Town have launched their home and away kits for the 2023/24 season, inspired by the strips the Blues wore when gaining promotion to the Premier League in 1999/00 and then finishing fifth in the top flight the following season, and with funds going to the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, the charity supported by Blues legend Marcus Stewart.
The two Umbro kits - the traditional blue at home and the orange worn away during 1999/00, the latter also appearing to have a nod towards the 1991/92 third strip - are available from this morning and Town will wear them for the first time in the pre-season friendly at Felixstowe & Walton this afternoon.
Stewart and teammate Martjn Reuser appear in a promotional video along with members of the current men’s and women’s squad.
The club will be donating £2 from every home shirt sold during July to the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, the charity backed by Stewart, who revealed last year that he is battling the disease.
The shirts are again sponsored by Ed Sheeran, who also features in the video, while the Running Towards Adversity message is on the inside of the collar and the three stars representing the club’s major trophies are on the back.
Paul Macro, Town’s head of retail, told the club site: "During the first two kit releases of the contract with Umbro we always planned to take inspiration from the past in order to create something new.
"We did that last season, taking inspiration from the early 90s to create two fresh designs, and this season we have focused on the iconic 1999/00 season as the foundation for the new kits.
"This season, we wanted the home kit to have a clean and fresh look after quite a heavy graphic was used in the 2022/23 shirts, so with this in mind we ran a subtle Umbro jacquard throughout the entire front panel of the shirt.
"The away shirt then became the focus for a more graphic orientated design, incorporating a classic Umbro pattern into the front.”
In addition to the men’s, women’s and youth sizes, children’s mini-kits are also on sale.
Planet Blue is open for sales until 5pm today with long queues having been pictured outside the ground this morning and then from 10am-3pm on Sunday. The new kits can be ordered online here.