Here we sit in the gaping pit that is the third tier of English football, falling from our high place and penetration of the top six in the Premier League. Yet, the two announced kits - home and away - are absolute bangers; we had expected they would need to cheap out, or we would get basic reference kit designs, but instead we have a gorgeous patterned royal blue home kit and the best away kit I think we have had.
With these two announced kits being mostly unique designs for the Foxes, I think it would be interesting to reminisce about old shirts and which should be brought back in the future with a refreshed design. Having gone through a large variety of them, I have decided upon five I would like to see return.
Five Retro Leicester City Shirts to Refresh
Before kicking off the list, I would like to state my bias clearly. I usually prefer designs with actual patterns, seeing a plain blocked colour (like royal blue with no gradient or pattern to it) as boring and not particularly worth remembering or bringing back; in addition, as a fan of the old Walkers sponsor days, four of the five to bear the Walkers sponsorship: one I wish we could see return.
A home kit to inspire
Let's envisage our own kit line-up. The home kit should be a refresh of the 1990-91 Walkers Crisp shirt. A geometric pseudo-random pattern of gradient and spotted shades of blue, a white sponsor logo, a white retro LCFC badge, and a proper white collar with a red accent. It is gorgeous. The King Power Club did re-release the kit as a standard shirt recently, but I want to see them wear a refreshed version of this on the pitch again.
To modernise it, I suppose you lose the red accents on the collar and add some white stripes across the shoulder, and a white stripe around the sleeves and bottom of the torso. Perhaps they ought to add some inlaid patterns of characteristic Leicestershire animals (foxes and deer), although I think that would add needless complexity to an already well-patterned kit.
Two away kits to compete
Aside from the maroon-coloured designs, a base of white with minimal blue accents has been a regular away kit design for Leicester City. We have not seen them since 2020-21, when we also had the near-perfect maroon third kit. To be fair, that 2020-21 white gear was also beautiful thanks to a subtle pattern and golden stripes down the sides.
However, the two white designs I think would be nice to make a return are quite different. That being said, the 2020-21 away kit could be used to modernise the 1992-93 'Walkers Crisps' kit. A plain, clean, white base, featuring a blue Walkers Crisps sponsorship, blue LCFC lettering beneath the collar, and it was the first (it shared the same design as the previous season) to have a badge we would recognise as the current Foxes logo. It was clean with a classic sponsor; there was nothing to hate.
On the other hand, we may like the diagonal sash, a clearer block of colour to break up the plain white. In that case, the non-Walkers sponsor kit I propose is the old Leicester Alliance away kit from 2005-06. It sported a black and bright blue sash which only ran over the front of the shirt, stopping at the plain white sleeves, and featured that bright blue colour under the arms, and black around the collar.
This one I feel has great potential to be modernised by better designers, especially with respect to the sash terminating abruptly at the sleeves and having no pattern or design on the shoulders. I also think the background white could do with some gradient geometric shapes (blocky perhaps) to break it up, with dots of the bright blue hue inlaid throughout. It could be a very nice modern kit if we take those colours and that dual-sash and refresh them with modern sensibilities.
Two colourful third kits
In my humble opinion, your third kit should always be out there with the colour and design, being more visually stimulating and interesting; since you will wear it less, it should be exciting when the team does. That being said, I propose either a proper yellow or a vibrant red.
The pair are actually from the same year. 1987-88. We saw a deep red with a gradient-patterned crimson overlay across the whole shirt from torso to shoulders. It featured a white Walkers Crisps sponsor, the retro fox badge, and white, red, and blue collar and sleeve trims. Honestly, there is little I would want to see altered about this: I could see dropping the multi-coloured trims in favour of a plain white, a shoulder stripe that continues down the sleeves, and adding a white trim at the bottom of the torso.
The other from 1987-88 was the third kit. A yellow base, golden/darker yellow stripes across the whole kit including the shoulders, with navy trims and lettering. Truly, this one just looks really nice; perhaps it could be improved by adding some animalistic features around the stripes similar to our 2026-27 home kit; otherwise, Leicester City would have to do very little to modernise and re-release this design. Maybe a traditional polo collar would be a good addition.
Which retro kits do you think Leicester should bring back as actual on-field shirts, or how would you alter one to modernise and refresh it for the new age? Let Foxes of Leicester know through our social media channels. Make sure to check out our five best kits of the previous decade as well, and join the conversation during this season of kits.
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