1989/90 · Home

For the turn of the decade, Umbro dressed Celtic's hoops in the most eighties fabric it ever produced: a geometric jacquard of triangles and arrows that catches the light with every movement, a white collar with dark green trim and CR Smith flocked in black across the chest. The sponsor has a curious history: the Fife window firm famously sponsored both sides of the Old Firm simultaneously in the mid 1980s, before staying only with the green half of Glasgow. On the pitch, the design served two lean seasons. In 1989/90, with Billy McNeill in the dugout, Celtic sank in the league and lost the Scottish Cup final to Aberdeen in the first final of the competition decided on penalties. The trophies would only return years later, but the fabric endured: this is one of the most recognisable and most reissued designs in the club's history, proof that a shirt does not need to win anything to become eternal. The right hoops on the wrong-decade fabric of the right era will do.

Here at Hoopster this piece shines brighter than the season it dressed: jacquard catching the light, a sponsor that once paid both sides of Glasgow and a Celtic in the wilderness. Hoops are also for crossing deserts.