TAILORED BY UMBRO: MANCHESTER CITY HOME KIT

Umbro have unveiled the new Manchester City home kit for the 2010/11 season. The new kit, inspired by some of City’s classic shirts of the past, matches a smart, tailored look with the best in performance technology. The new kit is once again in City’s classic sky blue and features a subtle needle out pinstripe on the front panel, smart dart shaping on the back and a simple crew neck collar, adding an extra level of smart tailoring to the design.

The shirt was crafted with performance in mind and has a special ergonomic shape, which is designed to fit the player’s stance on the pitch, keeping the wearer comfortable at all times. The sleeve and underarm panels are built to aid movement and ventilation and to give the wearer more confidence when they step out onto the pitch. Constructed using a motion-stretch fabric, the sleeves on both the short and long sleeve version of the shirt feature white cuffs, a nod to the classic City shirts of the 1970s.

The home socks feature a maroon hoop which was inspired by a picture of Colin Bell wearing similar socks and is another reference to City’s heritage. The plain white shorts finish off their classy looking, heritage inspired home kit.

The goal keepers’ home kit is a stylish all black kit. We wonder who we will see wearing this kit the most this season with Shay Given and Joe Hart both pushing for the number 1 spot.

The new home kit follows on from the launch of the new Manchester City away kit which Umbro unveiled last week. You can order the shirt now on City’s official site.

Alongside the home kit, Manchester City have also revealed a beautiful new jacket inspired by one of the club’s classic managers. The Mercer jacket, an extra piece of apparel in the range inspired by an Umbro-jacket that the club’s legendary manager wore in the 1960s and 1970s. In sky blue with a blue, white and maroon trim, the jacket is made using the same three-panel system as the club’s onfield kits. The Mercer jacket also has some special touches of its own – the stitched letters on the back of the jacket are created using a bespoke 3D technique – look closely and you’ll see the team’s full name intricately crafted into the letters.