THE CHOICE OF CHAMPIONS

Hilary Middleton looks back on the history of Umbro, “the sportswear people”

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Umbro has been producing quality sportswear for nearly 100 years. Once described as “the Dior of the football world”, the brand has been showcased by our most celebrated football heroes and sporting icons. Its double diamond logo is recognised the world over.

The company kitted out the British athletics team at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. Roger Bannister broke the fourminute-mile wearing Umbro kit two years later, and ahead of the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the company secured contracts to supply kit to all 16 competing nations; only the Soviet Union chose not to wear it. While catering to a range of sports, football has always been the main focus. The England team first wore an Umbro strip in 1954 and enjoyed a strong association for almost 60 years.

The story starts with one man: Harold Charles Humphreys. Born in the Cheshire village of Mobberley on 31 January 1902, he left school, aged 13, to work at a Manchester textile firm. His duties included dusting and polishing the banisters on a seven-story-high staircase. Diligent and ambitious, he progressed quickly, ending up in haberdashery where he developed an eye for fine tailoring.

With the post World War One economy struggling, Harold found himself out of work for a week. This short bout of unemployment affected him so profoundly that he vowed never to be without a job again. Now in his late teens, he was taken on as a travelling salesman by Messrs Bucks, a sportswear company in Stockport later known as Bukta. He soon tired of the life. “I couldn’t see any chance of the advancement I wanted for myself,” he said. “I was terribly keen on success, so I started a small retail business.”