West Ham Jersey Buying Guide: Home, Away and Classic Shirts

Few shirts in English football carry as much history as a West Ham jersey: claret and blue, crossed hammers, and well over a century of east London football behind them. This West Ham jersey buying guide covers the new New Balance kits, the classics worth hunting down, and how to be sure the shirt you order is the real thing.

Why claret and blue still matters

West Ham United have worn claret and blue since the club's earliest years, and the colours have outlasted almost everything else about the place. The ground changed in 2016, when the club left the Boleyn Ground for the London Stadium. The suppliers have changed more than a dozen times, the sponsors have ranged from a window firm to a bookmaker, and the shirt itself has stayed recognisably the same.

That continuity is a large part of why a West Ham jersey sells so well second hand. This is the club of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, which lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965 and then waited 58 years for its next European trophy. That wait ended in Prague in June 2023, when Jarrod Bowen struck late to beat Fiorentina 2-1 in the UEFA Europa Conference League final.

The current kits: New Balance takes over from Umbro

The headline for anyone shopping right now is the change of supplier. Umbro's long second spell as kit maker ended after the 2025/26 season, and New Balance took over from 2026/27, with the first shirts going on sale in July 2026. BOYLE Sports continues as front-of-shirt sponsor, appearing on the men's and women's home, away, third and training kits.

The home shirt leans traditional: a claret body with sky blue sleeves, a checked detail on the collar and cuffs, and a textured fabric. The away is a crisp white with claret and light blue accents, fine piping around the collar and cuffs, and claret shorts and socks. It carries a woven pattern inspired by the ceiling of the Boleyn Tavern, the pub on the corner by the old ground, and wears the crossed hammers on the left chest in place of the full badge. You can see the official releases on the club's own website.

A short history of West Ham kit manufacturers

West Ham made their own shirts for most of the club's first seven decades. Bukta supplied the kit in the mid-1970s, then Admiral took over from 1976 to 1980, the era of bold trim and loud branding. adidas followed from 1980 to 1987, Scoreline from 1987 to 1989, and Bukta returned for four seasons from 1989.

Then comes the run most collectors care about. Pony held the deal from 1993 to 1999, Fila from 1999 to 2003, Reebok from 2003 to 2007, Umbro from 2007 to 2010, Macron from 2010 to 2013, adidas again from 2013 to 2015, and Umbro once more from 2015 until 2026. If you want the wider picture of how these deals shape a shirt, our explainer on football kit manufacturers and what they bring to a design is a useful companion read.

Classic West Ham shirts worth collecting

The 1980 FA Cup final shirt is the one most people ask about. West Ham beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley with a Trevor Brooking header, wearing a white Admiral away top with a blue V-neck trimmed in claret and a blue block on the sleeve. It remains the last time the club won the FA Cup, which keeps demand high and prices firm.

The Pony years are the other hot spot. The 1993 to 1995 home, with its oversized blue Pony emblem, is a nineties icon, and the 1998/99 white away with the crossed hammers set under the neckline is a quieter favourite. Fila's polo-collared range from 1999 to 2001 has aged well, and Macron's 2011/12 home, claret and blue with gold touches, is regularly voted the best modern Hammers shirt by supporters. Two more are worth watching: the 2015/16 kit marking the final season at Upton Park, and the 2016/17 shirts carrying commemorative print for the move to the London Stadium. Our guide to the best retro football jerseys to collect explains why shirts tied to a specific event hold value.

Sponsors through the years

Avco was the club's first front-of-shirt sponsor in the 1980s, followed by BAC Windows from 1989 to 1992 and Dagenham Motors through most of the nineties. Dr Martens, with that curved logo across the chest, ran from 1998 to 2003 and is probably the most recognisable of the lot. JobServe came next, then XL, whose deal was cut short when the travel firm ran into financial trouble, then SBOBet, Alpari from 2013 to 2015, Betway for a decade from 2015, and BoyleSports from 2025.

Sponsor matters when you buy retro: two shirts from the same season can look identical in a thumbnail and be worth very different money depending on the chest logo. Check it against the season before you commit.

Home, away or third: which should you buy?

If it is your first West Ham jersey, buy the home. Claret with blue sleeves is the shirt people recognise, it works with jeans on a Saturday, and it holds resale value better than anything else in the range. The away is the better pick if you already own a home or you want something you can wear without it reading as matchday kit, and white away shirts have a long history at the club. Third kits are the gamble: smaller runs make them collectable later, but they date faster. Browse the full Premier League jersey range or the wider club team jerseys section to compare.

Player version or fan version?

Player versions use lighter engineered fabric, a tighter athletic cut and bonded or heat-pressed detailing. Fan versions are roomier, more durable in the wash and considerably cheaper. Unless you actually play in your shirt, the fan version is the sensible buy. Our player version versus fan version buyer's guide breaks down the differences in detail, and authentic versus replica football jerseys covers the terminology you will see on listings.

Getting the size right

Sizing is where most online orders go wrong. Player-version shirts typically run one size small against the same brand's fan version, and a New Balance medium will not necessarily match the Umbro medium already in your wardrobe. Measure a shirt you own flat across the chest, double it, and compare that against the listed measurement rather than trusting the label. Our football jersey size guide has the chest and length measurements laid out brand by brand.

How to spot a fake West Ham jersey

Counterfeits have improved, but they still give themselves away. Check the crossed hammers badge for crisp stitching and correct proportions, look at the sponsor print for slightly wrong typography or spacing, and inspect the inner neck label and wash tag, which fakes usually get wrong. A price far below everyone else is the clearest warning of all. Our guide on how to spot counterfeit football jerseys goes through the checks one by one, and retro versus reissue football shirts explains the difference between an original and an official modern remake, which trips up a lot of buyers in the vintage market.

Looking after it

Wash a claret shirt cold and inside out, skip the fabric softener because it clogs the moisture-wicking fibres, and never put a printed name and number anywhere near a tumble dryer. Claret fades visibly under heat, so an old West Ham jersey that still looks rich has almost always been line-dried. Our notes on how to care for your football jersey cover printing, sponsor logos and long-term storage, and if you are buying with one eye on value, which football shirts gain value is worth a read first.

Where to buy your West Ham jersey

SideJersey stocks home, away and third shirts across the Premier League, with classic and retro options too. If you are building a collection, start with our classic jerseys and retro jerseys sections, or the best Premier League kits of all time for ideas. Supporting a different London or English club? We have guides for plenty of them, including our Everton jersey buying guide and Celtic jersey buying guide. More reading lives on the SideJersey blog, and if you have a question about sizing, shipping or returns, the FAQ page answers the common ones.