we’re turning to a little too often. The nickname of the Tigers was given to us because we wear amber and black vertical stripes, it’s a great nickname, but we don’t need to use a tiger-skin print to the point of being contrived and gimmicky and we’re on the precipice of that currently.
Respondent comments: “Proper collar looks better, regardless of year. I did like how in 2024/25 we used a combination of varying levels of black, amber & white for all 3 kits – it adds to the identity.” – Anon
| HCK (Les) ranking 1. 2024/25 Change kit 2. 2024/25 Anniversary 3. 2024/25 Primary 4. 2025/26 Change 5. 2023/24 Primary 6. 2023/24 Third 7. 2025/26 Primary 8. 2023/24 Change 9. 2025/26 Third 10. 2024/25 Third | Fan vote ranking 1. 2025/26 Change 2. 2024/25 Anniversary 3. 2024/25 Change 4. 2025/26 Primary 5. 2024/25 Primary 6. 2023/24 Primary 7. 2025/26 Third 8. 2024/25 Third 9. 2023/24 Change 10. 2023/24 Third |
General respondent comments:
“We’ve had some great eye catching kit designs under Kappa. I feel like the Kappa name has helped us get recognition from outside of the fanbase including the more football fashion focused social pages. I’m confident the future designs can continue to carry on the standards that have been set.
Although my favourite product launch was actually the first retro jacket, nobody expected the launch and having the players turn up to a televised game was a great way to catch attention.” – Lee Dearing
“I know they’ll be an internal reason but why they didn’t just “copy” the Man City 97/99 kit template will always hurt.” – Lewis Shepard
“They should have used the kappa more on the shoulders/sleeves and done a proper retro style home kit.” – Geo’s Ice Cream Van
“I think the kit design has been high with Kappa. Looking forward to seeing what’s next.” – Marsters
“Kits have all been very similar. Lack of creativity.” – Martin T
“Amber numbers on a black background was my favourite thing.” – Anon
“It should all be about aesthetics, about the look on the pitch and it representing the club to all. I’d wanted Kappa for a long time but it being Kappa Turkiye and not the core Italian brand gave us quality issues that could never be ignored. The poly blend just feels and and washes terribly.” – Anon
“While the quality wasn’t great, I’ll be sad to see the back of Kappa, as overall the kits designs have been decent and got better year on year. This years kits were also the envy of a lot of Championship clubs fans – often seeing Second Tier vloggers & bloggers rating them highly too. A tough act to follow (case in point: see Venezia. Nocta not anywhere near the design standard Kappa set before them and not gained the global attention the Kappa kits did).” – A Hull City fan with an interest in design, who comes from a creative and marketing background.
“This was harder than I expected, there were more kits than I thought that I liked. I do think Kappa’s best work with us has been their jackets and tracksuit wear rather than their kits though. I’m looking forward to something different, maybe a lesser known brand that will create some really bespoke kits? The dream would be something like Mizuno and some 90s J-League style kit, but there’s no chance of that. Umbro would be a safe but welcome bet.” – William Young
“The material isnt great for us chunkier lads as it is clingy. However, I am a big fan of a collar on a shirt although my ratings maybe suggest otherwise.” – Warren Holmes
“If you ask me again tomorrow they will be in a different order!” – Dave
“I, generally like simple designs. Overall, the first season with Kappa was the best imo. Even the training wear was better than anything since. The home shirt did have too much black on it though.” – Paul Alterskye
“No opinions just can’t work out if I’ve double clicked any by accident.” – Saul
