If you've been watching football for a few years, you may have noticed an important shift in the way football shirts are worn in recent years. Long-sleeved football shirts, once a common sight in Premier League matches, have become increasingly rare, even in the coldest weather.
For fans who love seeing the long-sleeve versions of their favourite kits, this development is sure to have been met with dismay. So what's the explanation for the decline of long sleeves in football? And is there any hope that these iconic jerseys might make a comeback?
Join us in exploring the rise, fall and (potential) rebirth of long-sleeve football shirts...
Why did long sleeves fall out of fashion?
In the early days of football, long-sleeve shirts were very much the norm, as football shirts were largely similar to rugby kits in terms of their materials and design. Look back at photos of England's World Cup win in 1966, for example, and you'll see long sleeves worn by every player.
This continued to be the standard for most of the game's formative decades, with players simply rolling up their sleeves if they got too warm, but in the latter half of the 20th century short-sleeved shirts started to be introduced as an option. Whether because players wanted something lighter to wear out on the pitch, or simply due to changing fashions, short sleeves soon became a popular choice - but long-sleeved kits didn't disappear immediately. Even throughout the early Premier League era, it was still common to see players switching between the two versions over the course of the season, depending on the weather.
It was not until the late 2000s that the true threat to the era of long-sleeved shirts emerged: base layers. These ultra-thin, body-hugging undershirts tapped into the modern football trend of tech-driven performance gains, promising various practical benefits: they absorb sweat from the skin more easily, offer better muscle support, and are harder for opponents to grab hold of.
Manchester United star Wayne Rooney has been widely credited for popularising the now-common look of wearing a base layer underneath a standard short-sleeved shirt, starting in the 2007-08 season. The iconic image of Rooney scoring his famous overhead kick for Manchester United in their 2011 derby victory over Manchester City, wearing his short sleeves and base layer, helped to enshrine this look as the new professional standard in fans' imaginations.
Could long-sleeve shirts make a comeback?
During the 2010s, it very much seemed that the writing was on the wall for long-sleeve shirts. Most players eschewed long sleeves in favour of base layers, leading to an inevitable drop in demand for long-sleeved versions of the kits among fans. As such, more and more clubs dropped long-sleeve replica options from their catalogues, and they became just as rare a sight in the club store as they were on the pitch.
Football tends to be a forward-looking game, so it might have seemed likely that this transition to base layers would cause long-sleeve shirts to simply fade away into extinction, going the same way as half-time oranges or leather footballs.
However, there have been a few signs in recent years that long sleeves may not be gone for good. Several top players have been sighted playing with traditional long sleeves, both at international and club level, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, Sergio Ramos, James Rodriguez and Leroy Sané all rocking long sleeves in the last couple of seasons. Given the stature and social media influence of some of these players, could this be the start of a resurgence for the long-sleeved shirt?
In truth, it's too early to say. Football and fashion are both highly unpredictable, so it's difficult to guess what the shirts of the future might look like - but football and fashion also share a history of unexpected comebacks, so let's not count the long-sleeved shirt out just yet!
TOFFS - where the long-sleeved shirt will never go out of fashion
Even though the fortunes of the long-sleeve football shirt will wax and wane as fashions change, fans of the traditional long sleeves look will always have a home here at TOFFS. We're dedicated to producing high-quality replica shirts that pay tribute to the most iconic sportswear of years gone by - and that means long-sleeved shirts galore!
Browse our range of retro football shirts, and you'll find a huge selection of replica retro kits from around the world, including every major English side, various European giants, and a huge range of international sides.
Take a look through our catalogue today, and see if your favourite retro kit is available in a long-sleeve version - every one of our jerseys is manufactured by hand here in the UK using 100% cotton, so you'll have a few extra sleeve inches of quality and comfort to enjoy!
