Two shirts, two stadiums.
Arsenal’s 25/26 home kit looked back at Highbury — its repeating Gothic ‘A’ lifted from the shirt worn during the 1990/91 title-winning season at the old ground. The 26/27 celebrates twenty years at the Emirates. Consecutive seasons, and adidas has moved the club’s story from one home to the other.
There’s also a detail that makes the older shirt harder to ignore. Arsenal won the 2025/26 Premier League title in it, ending a twenty-year wait. The 26/27 is the shirt they defend it in.
The 26/27 Home Kit
Released 14 May 2026, marking twenty years since Arsenal moved into Emirates Stadium in 2006, with design cues drawn from the ground itself.
The execution is subtle, and it’s a first for the club. Rather than a single flat red, adidas has used two shades: standard Arsenal red across the main body, with a darker burgundy on the collar, the sleeve cuffs, and the middle stripe of the Three Stripes on the shoulders. It’s the kind of detail you only notice holding it next to last season’s shirt — which is arguably the point of an anniversary kit.
White shorts with red detailing, red socks. Deel on the sleeve.
The launch campaign leaned on supporters rather than the squad, with a film featuring Martin Ødegaard and Alessia Russo alongside fans from north London reflecting on twenty years at the ground.
Tech: CLIMACOOL+ with lightweight engineered fabrics on the authentic version; standard Climacool with a regular fit on the replica.
The 25/26 Home Kit
Launched 15 May 2025, and debuted three days later against Newcastle United at the Emirates in the final league match of the season.
A “Better Scarlet” red body with white sleeves and a white adidas logo — no blue detailing at all, which was a clean break from the season before. The design element is a repeating tonal Gothic ‘A’ printed across the shirt, front and back.
That letter has real provenance. It comes from the ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ crest, first seen on matchday programmes in the 1949/50 season, and it appeared on the 1990/91 league-winning home shirt worn at Highbury. adidas framed the whole design around “The Heart of Arsenal,” using the human heart as its creative motif.
The badge changed too. After the standalone Cannon crest of the previous season, adidas restored the full club crest — in a simplified white outline form. A small “Arsenal” inscription sits at the top of the back in the same Gothic font, and the red socks carry the Gothic ‘A’ as well.
On the left sleeve: Visit Rwanda. This was the last season it appeared.
Tech: the authentic version uses HEAT.RDY with structured mesh in key areas and 3D engineered fabric at the nape for ventilation. The replica uses AEROREADY and incorporates recycled materials.
How the Two Compare
| 26/27 | 25/26 | |
|---|---|---|
|
Released |
14 May 2026 |
15 May 2025 |
|
Occasion |
20 years at Emirates Stadium |
"The Heart of Arsenal" |
|
Reference |
The stadium itself |
The 1990/91 Highbury title shirt |
|
Sleeves |
Red, burgundy cuffs |
White |
|
Pattern |
None — two-tone red |
Repeating tonal Gothic 'A' |
|
Crest |
Standard club crest |
Standard crest, white outline form |
|
Sleeve sponsor |
Deel |
Visit Rwanda |
|
Tech naming |
CLIMACOOL+ / Climacool |
HEAT.RDY / AEROREADY |
The fastest way to tell them apart is the sleeves. White sleeves mean 25/26. Red sleeves with burgundy cuffs mean 26/27. If you’re closer, the Gothic ‘A’ print is unmistakable on the older shirt — the 26/27 has no pattern at all.
The tech naming also dates them. adidas changed its fabric terminology across this window, so HEAT.RDY on the hem means 25/26 and CLIMACOOL+ means 26/27, regardless of anything else on the shirt.
The sleeve is the third giveaway, and it marks the end of an era. Visit Rwanda was Arsenal’s first-ever sleeve sponsor, signed in 2018 and renewed in 2021. The two parties mutually agreed to conclude the eight-season partnership in June 2026 — a decision that followed sustained criticism of the arrangement from supporter groups — which makes the 25/26 the final Visit Rwanda shirt. Deel, already the club’s HR platform partner, took the left sleeve from 26/27 on a deal reported at around £18 million a year, up from roughly £10 million.
Constants: adidas as supplier, Emirates on the front across both seasons.
Which Season Should You Buy?
The 26/27 if you want what the squad wears this season. Twenty years at the Emirates, two shades of red for the first time in the club’s history, and the shirt Arsenal defend a league title in. It’s also the plainer of the two — no pattern, no print, which makes it the easier one to wear casually.
The 25/26 if you want the shirt that won the league. That alone is a strong argument, and it’s backed up by the Gothic ‘A’ being the more interesting design of the two — a letter that runs from 1949/50 matchday programmes through the 1990/91 Highbury title shirt to now. The white sleeves also give it a more distinctive silhouette than a standard red Arsenal shirt. And it’s the last Arsenal shirt to carry Visit Rwanda, ending an eight-season run as the club’s first-ever sleeve partner — superseded sponsors tend to age in a collector’s favour.
If you’re buying for a specific player, check the squad against the season. The 26/27 shirt carries Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly among others, and a name-and-number set is what fixes a shirt to a particular team.
On authentic versus replica: for match-going or everyday wear the replica is the sensible pick, and it’s near-identical from any normal distance. Go authentic if you’re playing in it or want the exact squad spec — it’s cut tight enough that most buyers size up.
Both seasons are on Novelship, every shirt authenticated in-house before it ships. The 25/26 is the harder of the two to find in popular sizes now that it’s a season old — and being the title-winning shirt hasn’t made that easier — so it’s worth checking availability before you settle on one.
FAQ's
Twenty years since Arsenal moved into Emirates Stadium in 2006, with design cues drawn from the ground.
It’s a first for the club. Standard Arsenal red covers the main body, with a darker burgundy applied to the collar, sleeve cuffs and the middle stripe of the Three Stripes on the shoulders.
A repeating tonal print taken from the ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ crest, first seen on Arsenal matchday programmes in the 1949/50 season. The same letterform appeared on the 1990/91 league-winning home shirt worn at Highbury. It runs across the front and back of the shirt and also features on the socks.
The 25/26 home kit — the red shirt with white sleeves and the Gothic ‘A’ print. It ended a twenty-year wait for a league title.
Novelship has a team of experts who carefully inspect and authenticate each item before it is shipped out to the buyer. Novelship used a combination of industry knowledge, detailed checks, and advanced technology to verify the authenticity of products. Check out the authentication process.
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