The End of Erreà: they were good, actually
The smaller Italian manufacturer might not have been anyone's first choice, but Erreà deserve credit for some great designs over the last four seasons
We’ve all heard about (or experienced) the ‘Erreà Effect’. Brand new shirt, nice new design, one wash – and minor disaster takes hold. The printing might’ve fallen off; or the badge was at a jaunty angle; or the stitching wilted at the first sign of stress. I never fell foul of this well-worn shirt anecdote, but as we say ciao to our kit partner of the last four seasons, you can’t escape the grumbles.
Yes, Erreà. Nobody’s first choice. Barely a ripple was made when the brand was announced as our new manufacturer before the ‘22/’23 season, a sense of reputation drop-off in the air as we looked to our second consecutive season in the Championship. Now, with United’s ‘25/’26 limping to a flat close, we find ourselves returning to the templated arms of Adidas.
We know them well, of course, having been in partnership with the three stripes for eight years, as we charted a course out of League One and up to ninth in the Premier League. Oddly, though, it feels as if Erreà brought their Italian verve to Bramall Lane for just as long, not the four brief seasons they produced our kits.
Our Adidas shirts first time around were, on the whole, fine. But how many of them can you remember off the top of your head? I’m not asking folk like The Pinch’s own Sam Parry, or Memory Lane nostalgia merchant Andrew Hague, who can both probably reel off the last 30 years of shirts as a terrifying party trick. I mean you, the valued, loyal, emotionally balanced reader. The pink away shirt was nice, as was the all-black, and a couple of the home shirts have some good memories attached to them. Apart from that, though?…
With Erreà, the designs kept coming in a relentless march towards polyester nirvana. Remember the promotion shirt, with gold detailing and the White Rose sitting proudly behind the red and white stripes? What about the yellow away shirt, a retro tribute that would’ve been even more popular had the players that year managed to achieve anything at all? The outstanding black and gold number, and the even better burgundy goalkeeper version? The mad, special edition Chinese New Year releases? The consistently funky, Marmite-opinion-inducing training gear?
Football shirts are big business. I would say way too big. We don’t need a new club shirt each season; we all know the end-stage capitalism of it all, the unrelenting consumption of resources that could either be put to better use elsewhere or shouldn’t have been used at all. The factories producing some of these shirts have sketchy histories, and a quick search online brings up websites offering suspiciously similar kits to ‘official’ collections for a tenth of the price. The mark-ups are disgusting, fans are fleeced and the cycle begins again. And all that’s coming from someone who has for years blissfully ignored the lack of wardrobe space in their home with each new shirt purchase.
The Blades play in red and white stripes, which, while undoubtedly more engaging than a block colour shirt, is difficult to reinvent every 12 months. Yet Erreà managed to provide novelty home and away, from little colour accents creeping along plain stripes, to pared-back badges, to some questionable collar decisions. Then, with away and third choice shirts, there was even more fun to be had.
Fun is the concept that provides the shirt industry’s saving grace. It’s great to anticipate next season’s designs: will they put together an ode to an old favourite? Will they try a completely new colour or style? Am I going to be a medium, large or extra large?
That’s even before mentioning the major role shirts play in the heady effect of football nostalgia, with certain designs inextricably linked to telling seasons or moments. Think of fluorescent green, for instance, and different generations of United fan have their own fond memories. Regardless of shirt quality, Erreà created some great shirts that hold their own despite their tenure coming at a time when the Blades have experienced more ebb than flow, at least compared to the first Adidas era.
This isn’t to pour scorn on Adidas. Far from it: as far as the major sporting brands go, they’re by far the most inventive, and I’m looking forward to seeing what new tricks and design updates they have for us. A personal wish is to see a good range of subtle streetwear pieces, something that I think has been lacking at United for years. But when you watch the snazzy announcement videos and walk into the newly-bedecked ‘superstore’, spare a moment to remember the last few years, when a smaller brand got the gig and gave it a good go.
Badges dropping off and threads falling apart be damned. For four seasons, when it came to having fun with what we wore, we truly enjoyed La Dolce Shirta. Grazie, Erreà.