West Ham Home Shirts in the ’80s

From 1980 to 1983, West Hams’ home shirt had no sponsor. It was plain in appearance, in the clubs’ traditional claret and blue, with claret stripes down the side of the sleeve. The shorts were white with claret stripes down the side, and the shirt had a v-neck collar. As always, the club crest and the shirt maker, Adidas, were on the left and right sides respectively. The socks were white with three claret stripes along the kneeroll.

1980-83

The home shirt for the 1983/84 season had one major difference; it was the clubs first ever sponsored shirt. The clubs’ sponsor, AVCO TRUST, was placed in the centre of the shirt in a blue rectangle. Whilst the shorts and socks were still the same, the shirt had a few alterations. The sleeves were plain blue, the collar was white, and the shirt styled a more modern club logo, consisting of two hammers with WHUFC underprinted.

1983-85

The following seasons’ kit was exactly the same as its’ descendant, but the sponsor was shortened from AVCO TRUST to simply AVCO, a more recognisable name.

From 1985-87, Adidas took a different approach to West Hams’ home kit. Instead of the normal block colours, the shirt was made up of what can only be described as ‘horizontal white pin-stripes’. There was also two white lines down the side of the shirt, and thin blue lines along the side of the sleeves. Also, the Adidas logo was printed on the socks, although this would change very soon…

1985-87

In 1987, Scoreline took over the production of West Hams’ shirts, in a deal that would last two years. They straight away went back to the clubs’ traditional style, of claret and blue. However, this time the sleeves were claret and the blue lines down the inner side of the shirt were much thicker,and there were only two lines on the socks, as opposed to three. The collar was light blue and white. Also, in one major move, the club crest was moved to the centre of the shirt, directly above the sponsor.

1987-89

For the 1989-90 season, Bukta made the clubs’ shirts. In a major move, the whole kit had a chequered style and was different to any others. It still was claret but went back to having solid blue sleeves, and the socks and shorts had a combination of claret and blue lines on them. Also, the shorts had the club crest on them, in a first for the Hammers’. The sponsor of the shirt changed from AVCO, the sponsor for the past decade or so, from BAC Windows. This shirt would last to 1991.

1989-91

West Ham Home Shirts in the ’80s

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