Item 2022.90.2 - Umbro international for Paul Smith SPORT Reversible England Away Shirt

Humphreys Brothers Clothing was founded as a sportswear company in 1920 by Harold Humphreys (1902–74) and Wallace Humphreys (1900–50) in a workshop in Wilmslow, Cheshire. On 23 May 2024, the company name was changed to “Humphreys Brothers Limited” and they began manufacturing sportswear using Umbro as their brand name, combining the UM from Humphreys and the BRO from Brothers. Initially focused on football shirts, Umbro expanded into rugby jerseys and socks by 1933. Umbro first gained national recognition in 1934, when club Manchester City won the FA Cup wearing Umbro Tangeru jerseys made of Peruvian Pima cotton.

As with many British apparel manufacturers, Umbro shifted production to military uniforms during the Second World War. Following the war, as football’s popularity grew globally, they expanded their business by providing kits for teams worldwide. Umbro began producing unofficial replica kits aimed at children in 1956 under the name SPORTSWEAR Xmas Pack, which included a shirt, shorts and socks in the team’s official colours. Seven of the sixteen competitors at the 1966 World Cup wore Umbro kits, including the winning England team, further stimulating the company’s replica shirt business. The relaxation of rules by the Football Association in 1977 regarding sponsorship saw the market in replica football kits rapidly expand, and it became increasingly essential to Umbro’s business in the following decades. In 1992, the Humphreys family sold the business to Stone Manufacturing, an underwear manufacturer based in South Carolina, and closed its factories in Macclesfield and Stockport the same year. Umbro was sold to venture capitalist firm Doughty Hanson & Co. for £90 million in 1999. The company signed a £60 million kit sponsorship and merchandising deal with football club Manchester United in 1996, the largest deal ever signed by a British sportswear company. Later that year, Umbro signed a £20 million kit sponsorship deal with Chelsea Football Club. In 2003, the Office of Fair Trading concluded an investigation into price fixing on replica football shirts, fining companies including JJB Sports, Manchester United and the Football Association £18.6 million. Umbro was fined £6.64 million. Umbro agreed to a
£285 million takeover bid from Nike in 2007; however, Nike sold the company to the American Iconix Brand Group in 2012. Notably, Umbro collaborated with menswear designer Kim Jones (b. 1973) on a series of collections between 2004 and 2007. It was the beginning of the company’s relationships with other fashion designers, including Aitor Throup, Philip Treacy, Peter Saville, R. Newbold, Palace, John Smedley, Patta, House of Holland, Off-White, Vetements, Supreme, Christopher Raeburn and JUUN.J.
Sources: The Times.

In 1970, Paul Smith (b. 1946) opened his first store at 10 Byard Lane, Nottingham, named Paul Smith Vetements Pour l’Homme. The first menswear collection under the Paul Smith label debuted in Paris in 1976; their first London store opened in 1979 at 44 Floral Street, London, expanding into the adjacent shop in 1982. The first store in Japan opened in 1984 and the brand expanded through a licensing agreement with Japanese company Itochu. The year 1984 also saw the company collaborate with UK high-street tailor Austin Reed, producing a range of suits under the label ‘Paul Smith at Cue by Austin Reed’. A denim range called Paul Smith Jeans was launched in 1988, and a casual diffusion range titled PS Paul Smith in 1993.

The R. Newbold range was launched in 1993 after Paul Smith took over the Derby-based menswear manufacturer R. Newbold in 1991. Founded in 1885, R. Newbold was a manufacturer of three-piece suits, overalls, miners’ wear, and military and emergency service uniforms. The Design Museum, London has staged two exhibitions devoted to Paul Smith’s work: True Brit in 1995, and Hello, My Name Is Paul Smith in 2015. In 1999, Paul Smith launched Red Ear, a denim collection designed and manufactured in Japan. By 2002 Paul Smith had 200 shops and 500 wholesale customers in Japan. In 2006 Japanese licensee Itochu bought a 40 per cent stake in the company for an undisclosed price. Simon Homes, the brand’s head of menswear, was named creative director in 2015, but Paul Smith returned to the role in 2018. In 2015, the brand also consolidated its various secondary lines and denim collections under the new PS by Paul Smith label.

By 2020, the company had been streamlined to produce the Paul Smith mainline collection, the PS Paul Smith range and a small childrenswear and homeware line. Paul Smith has collaborated with several companies including Mini car, Triumph motorbikes, HP Sauce, Mercian cycles, Evian, Leica cameras, Anglepoise, Rapha, Land Rover, New Balance, Cinelli, Globe- Trotter and Converse. Paul Smith won the Menswear Designer award at the British Fashion Awards in 1997, 1999 and 2003. Paul Smith was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to fashion in the 1994 New Year’s Honours. For his contributions to fashion, he was knighted in the 2000 Birthday Honours and appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2020 Birthday Honours.
Sources: Management Today; Menswear; Financial Times; Paul Smith, Deyan Sudjic and Donna Loveday, Hello, My Name is Paul Smith: Fashion and Other Stories, ed. Alan Aboud (New York: Rizzoli, 2013); Sonnet Stanfill, ed., 80s Fashion: From Club to Catwalk (London: V&A Publishing, 2013); The Sunday Times; WWD.
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