Colour transitions are rarely reversible, as anyone that’s dropped a single strongly-coloured item amongst their white laundry can sadly testify.
Last week’s launch of Sunderland’s Elvis-inspired away kit was eye-catching on many levels — not just the pink shirt itself but the groundbreaking partnership with the Elvis Presley Estate, which will see visitors to Graceland in Memphis able to buy the Sunderland shirt as a memento of their pilgrimage.
The commercial opportunities that such a partnership
opens up are indicative of the level at which Sunderland need to operate, in order to compete in an environment dominated by the worldwide reach of clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal and the two Manchester teams.
Initiatives to generate income are an essential element of succeeding as a Premier League side — financial rules mean that having rich owners no longer guarantees the ability for clubs to splash the cash, as our nearest and dearest black and white neighbours are increasingly discovering. Being “the wichest clurb in the wurrld” does not automatically bring success!
But, as much as I’m impressed by the vision of our hierarchy to exploit previously untapped market opportunities, I’m also very much excited to see what hummel will produce as a home shirt for our first European campaign in over half of a century.
So what can we distill from how the pink Elvis kit might separate into the home red and white stripes?
The first clue may be in the neckline — collars are back! Now, that may simply be a nod to Elvis’s pink and black-shouldered suit but it would be no surprise to see hummel continue the theme with the home shirt.
The badge may hold the second clue. Last season’s gorgeous blue away shirt bore the iconic ship badge, while the club crest appeared centrally on the home kit. This season, the pink Elvis away shirt features the club crest discreetly embossed within the patterning on the chest.
Finally, hummel’s iconic chevrons are completely absent from the Graceland collaboration. It would be surprising if they did not appear on the home shirt.
So, putting all the clues together, the indications are that the home shirt will:
- Have a collar
- Bear the traditional ‘ship’ badge, and
- Carry hummel’s chevrons
Looking back at hummel’s previous offerings, there’s one 1990s version that seems to tick all the boxes.
The Elvis away kit has its genesis in a suit worn seventy years ago, but our 2026/2027 home shirt may be a throwback to the 1991/1992 Vaux-sponsored version, the kit that carried Sunderland all the way to the FA Cup Final!
Whether Right Said Fred were getting you ‘Deeply Dippy’, or you were smooching to Wet Wet Wet’s Goodbye Girl, or relishing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody renaissance courtesy of Wayne’s World, it was Sunderland’s best cup performance since 1985, and until 2014.
With Europa League competition just weeks away, could hummel have a kit paying homage to a thirty-five-year- old classic ready to launch Sunderland into arguably the biggest cup competition we have ever entered?
However it turns out, as fans, we can be assured that we will again have a bespoke shirt, carrying regional and historical references, from a manufacturer who gets what it means to be Sunderland ’til we die!
