When this site began in its current guise four years ago, this series was one to help bring traffic, but the artwork was in our old, stone-age style, so we felt it was worth updating the posts.
Three decades on, we still feel that it’s difficult to top the 1990-91 Serie A season from a kits point of view, with little or no duds across the 18 teams. Italy had been slow to embrace change in terms of design, meaning that classic looks remained and, where companies were pushing the envelope a little bit, it was done in a restrained and considered manner.
We will display the kits worn across four instalments and you can judge for yourself – feel free to make suggestions for what you feel is a better kit league season and we might illustrate that, too.
Atalanta
Atalanta, who finished tenth, were one of three teams in Serie A that season with black and blue stripes.
Their kits were made by Ennerre, the home plain and uncomplicated while the away might have been of interest to adidas’s lawyers, taking its design cues from the best shirt of all-time (albeit flipped).
Bari
Bari were in adidas, in a style also used by the French and Polish national teams but not seen on any British sides’ kits. The home has been dubbed the ‘McLaren-Honda kit’ by an Italian site, while the away was a straight reversal – the positioning of the crest varied.
Bari finished the season in 13th and would sign David Platt in the summer of 1991.
Bologna
While blue and black stripes were popular, blue and red kits were prevalent too, with Bologna, Cagliari and Genoa mixing the colours. Unfortunately, Bologna were to finish bottom.
Bologna were in their traditional stripes, manufactured by Uhlsport, while their change kit was white, like so many other clubs. We’re still not sure if we like the fact that the stripes were on just one sleeve.
Cagliari
Cagliari’s style, like Genoa’s, is red and navy halves. Outfitted by Umbro, they were perhaps ahead of the kit curve in Italy at the time, with patterns featuring in the fabric.
On the home, this was a turtleshell-like pattern, while the change shirt was exactly the same as the England home, apart from the red trim on the collar. I Rossoblu came 14th, just above the relegation spots.
I prefer the Kappa version of the AC Milan kit, although there isn’t much in it: https://embracethemargin.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-sartorial-elegance-of-serie-ac.html
That Bari template looks identical to the UAE Italia 90 kits.
Here are my thoughts on the Bari shirt: https://embracethemargin.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-sartorial-elegance-of-serie-as-bari.html (Your article on this particular template was very useful in putting this together, so thanks for that.)
Atalanta in detail: https://embracethemargin.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-sartorial-elegance-of-serie.html
… and finally Bologna: https://embracethemargin.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-sartorial-elegance-of-serie-bologna.html