Written by Mike Carter, Hull KR Shirts
On Sunday 23rd February, Hull KR revealed a Retro Range, which has been designed with an eye on a Matchwinner jacket from 1993/94. The range includes a Jacket, Polo, Hoody and Tee all of which have the same classic 90s design.
The original jacket was made by Matchwinner, who manufactured Hull KR apparel for 5 years from late 1989 until 1994 and supplied Hull KR with many iconic designs.
Hull KR have unleashed OXEN on the task of recreating something very similar. The jacket is almost a like-for-like design, with only the Matchwinner branding not appearing as it originally did.
If we’re judging it based on its likeness compared with the original release, I think they’ve done a great job with replacing the design, however, I always find shirts without a maker marker to look a little lop-sided, and I feel this is what has happened here.
I’m fortunate to have one of the originals, so I won’t be rushing out to buy one of these, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty in the stands at future games.
Why isn’t there external OXEN branding?
Looking at the images of the range online, you can see that OXEN has manufactured the range, due to the neck tag labels hosting their branding, but there is no external application of the logo. I enquired about this and there was an internal belief that the range looked better without it.
If it was me, I think that I would have added the OXEN branding and even gone one step further. The player specification version of the original jacket carried a large Matchwinner logo on the reverse and I would have been tempted to do the same. It would have been brash and a tad in your face, but that was clothing in the 1990s – even if this was only applied to the jacket, I think it would have worked.
A mate of mine said to me that he only really liked the jacket because it felt truly retro in the sense of it being a 90s style, and I think he makes a great point. I must admit, it proper suits Bill Leyland, too.
The Hoody, Tee and Polo are all fine and will appeal to certain members of the fanbase, but for me, it is a slight stretch too far. I understand we’re a business and need to turnover retail lines, but I still think the jacket will be the most popular choice.
Why didn’t Hull KR collaborate with Matchwinner?
In recent times, the Matchwinner licence has been picked up by the Fourex Group meaning they’re able to recreate classic designs with Matchwinner branding if they can strike a deal with a club to use their image rights. This is what has happened at Hull City, with the process being easier to manage since the Owner of Hull City also owns Kappa Türkiye – handy, eh? Neither of Hull’s Rugby League clubs have collaborated with Matchwinner so far and this is likely down to prior agreements with their respective manufacturers. It remains to be seen should either be able to work Matchwinner into their future plans.
The edited imagery is excellent, too. Andrew Foster, over on Twitter, made a great point about how it looks like a clipping from a 90s programme, and it does! Once again, that is one of the little one-percenters that can make all the difference. There is even a shadow layer of the design elements over the image, too! Neat!
Should it have had a retro crest?
This is probably the biggest question being asked after the launch of this Retro Range, and I think it’s a fair question to ask. It works fine with the new badge, but I think it could have pushed this to the next level. Surely, the team at Hull KR know the minute they drop something with an old crest on, it’ll be one of the most in-demand lines. Even those supporters who love the new crest will still clamour for a range with an old crest on – as a human race, we all crave nostalgia on some level.
We’re around 3 and a half years on from the launch of the new crest and I can understand it if the club feels like it is still too soon to go back down that road. I have to say that my opinion is that one day, it will be on an apparel range, and the whole of East Hull will rejoice!
You can view the Retro Range and purchase it by clicking here.
Up the Robins!
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