Everyone knows Umbro. England’s most famous sportswear brand has been burned into the collective memories of the masses through legendary ‘90s football shirts (which have been faked, copied, and turned into streetwear an unspeakable amount) and that iconic photo of Oasis’ Liam Gallagher. But Umbro’s newest collaborators? These are for a small circle of stylish football nerds.

Case in point: Umbro’s collection with Secondhalf.pdf. This screen-printing enterprise is the side project of Tom McManus, owner of football-obsessed London vintage store Locker Room, and James Dunn, a creative at the football publication Soccer Bible. The duo hand-prints sections of old football shirts onto tees, beanies, and posters, creating cleverly distorted tributes to football’s most iconic designs. 

It’s undeniably cool stuff, but niche.

Secondhalf.pdf’s Instagram account currently has just under 1,400 followers and the brand is about to reach its second birthday. But Umbro clearly has its ear to the ground because it brought in this fledgling brand for a four-piece collection that prints the textures of wrinkled shirts and goalkeeper gloves across T-shirts and hats. 

This is the world that Umbro is tapped into, proving that it truly does know ball.

The legend of English sportswear was somewhat dormant throughout the 2000s as it lost many of its major football kit contracts, most notably with the England national team. In turn, it pivoted to fashion collaborations, linking up with Kim Jones from 2004 to 2008 and Palace in 2012. But these were nostalgia plays whereas Umbro’s recent collaborations are reflective of its modern rejuvenation.

As we first noticed a couple of years ago, Umbro is suddenly a really good streetwear brand. That’s partly due to intelligent redirection à la Stüssy. That’s also partly because Umbro works with really good streetwear brands. 

A multi-season Slam Jam partnership producing everything from balaclava-fitted hoodies to chainmail football shirts heralded Umbro’s stylish new status.

Continued link-ups with established heavyweights like Supreme, Palace, and Aries have helped boost the company’s profile but Umbro feels proper “cool” because of well-chosen collaborations with people in the culture. 

In response to the virality of football boots being fitted with Vibram-soled shoes, Umbro asked one of the cobblers behind it all, JW Customs, to cook something up using old Umbro boots. Slow suiting label LC23 was asked to create high-end Italian Umbro suiting, and Adam Jones applied his upcycling craft to deadstock Umbro goods. 

In streetwear, you're only ever as cool as the company you keep and for 100-year-old sportswear label Umbro, that's some pretty cool company.

Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit HS Shopping for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.