With clubs such as Crystal Palace, Udinese, FC Basel, West Brom, Blackburn Rovers and Osasuna in partnership with the Italian company, Macron has impressed football fans all over the globe with their modern and stylish kits.
In this article, we will look at the history of the company and check out some of their greatest strips.
The Early Years
Macron was founded in 1971 as a distributor of American sportswear brands in Italy. The organisation had a major expansion in 1994, coinciding with its relocation and consolidation in Crespellano.
In 2001, Macron entered the professional football market by providing teamwear, starting with a contract with Bologna. The company began its expansion beyond Italy in 2005. Napoli, Swansea City, Leeds United and Braga were some of the clubs that Macron began partnerships with as they looked to grow their brand.
In 2014, Macron signed a four-year deal with Bolton Wanderers for naming rights to their stadium, which was renamed Macron Stadium in July 2014. This marked Macron’s takeover of both the stadium sponsorship and kit supply from Reebok.
Recognition in Modern Day
Macron continued to grow their company over the next decade. Nowadays, the brand has grown to gain global reach.
Macron now has full exclusive partnerships with the Canadian Premier League as well as providing UEFA with referee kits.
Many football jersey collectors and fans have regarded the summer of 2024 as Macron’s as they have relentlessly released high quality and unique jerseys for each of their clubs.
In a time where it is not surprising to see giant brands such as Adidas and Nike overusing the same shirt templates and designs for multiple clubs, Macron has been a breath of fresh air in the football shirt community.
We will now look at the five best Macron kits in history.
1860 Munich 2015/16 Anniversary Kit
Macron’s 1860 Munich 2015/16 Anniversary kit was a great example of the brand showing their capabilities to celebrate the history of their teams.
A simple yet beautiful classic jersey, the 1860 Munich 2015/16 Anniversary kit used the club’s sky blue colours along with white applications on the sleeves and v-neck style collar of the shirt. The shirt is a tribute to the club’s 1965/66 season, in which they won the German Championship.
A touching addition by Macron was the minimising of their logo on the strip, blending it in nicely with the sky blue base of the shirt.
Crystal Palace 2024/25 Home Kit
The Crystal Palace 2024/25 home shirt is a great example of Macron adding modern details to their kits in order to make them stand out from the crowd.
The use of the Premier League clubs classic blue and red vertical stripe design remains, but the standout talking point of the kit is the unique feather graphic that runs throughout the entire jersey and shots. The words “Selhurst Park 1924 – 2024” is written on the back of the neck, a thoughtful tribute to the celebration.
Since the shirt’s release, it has received very high praise online. Shirt collectors and Palace fans are eager to get their hands on the strip if they have not done so already.
Bologna 2001/02 Home Kit
Macron’s first ever partnership was with Italian club Bologna, who were competing in Serie A. The jersey used the club’s classic navy blue and red colourway and was finished off with a smart collar.
Since joining forces with Macron in the 2001/02 season, Bologna have always remained, making them the club with the longest-ever partnership with the brand. Macron’s consistency to deliver is shown throughout their 20+ year long partnership with the Serie A club.
Vancouver FC 2024 Away
Macron are in partnership with the Canadian Premier League, exclusively creating every club in the divisions jerseys. Earlier this year, Macron launched Vancouver Football Club’s away jersey for the 2024 campaign. The “Cherry Blossom” shirt has since gone viral online for all the right reasons.
The kit is primarily pink with black and white applications on the collar and sleeves. A cherry blossom graphic has also been deployed throughout the front and back of the shirt. Another touching note to the jersey is that a portion of each shirt sale will go towards Pink Shirt Day, a charity that helps combat bullying.
This kit shows that Macron is incredibly versatile and is not afraid to work closely with their teams to create special and unique jerseys that will be remembered for years to come.
Albania Euro 2016 Third
Macron continued to evolve its brand by branching out into international football. When Albania qualified for the 2016 European Championships in France, Macron was in partnership with the nation to manufacture their kits.
Albania were put into Group A with hosts France, Switzerland and Romania. This meant that the Albanians would wear their home, away and third jerseys at least once. The standout strip of the three was the third kit.
A primarily grey kit with black sleeves and collar along with red lining, the jersey as historic as Albania won their first-ever match at an international tournament in the strip, beating Romania 1-0. This was a significant breakthrough for Macron.
Since then Macron has continued to grow internationally and at the recent Euro 2024, they manufactured the jerseys for both Georgia and Albania.
Macron has grown incredibly since entering the football world in 2001. Many fans of the sport are excited to see what else the future holds for the special Italian brand.
