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Shirt: Liverpool 95/96 Away
Album: None
I vaguely remember the release of this shirt back in 1995. I wasn’t quite old enough to understand the ins and outs of Liverpool’s history, but I knew this shirt was a radical change from anything Liverpool had before.
I think if I was laying eyes on it for the first time now as an adult, I’d probably think it would be better suited crossing the line at the Grand National rather than appearing in an FA Cup final.
But everything looks better through rose tinted glasses and this shirt now takes it’s place among Liverpool’s all-time classic aways. Because of this, I was quite excited to put it on for today’s walk but reality doesn’t always match up to the expectation.
For a start, the shirt I have is a small, but because it’s from the 90s the sleeves are around 12” in diameter. Unless you’re built like Schwarzenegger your arms will poke out like pipe cleaners, which is jarring when you’re used to the tighter fits on today’s shirts. The boxy fit in the torso is also very of its time, accentuated by the quartered design.
The design harks back to Liverpool’s first ever shirt from 1892, except that was actually a half and half shirt, in white and blue. I get why they wouldn’t use blue (because Everton) and I get why they wouldn’t do a halved shirt (because Blackburn had just won the League), but then it begs the question why go there at all? Let alone why New Balance would choose to revisit the design 12 years later…
Still, it was nice that Adidas ostentatious branding from the previous 4 seasons had been toned down, with the famous three stripes only appearing on the sleeves and not prominently on the torso.
Back to the walk. I pulled on the shirt, which fit like a double duvet cover, and put on my coat. At this point, Mrs Kit For Brains pointed out that the combination of coat, white grandad collar with its buttons and the quartered design made me look like “a jockey on the way to a business meeting”.
Still, even if it was the height of summer I wouldn’t be able to wear this shirt without a coat. Because filling out those sleeves would require far too much time at the gym.
Shirt Rating: 9/10
If you fancy taking part, getting your team to the top of the league table and receiving a unique medal, then visit https://www.footballshirtsfc.co.uk/events to find out how to get involved! Donate if you feel able to, or raise awareness on Twitter by using the hashtag #FootballShirtCharityRun
Kit For Brains 
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