
While adidas is a German company, just one team in the 2019-20 Bundesliga – Bayern Munich, of course – wear the three stripes. Both Nike and Umbro have more contracts, though the representation will double if Hamburg are promoted.
Back in the 1980s, it seemed that everybody either had adidas or Puma, with more veering towards adidas, and even in 1997-98, they still had seven in the top flight as well as Nuremburg, who would secure promotion from 2. Bundesliga. Hamburg, long-time adidas loyalists, had recently decamped to Uhlsport.
This was the first season after Bayern’s switch to primarily navy shirts but they wouldn’t retain the title – instead, Kaiserslautern came out on top immediately after being promoted.
It’s interesting to note that the team pages don’t explicitly say who is who but it’s easy to discern, of course. Also, not all of the kits shown were exactly as they would appear – Schalke’s change shirt was changed to have white adidas stripes to match the sleeves, for example.
Great stuff! I am a proud owner of the Stuttgart and Hertha home jerseys which are both superb. I also note that the nominao prices shown in the catalogue are roughly the same as today – only in DM! So, jerseys became more expensive by a factor of 2!!!