There should probably be a point where football stops selling the 1990s back to us. Old badges are back, old shirts are being reissued and almost every manufacturer with a half-decent archive has realised that nostalgia is considerably easier to sell than something nobody has seen before. The new adidas EQT football collections for Arsenal, Manchester United and Real Madrid should feel like another fairly shameless trip to the well. The problem is that they look absolutely immaculate.
EQT, short for Equipment, first appeared in 1991. adidas launched the range around a deliberately stripped-back philosophy: “everything that is essential, nothing that is not.” It was intended as a reset, placing function ahead of decoration while introducing the Badge of Sport logo and a distinctive new visual identity built around bold Three Stripes treatments and clean technical design. More than three decades later, adidas itself still describes Equipment as one of its defining early-90s ranges.
Football quickly became part of that identity. Arsenal were among the clubs that wore the Equipment look during the early Premier League era, with oversized shoulder graphics and central adidas branding helping define some of the company’s most recognisable shirts of the period. That makes the new Arsenal EQT collection feel relatively natural. The current range includes a £70 jersey alongside track tops, sweatshirts, trousers and other pieces, all taking cues from the original EQT language without simply reproducing one old kit.
Real Madrid take that idea even further. During the years most closely associated with EQT, Madrid were wearing Hummel and later Kelme rather than adidas. Their new collection therefore imagines an alternative past in which the two did overlap. White, black and purple are pushed through the familiar Equipment framework, with the clean, sponsor-free jersey looking like something discovered in an archive rather than designed in 2026.
That might be the cleverest thing about this adidas EQT football revival. These are not straightforward remakes. Arsenal has genuine history with the aesthetic, while United and Madrid allow adidas to ask what those clubs might have looked like inside it. The design language stays recognisable without forcing every club into exactly the same piece of history.
It also arrives at a time when adidas appears increasingly comfortable treating its archive as an active part of the current football business. The Trefoil returned to selected football shirts and then became increasingly commonplace. Teamgeist has been revisited. Old kits are being reproduced almost exactly. EQT is now appearing across clubs and national-team product, with adidas currently selling Equipment pieces for Arsenal, United, Madrid, Bayern and others.
There is an obvious danger in all of this. Nostalgia works partly because the thing being remembered disappeared. Bring every beloved logo, template and design language back often enough and eventually the past stops feeling particularly special. What once felt like a rare nod to the archive can quickly become another seasonal product category.
Yet this adidas EQT football collection makes the cynical argument surprisingly difficult to sustain. Arsenal looks like a clever evolution of something real, Manchester United looks like a lost 90s experiment and Real Madrid looks so convincing that you almost start remembering a shirt that never existed.
None of these jerseys are necessary but, let's be honest, very few football shirts are anymore. They exist because supporters collect, wear and obsess over them far beyond the match itself, and because adidas knows perfectly well that its archive contains things people still want.
Another cash grab? Probably. Another aching reach for nostalgia? Absolutely. Unfortunately, they have made it look very good.
You can shop genuine authentic Adidas football shirts in the Showboat app and on our website.
