Football jersey design trends for 2026

Gradients, all-over patterns, the retro comeback and the colours that will dominate the season.

Every season brings new trends to kits. These are the design trends for 2026 we're seeing at clubs of every level, and how to use them without your shirt looking like a passing fad two years from now.

Gradients and all-over prints

Sublimation has set design free. Colour gradients, textures and patterns that cover the whole shirt from seam to seam (what's known as all-over) are the stars of 2026.

What used to be impossible with vinyl — because every colour was another layer stuck on top of the fabric — can now be printed without limits and without adding a single gram of weight. A gradient running diagonally across the shirt costs no more than a plain colour.

Practical tip: if you go for a busy all-over print, leave a clean area for the crest and the number. A pattern that competes with the number looks great on the hanger and terrible from the stands.

The retro comeback

Classic stripes, polo collars and 90s palettes are back in force. Mixing a modern cut with a retro nod works especially well: today's technical fabric, a fitted silhouette and a pattern that recalls the shirt the club president grew up with.

It's also a trend that ages well. A retro design will still look intentional three years from now; an ultra-modern one, not necessarily.

Bright colours and contrasts

Bright shades (coral, turquoise, fuchsia, mint green) are gaining ground over the classic red and blue, especially on away kits and goalkeeper kits, where there's more freedom because the club's historic colours don't have to be respected.

The away kit is the perfect place to be bold: it has to stand out from the opponent, it's worn less and nobody expects it to be sacred.

A word on fluorescent: it doesn't exist as a sublimation ink. It comes out in that same colour, but without the glow. And gold and silver come out as an ochre and a grey.

High contrast between design and numbers

Less glamorous but very real: after a few years of shirts where the number could barely be read, high contrast is back. Big numbers, clean typefaces and a colour that stands out from the background.

It makes sense: a shirt is work clothing. If the referee can't see your number, the design has failed, however pretty it is.

Putting it into practice is simple: the colour is chosen separately for the name, the number, the chest number and the shorts number. Yes, you can put the number on the chest too. There are 18 named colours or a free one, and you can give them an outline so they stand out from any background. And not just the colour: the size and position too. By default the model's settings apply, so if you're after that high contrast, you have to change them yourself.

And both customisers measure the contrast with the shirt. If the name or number can barely be read, they warn you and give you two fixes: add an outline or switch them to white or black, whichever reads best.

Total customisation

The big underlying trend isn't a colour or a pattern: it's that every club wants something unique. A closed catalogue of three models where you pick the one you dislike least no longer cuts it. People want to choose the model, colours, pattern and details, and see the result before committing.

In “Design your shirt” you have over 200 of our own designs to paint in your colours. And the Pro Clubs: over 120 designs for the 26/27 season, each as a home, away and third kit. They're EZ's own designs inspired by the trends in professional kits, with no crests or brands of any club.

And “seeing the result” is no longer just the front: the garment is checked piece by piece — Front, Back, Left sleeve, Right sleeve and Collar — on the real pattern, and in 3D, live as you design. Before the cart, you confirm it full screen. A design that's only been thought about from the front shows as soon as you turn the shirt around.

That's why the real-time customiser has become essential, and why made-to-order production with no minimum is no longer a luxury: it lets a neighbourhood club have a kit as distinctive as a professional one.

The trend that isn't a drawing: designing it yourself, with AI

The novelty of 2026 isn't a pattern, it's who makes it. Before, a custom all-over print meant paying a designer or settling for the catalogue. Now it's generated right on screen: you upload up to four photos of things you like, or describe it in words, and the print appears on the real pattern. With 5 free generations when you create your account. A neighbourhood club can now have an identity as distinctive as a professional one, and see it worn in 3D before spending a single euro.

How to choose without regretting it in January

Trends are all very well, but a kit is worn for the whole season and often two. Three criteria that never fail:

• Respect the club colours. Fashion passes; identity doesn't. Apply the trend within your palette, not instead of it.
• Think about the team photo. It's the image that will last. If the design only works up close, it doesn't work.
• Check the legibility of the crest and the number before approving.

We help you with that last point in the meaning of colours and in how to design your club crest.

See it on our models

Take a look at the model catalogue, the Pro Clubs and the designs in “Design your shirt”. See which ones follow these trends: there are all-over prints, gradients, retro looks and bright colours. Upload your crest in the customiser and check how it looks in your club's colours before deciding anything.