Up-Close: Manchester City Umbro 2012/13 Home and Away Kits

The 2012/13 English Premier League kicks off this Saturday with a slew of new kits taking the field. Among them are the Umbro 2012/13 home and away jerseys of reigning league champions Manchester City FC (now available at  World Soccer Shop, Onionbag.com, Soccer.com and Kitbag.)

Unveiled at umbro.com last month, the 12/13 City shirts will be the club’s last from Umbro for at least the next six years as the Citizens are set to switch technical sponsor to Nike from the 13/14 season. If that isn’t enough to make them collector’s items, here is a world exclusive up-close look at what are a couple of the best looking jerseys for the current kit cycle.

Manchester City Umbro 2012/13 Home Jersey

The Manchester City 2012/13 home kit combines a modern look with traditional football shirt features to give the Roberto Mancini’s side a primary kit fitting of champions.

Unlike City kits of the past, the new shirt uses a contemporary slim fit with most of the shirt made of Umbro’s cotton feeling yet sweat dissipating brushed polyester fabric used for all of the England kits since 2010. The sleeves are made of a stretch fabric that fits the arms like a baselayer shirt might. Quite welcome for unhindered arm movement on the field.

A first with the Manchester City 12/13 home jersey is the use of a two-toned blue color scheme. While the kit in predominantly in the club’s famed light blue, it is accented by a dark blue woven collar (which can be popped up for swagger we must add), placket coverage and Umbro logo. The Manchester City club crest uses a white and dark blue to seamlessly blend into the rest of the shirt. This is reminiscent of the tonal England kits that Umbro has accompanied each of the Three Lions recent shirt with.

Manchester City Umbro 2012/13 Away Jersey

Over the past few years many a football kit has claimed to be “retro” or “classic in nature. However, only the chose few have managed to capture the true look of past iconic shirts. The Manchester City 2012/13 away kit is one of them.

In a totally unexpected maroon and gold colorway, the City 12/13 alternate shirt is inspired by the one-off shirts that the club wore when it won the 1956 FA Cup Final in front of a reported 100,000 fans at the old Wembley Stadium.

While the jersey uses modern moisture dissipating fabric, it truly captures the essence of footie kits of the late 1970s to the 1980s (disco-influenced creations aside) with a tight fit, classic V-neck and contoured stripes that are part of the shirts fabric. Indeed the uninitiated could easily be convinced that the Manchester City 12/13 away shirt is a vintage kit taken from the closet of a retiree-aged football fan.

The only feature of the City 2012/13 away kit that is truly recent is its stretch polyester fabric sleeves. Like those on the club’s new home kit, it offers a compression shirt type fit on the upper arm and rapidly evaporates sweat.

As on the Manchester City 12/13 home jersey, the club crest’s color have been altered to fit into the shirt’s color scheme. In this case, a deeper shade and quantity of gold is use on the badge. The same color is used for the shirt’s Umbro logo and sponsor logo. In the end it all works together to contribute to a truly eye-catching football kit.

Check out our Kits and Jerseys section for more of the latest soccer shirts.