Given Nike’s association with so many of the world’s top football teams, it is, with respect, somewhat surprising to learn that the first British team to wear the Swoosh logo was Sunderland AFC. Yet the link between the American sportswear giant and the north-east club was not accidental. The reason? Nike had set up its UK headquarters in Sunderland back in 1982, and chose the Black Cats for its first foray into the British football kit market accordingly.
Formed in Oregon as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964, Nike started out as distributors for Japanese running shoes and in the early 1970s began manufacturing their own. In 1979, Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League wore the Nike logo on their shirt sleeves (although the shirt label featured Barbalan as the manufacturer), and four years later they made their debut in the Football League.
What Sunderland wore in the 1983-84 season was a trio of kits that fitted in well stylistically with those being made by more established brands. They also did one thing to earn some instant respect among the Sunderland fans. Out went the candy stripes brought in by Le Coq Sportif during the previous two seasons and back came the thicker traditional stripes. Whatever else Nike did, it would be treated with a lot more leniency thanks to the reintroduction of that one design principle.
Not that they went ‘Route 1’ for the home kit. The shirt, though conventionally striped, had white raglan sleeves that lightened its overall tone. Across the middle of the shirt was the name of Sunderland’s first kit sponsors - Cowies, a public transport company formed by local businessman and future Chairman of the club, Tom Cowie.
A further element of Le Coq Sportif’s controversial 1981-83 home kit was eliminated when Nike restored Sunderland’s black shorts, accompanied by the red socks that had been present since the early 1950s. All in all, it was a smart new home kit and one that accommodated a distinctive detail by switching the positions of the supplier logo and club badge on the shirt.
For the away kit, Nike retained the sky blue used by their predecessors and added some darker blue sleeves and widely-spaced horizontal pinstripes. Curiously enough, this kit (and the third kit) featured a different Cowies logo to that which appeared on the home kit - a smaller, more stylised Cowies logo which was nowhere near as easy to see from distance as the home kit wordmark.
Sunderland’s third strip in 1983-84, an all-yellow affair with navy blue piping and trim. As with the home and away kits, however, a double stripe was used on the sock turnovers in the contrasting navy blue colour.
These were the three kits worn for the duration of Nike’s three-season partnership with Sunderland, however the last of those three seasons saw a change of shirt sponsor. In 1985-86, Cowies was replaced by local brewers Vaux and their no-nonsense logo took pride of place on the home shirt. For the away and third shirts, Vaux opted to promote one of their beer brands, Tuborg Lager, instead.
All things considered, this was a strong ensemble of kits for Nike’s first seasons in British football. Sadly, the 1983-86 period was to be the full extent of their partnership with Sunderland until they were reunited in 2000, and Nike would next hook up with Fourth Division Cambridge United between 1986 and 1988.
Yet even that isn’t the final word on this unlikely partnership. From the 2020-21 season, Nike will be supplying kit to Sunderland once again, and who knows - maybe the recent trend for retro designs will see a nod back to that original home kit of 35 years ago.
