Inigo Turner interview: 'United's kits blew my mind'

United's kits mean so much to people. Just one glimpse of Jimmy Greenhoff wearing the white away kit from the late 1970s can send elderly men spiralling into teary-eyed monologues. A shot of David Beckham in pretty much anything from the mid-90s could create a swoon pandemic.

Like music and other forms of art, kits are almost time capsules, able to transport you back to the sights, smells and emotions of a particular moment.

Which is all lovely. But imagine you were the person responsible for developing the next Manchester United kit? The one tasked with making the magic that will go towards defining this era for the latest generation of Reds?

Adidas's Design Director, Inigo Turner, is that man.

And just to add to the pressure, he's a lifelong Red himself. Not only has he to live up to the expectations and unverbalised future yearnings of the entire United fanbase... he's also got to develop something that matches up to the classic kits that he worshipped as a child.

Helpfully, he seems to have been preparing for this exact task since the very first years of his life.

Growing up in Withington, south Manchester, Inigo was a United fan from day dot, thanks to his seven siblings, all of whom were Reds. And even as a toddler, before he even understood the concept of football, the game, he had already clocked what the players were wearing.

"You're like a magpie drawn to shiny things at that age," he recalls, as we chat over the phone from adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

"I always remember, specifically, the 1983 adidas home shirt really vividly. That shirt was one of the first shirts that was not cotton fabric, so it was a polyester fabric, and it was quite a shiny shirt. It was a really beautiful object.

"It had the clean white three stripes on the shoulders, it had this really beautiful V-neck collar with the red and black tips colouring the crisp white collar, and obviously the United crest with the devil on it which, from a young age, you were like: ‘That’s really cool, it’s got a devil on it!’ Then obviously the adidas logo with the trefoil. That was my first interaction with adidas and United."

Still too small to be taken on the Stretford End by his older brothers, his thirst for kits was initially satisfied by their hand-me-downs. And then, finally, his first self-owned shirt: the 1988-90 home kit. Not long after that came the iconic 'snowflake' blue away shirt, which he still reckons is his all-time favourite.

"The home shirt and the away shirt in 1990, when I was about nine or 10 years old, they really blew my mind – they were just loaded with detail," Inigo marvels. "They had, like, prints and engineered shiny fabric and a cool dot pattern on the collar, ribs on the cuffs and ribs on the collar… just really, really cool shirts.

"I was just completely taken with them. I was like: ‘Wow.’ They were just amazing things. And obviously I loved football too and loved United. It sucked me into that whole world even more. There was something addictive about United at that point.

"From a young age, I was less academic, let’s say, and more creative. I was also very into design or drawing and art. They were things that I did from a young age.

"I always hand-drew pictures of kits – fortunately I can’t find many of them now! But I drew my heroes back then wearing kits… people like Mark Hughes wearing the shirt, adidas boots."

The young Turner was a religious buyer of Shoot! magazine, where he'd gaze over little pictures of the shirts in frustratingly small resolutions. Nevertheless, he was still transfixed by what he describes as 'an absolute explosion of graphics and colours'.

United's designs, in particular, were even more attention-grabbing because of the conservative mores of the time.

"Those kinds of shirts didn't really exist then," he states. "It had been solid colours and, for adidas, three stripes. But then those kits came out... They were still in United colours, because the 'snowflake' was in what I call '68 blue and white, but it was really crazy.

"They fit the zeitgeist of the time, too, because for Manchester, as a city, fashion was much more relevant and important. You had the youth movements around clubbing culture and independent dance. You had the Hacienda, the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays... all of this stuff was going on. Baggy fashion and that explosion had happened at that point."

A first trip to Old Trafford, in 1991, only deepened the depths of his fascination.

"It was full, because it was against Liverpool, and the green of the pitch... The floodlights were on. The sheer size and the volume of it... It blew my mind," Inigo admits.

"It was a great game. But the kits played a part in that too. Manchester was a grey place, but it never seemed to bother me until I was a bit older, if that makes sense? Maybe because it was such a grey place, the brilliant red shiny fabrics stuck out more in your experience and your memory. Those things, at a young age, when you see them for the first time, they really stick with you. They play a big role, I think. They did for me. That kit was an expression of an idea rather than reflective of the physical environment.

"I’m probably quite encyclopaedic on that era of United! I just got very nerdy in a probably very uncool way about the games and the teams and the kits and stuff. I just absolutely loved it. I went away after that and studied art and studied painting and things like that and print. I didn’t study fashion.

"I took a path that was a bit more traditional, but then later on managed to get the opportunity to come to adidas. So I’d already had that graphics [interest] and had a massive interest in the adidas brand. As you'll know, adidas and the north of England and terrace culture and three stripes… that was a massive part of my upbringing. It’s sort of a religion rather than just sportswear. It really is the culture born around sport in that part of the world. It stands for a bit more. The terrace culture and the lifestyle culture and the music culture around, it’s all sort of intertwined and connected."

A six-month internship in Germany turned, within the blink of an eye, into 20 years. And after spells in the lifestyle department, adidas Originals and football, finally the chance came to work on the great, unrealised dream.

"I always thought that football shirts were dropped from space. Who does those things?" he laughs. "Getting to work on United, I never thought it would happen! I never thought they’d come to adidas. They were quite heavily into the other brand at that time, and I thought I couldn’t see them ever letting go of United. 

"Then I was obviously absolutely made up when it happened. As a fan, the best thing you can do, besides playing for United, from my perspective, is to be able to work on the kit. So that was the next best thing.

"Did I feel any pressure? Yes, massive! I always feel under pressure, not least in myself. I love the shirts from the first time around, from around 1980 to ’92. But doing them yourself? I’m a perfectionist, I guess, so I’m never happy with what I’ve done. I always feel like the next one will be the best one.

"There's massive pressure, not least from your friends and family! All my family, all my brothers and sisters are United fans. They’re always on at me! They’re massively supportive, honestly, but everyone’s trying to influence and critique and give you feedback on stuff. So that’s fun. It’s a privilege, but also a massive responsibility, let’s say."

At the end of our very first season back in adidas, 2015/16, we lifted our 12th FA Cup thanks to a dramatic extra-time win over Crystal Palace at Wembley. But for Inigo, it was the season's very first match that lingers longest in the memory bank.

"I was at the first game of the season against Tottenham," he explains. "We launched it at the start of August and it was a beautiful sunny day in Manchester, which you’ll know is not [something that happens] all the time! That was just crazy, I have to say.

"I have hazy memories of that day, because I remember the team walked out for the first time… This Is the One, Rooney was captain, we won 1-0, it was a beautiful day. Watching them run around in a kit you’d designed, it was just pinch-yourself. It was so strange! I couldn’t compute it.

"I was at the final against Palace, and the semi-final when Martial scored [against Everton]. All of those types of moments are amazing. I remember way back when Robbo lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup and the FA Cup in ’91 and ’90, and these more recent moments have become iconic for a generation of United fans who were as young as I was back then.

"Hopefully they trigger off a new generation of kit designers! Because it's such an honour to be able to work on these things, and your heroes wearing them is a beautiful thing.