Top Shops - Online websites for Footy Kit
- footballclubse7en
- May 9, 2020
- 9 min read
Updated: May 24, 2020
I’ve gone into a lot of details about boots and kit for your first match outing. But do you click your fingers and they suddenly appear?? No, of course not, we can be old fashioned and hit the High Street and buy all this stuff...
......But today what with it being lockdown, we’ll focus on the online sites I’ve found really useful. The below are my favourites, my go-tos’ with a small review of each. It’s worth pointing out that if this is your first-time buying kit, I’d seriously consider hitting a physical shop up first, it’ll give you a chance to try the gear on and get familiar with sizing, as the big brands are slightly different. Once you’re more comfortable its still worth checking kit out physically, but then check online for better prices.
Please note that I don’t get any payments or endorsement fees for linking these websites…..
Without much ado, let’s get on with it:-
At FC7 we have said several times that we aspire to be more than just a club. And that’s what I love so much about this Unisport. Despite their name, they really are solely a footy website, which is what I really admire. None of this b-ball, cricket and egg chasing nonsense.
This is as pure as it gets.
TRIVIA: Born in Denmark, there’s a nice youtube video detailing their story and development. Delivery to the UK is quicker than most local sites and the cost comes in at the same too.
The website itself, is easy to navigate, everything is where you would expect to find it. Boots, replica kit, training wear (which is where you can find most of the items we chatted about in our post on packing your 1st kitbag). They supply pretty much anything football related you can dream of, sometimes it can just be a joy to whiz round the site for fun (if you are me maybe lol).
The other thing I like from Unisport, is the honesty. They are football fans first and foremost. Profit, sales etc are hugely important to any sited business, but I, as a customer, appreciate their transparent approach.
1 thing I’ve noticed is in the boot descriptions, they say if a boot is FG/AG, even if "officially" it isn't. I recently bought a pair of Copa Gloro 20.2 mutators and if you go to the Adidas site, it states they are FG boots. For someone starting out, all of these boot definitions can be a real headache.
But Unisport are open about you being able to use these boots on AG surfaces (3G to be correct). It may sound like a small point, but its massive to the end user. It means you can feel confident about buying a pair knowing full well they are acceptable for 3G pitches. This means the newbie wouldn’t have to buy my Copa Gloro’s for grass and then purchase another pair of AG boots or TF trainers for their 5-a-side kickaround.
Another feature of Unisport is their YouTube presence. They have their own channel. Not just 30 second picture reels of their equipment like other sites, but full-blown reviews. Moving away from reviews, their videos are also informative and have a heavy dose of comedy. How to look cooler on the pitch for example. It’s easy to get carried away and sit there for hours watching them.
In terms of the whole buying process. Champions League level again. Simple process, your bag gets remembered for a long period of time (nice feature), and that’s it done. The money comes out your account immediately. You’ll see me comment on this later, and maybe it’s me, and personal preference, but if I say spend £50 on a site, I’d prefer to have that money come out of my bank, there and then, and just sit back and excitedly await my delivery. But others, part-dispatch your order, and only take money from your account when it’s despatched. Not a big fan of that, as it’s too random, takes control of your cash awat from you and has the potential of just screwing up the whole order.
Another cool feature is Teamwear. If you’re taking FC7’s advice and looking to kit out your 5, 6, 7-a-side team, then Unisport give you the option to have themselves as your sponsor. BUT, they give you a 40% off the total order.......NOICE. A decent higadeallio! Think we will be taking them up on that for our all black ditty.
Anyways, I digress, Unisport are the dogs, when it comes to online shopping, honest reviews, comedy YouTube gold, website kudos and the whole purchasing procedure from cradle to the grave.
Well Done team!
Adidas are 1 of the big 3 (other two being Nike and Puma) when it comes to footy and sport in general. To me, an 80s child, you can’t beat Adidas. They are literally sewn into the fabric of football. The 3 stripes are part of soccer lore people!!! How many of us look back at some of the great teams and players of yesteryear and see them donning those classic Adidas kits?
TRIVIA: Started off by Adolf Dassler in the 1920s, he was joined by his brother Rudolf to create Adidas. 10 years later they convinced Jesse Owens (the great African-American athlete) to wear their spikes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he famously and single handedly destroyed Hitler’s vision of a superior Aryan race.
Site wise, its neat and economical, but that’s sometimes what you want. You’ll find nearly all of Adidas’ catalogue here, as well as any teams they supply with kits to. With independent sites like Unisport and ProDirectSoccer, this isn’t always the case. The flipside is that they charge up their items at full price. But subscribe to their site, and occasionally they do discounts and flash sales, so it’s definitely worth ur while dropping by but be quick, they aren’t always on that long and the stock disappears quick given how popular a site they are globally.
Overall the site ,delivers does exactly what it says on the tin. If you need a training shirt, order it, and it gets delivered. Simple. Sometime’s that all you need.
TRIVIA: Nike means “Victory” in ancient Greek, named after a Goddess. It is said that when the Greeks defeated the Persians on the plains of Marathon, a poor soul was tasked with running the fabled 26 miles to Athens to inform the war leaders. Upon arriving he shouted out NIKE before collapsing and dying. Google it, as I’m sure the distance and story may have changed over time, so don’t take my word for it.
Nike are the upstarts, a lot of our younger readers, may not realise this. 30 years ago, you’d hardly see 1 club or national team kitted up in Nike.
It’s testament to their growth, marketing and purchasing power that they make up the majority of kits in some top European leagues nowadays. It’s worth pointing out that Nike are a US company, which probably explains them being late to arrive to the footballing party. Now, Nike boots, equipment and training wear are the best, competing directly with Adidas and Puma only now. I prefer not to be a fanboy of any of the big 3. I have no qualms wearing Adidas boots, Nike shorts and a Puma top. It’s completely personal preference. Don’t deny yourself because you’re too stubborn and loyal to 1 brand, don’t reduce your ability to hit peak performance.
One thing I will say about Nike is that their purchasing process can be a little bit more convoluted than Adidas, not sure if it’s warehousing issues. I’ve ordered stock from them in normal circumstances and during the Covid19 crisis and it took the same amount of time. Not sure 3 weeks is acceptable for a company as big as Nike but the quality of their product, returns policy etc is something you can trust on.
A small and independent shop, it’s a cheerful site which once again gets the job done. No frills, no Youtube videos, WYSIWYG. Their catalogue of product is limited compared to other bigger companies, but their service is commendable.
They have some harder to find products strangely enough plus most of the big-name brands. But you’ll find sizes a little harder to find if you don’t hit them up on their release date. If you have uncommon size feet (Hagrid, we're looking at you....we will give her a mention later in the blog), then you can find some really good gems on their site for great prices, especially when they are on clearance. I found several Adidas training tops for £8 each when they were retailing for £28 on Adidas and other sites.
TRIVIA: Rudolph Dassler (remember of Adidas fame) split acrimoniously from his brother Adolf to setup a new company named Ruda…….you get me? Pretty uncool. He changed it to Puma, thankfully. Now the 3rd largest sports company globally after Nike and Adidas.
Puma do some great replica kits, their near monopoly of the African continent has produced some memorable numbers, they have been known for some outlandish experiments too (remember Cameroon’s sleeveless kits) but I like the fact that they like to push the boundaries and don’t stick to the rules. Some things never change tho, many of us still remember Puma Kings…….THE King when it came to TF trainers.
They still stock them, with little change to the design.
The one thing I find annoying with the website is that they don’t have a separate soccer gateway, so you have to faff around before you get to the meat of ordering your soccer gear. Again, which is why Unisport stand out so much, it’s basically a website, not too much to see here. It does it’s job. Ordering, delivery and after care are good so tick the boxes. The Training wear is top quality but again, I would check out the other sites, because the RRP of Puma products tend to be high end, even compared to Adidas and Nike, something to think about......
A little bit different here. This site sells retro or recent kits from clubs. You can find some real retro gems here but they are pricey. But if you spend a lot of time on the website then you can find cheap kits that are just a couple years old with no signs of tear. There’s also some great training wear to be had here too. I've put it on this list primarily as its fun to see some of the magic of the past and if you’re super fan or collector, it’s a must.
If it’s all a bit too pricey at “Classicfootballshirts.co.uk” then head over to Copa. They have slowly been branching out into kit manufacturing for legit clubs, it’s early days but their designs look pretty cool so far. The main product on sale here is “re-created” kit replicas. Copa faithfully re-create kits from bygone eras. The quality is top notch and the only thing they can’t replicate is the original maker logos (Adidas, Umbro etc), for legal reasons, I assume. The prices of these re-creations is high however, usually around the £50-60 mark but if you’re after an 70's/80's shirt elsewhere, you’d probably pay up and beyond £300, for a kit that is old, scratched up and not even the best fit. Copa’s kits are made with modern materials, regular fit, and their delivery, aftercare is high end. A good site to know for those footballing themed gifts you might be planning.
I like kitlocker.com, they are like a younger brother to Unisport. A little bit more than a website you head over to buy footy equipment. They have it all, have great sales and a good website but I like the teamwear section.
If you don’t fancy Unisport as your sponsor, this is a good alternative and are just as good price wise too. They show pictures of some of their team kits too, so it's worth checking them out first to see how they look in real life before you and your squad take the plunge.
They also have the usual replica kits, boots and other paraphernalia that you might be looking for when setting up your games from captain armbands to bibs. Their pricing structure is really good as well as their aftercare.
A few years ago, Subsidesports were a little all over the place. They weren’t sure if they were a direct competitor to High Street brands like JD and SportsDirect or something else, but now they seemed to have settled on a unique selling point. And this is replica kits.
We touched on retro ones before, but these are kits freshly fresh of the press on release or pre-release. The site itself, is really good. Sub sections dedicated to national kits, EPL, Bundesliga etc, Dedicated areas for printing of your idol’s names and number, if you’re looking for a club or national shirt, then this is your go-to website.
Final one for today. ProDirectSoccer, another what you see is what you get website. Everything is clearly labelled, and it is good to use. They seem to feature high on the search engine rankings so that could be genuine or paid for.
The 1 thing I’d say with them, is that I’m not sure how their warehousing of stock works in the background. One of my orders was taking a while and their helpful LiveChat feature told me that they had to order from Nike themselves. So I’m not 100% how they can guarantee stock if they are relying on a 3rd party.
The other thing I’d raise is that they have a policy of charging you only once they dispatch items. I’ve mentioned this before, it could be me, but I find this quite frustrating having to make sure I had enough in my account to cover their withdrawal, whenever they despatched your purchases. There’s no way of you knowing this either. Thinking about it, this could be because they have to order some of your items from a 3rd party. But I can neither confirm or deny this.
One last minor annoyance is that you can’t copy and paste the name of their products. Sometimes I find a really good deal for some boots on ProDirectSoccer, but I can not then CTRL+C and CTRL+V the product name/code into Google for a price search comparison.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good company, and does what it’s supposed to do. But just like on the pitch, it’s fractional margins that make or break a team from glory or not, and there’s some improvement that needs to be made here.
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