The Best Ever Everton Shirts
Few clubs have dressed as consistent a run of cult heroes and one-off characters as Everton. The royal blue has been worn by a teenage Wayne Rooney before the world had heard of him, by Duncan Ferguson across three different decades and two different kit manufacturers, by a World Cup winner from Italy who somehow ended up at Goodison Park for a single season, and by Landon Donovan on loan from LA Galaxy in the middle of an MLS off-season. We've sold 71 authentic Everton shirts spanning that history, and demand is climbing - 42% of them have sold since the start of 2024 alone.
Here's our countdown of the best Everton shirts we've had through our hands, in chronological order, mixing genuine quotes with our own research where a shirt is too important to leave out - and a full breakdown of what's actually sold, to whom, and where.
What you need to know about the greatest Everton shirts
- We've sold 71 authentic Everton shirts since 2016, across nearly every era from the 1986 title-winning season to the present day.
- Duncan Ferguson and Landon Donovan are tied as our most-collected Everton names (7 shirts each), with Wayne Rooney close behind on 6 - all from just two teenage seasons.
- The most popular Everton shirt we have sold is the 2000-04 Puma home/away (Rooney #18, Ginola #24, Gascoigne #18).
- Buyers span 12 countries, with the UK (49%) and the US (20%) leading the way.
- Every shirt is hand-checked and comes with our no-fakes guarantee - browse the full Everton collection.
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The Best Ever Everton Shirts, Ranked
1985/86 Home (Umbro) - The One Even Non-Evertonians Remember
Not every shirt on a "best ever" list earns its place by looking good. When Guardian digital editor James Dart told us about his brief, sympathy-fuelled soft spot for Everton during the Lineker era, he didn't hold back on what the kit actually looked like:
"The monstrosity that is the Everton 1985-86 home shirt." - James Dart, The Guardian
Harsh, maybe, but it's exactly the kind of shirt that's become more loved with age than it ever was at the time - and no honest countdown of Everton shirts skips the era just because a Guardian journalist wasn't a fan of the collar.
1986/89 Home (Umbro) - The Title-Winning Shirt
This is the shirt Everton lifted their most recent top-flight title in - 1987, still the club's last league championship. Plain, blue, unmistakably 1980s Umbro, and the oldest era we hold genuine stock of. It's currently in stock in our archive, which makes it a rare chance to own a real piece of the club's last title-winning season rather than just read about it.
1990/92 Away (Umbro) - The Peter Beardsley Years
Peter Beardsley arrived at Everton in 1991 with an England international pedigree already built at Liverpool and Newcastle, and spent three seasons as one of the First Division's most reliable creative forces. This away design is from right in the middle of that spell, and - like the home shirt above it - we currently hold genuine stock of this one too.
1991/93 Home (Umbro) - Everton's Own Design Language
By the early 90s Umbro had moved on from plain colour blocks into something more distinctly Everton - a two-tone jersey with arrow-like markers and the club's EFC initials worked into the pattern. It's a shirt that rewards a closer look, and one of the more collectible early-90s designs we handle.
1992/94 Away (Umbro) - Anders Limpar's Cult Following
Swedish winger Anders Limpar wore #17 in this away kit during his time at Goodison, part of a Scandinavian contingent at English clubs that built genuine cult followings in the early 90s. It's one of our best-selling single designs from the decade - level with the shirt below it as the most-collected Umbro-era away kit we've sold.
1993/95 Home (Umbro) - Ferguson & Amokachi's Baggy Umbro Years
As we describe it on our own Everton collection page, this era is defined by "baggy Umbro kits as worn by Duncan Ferguson and Daniel Amokachi" - two of the most instantly recognisable cult heroes in the club's modern history, in the shirt from the 1994/95 season that ended in an FA Cup win over Manchester United.
1995/97 Home (Umbro) - Ferguson's Peak Years, Alongside Kanchelskis
Duncan Ferguson's #9 in this home shirt is the single most-sold individual Ferguson design in our archive, from the two seasons either side of his return from a prison sentence that would have ended most careers - instead, "Big Dunc" became one of the most beloved figures in the club's history. Andrei Kanchelskis, signed the same summer for a British transfer record for a winger, wore #17 in the same shirt.
1996/97 Away (Umbro) - Ferguson #9, In Stock Now
A second Ferguson entry, and this one you can actually buy today: this 1996/97 away shirt with his #9 on the back is currently in our archive. Across every era we've sold, Ferguson and Landon Donovan (further down this list) are tied as our most-collected Everton names at 7 shirts each - and this is the specific design that gets asked about most.
1997/98 Away (Umbro)
A quieter season for the club, but a genuinely well-designed away kit that's aged better than plenty of its mid-90s siblings - understated, sharply cut, and one that regularly moves through our archive without a player name attached, bought purely for the badge and the era.
1998/99 - Marco Materazzi's Only Everton Season
Two years before he became a World Cup winner and Champions League winner with Italy and Inter Milan, Marco Materazzi spent a single season at Everton wearing #15 - a genuine footnote in a career most fans only remember for Inter black and blue (and one infamous headbutt). We've sold three of his Everton shirts, and if you're building out an Italian-football archive, it pairs naturally with our Best Ever Inter Milan Shirts countdown, where he wore the same number for the club that actually built his legend.
1999/01 Home (Umbro) - Kevin Campbell's Great Escape
Kevin Campbell signed in early 1999 and almost single-handedly kept Everton up that season, scoring nine goals in his first thirteen starts in what became known simply as "the great escape." His #9 home shirt from that era is one of our steadier sellers, a reminder that not every legendary Everton shirt comes from a title-winning side.
2000-04 Puma - A Teenage Wayne Rooney
Before Manchester United, before England, before any of it - this is the shirt Wayne Rooney wore at 16 and 17 years old, scoring that goal against Arsenal in October 2002 that announced him to the country. His #18 Puma home shirt from 2002/03 and 2003/04 is the single biggest player cluster in our Everton archive at 6 units, all from those two breakthrough seasons. The same Puma era also saw David Ginola's brief, typically stylish spell at the club (#24) and a cameo from Paul Gascoigne (#18) right at the end of his top-flight career - both genuine cult entries in their own right.
2003/04 Away (Puma) - Ferguson's Twilight, the Same Season as Rooney's Breakthrough
A genuine coincidence worth savouring: in the very same 2003/04 season that a teenage Rooney was announcing himself, Duncan Ferguson - by then in the closing chapter of his Everton career - was still turning out in this away shirt. It's currently in stock, meaning right now you can buy real Ferguson shirts from both the start and the end of his Everton story.
2005-09 Home (Umbro) - Arteta, Cahill, Jo and Pienaar
David Moyes' most stable Everton sides are represented here: Mikel Arteta's #6, long before he became a Premier League-winning manager, is our most-collected shirt from this era and available now. Tim Cahill's #17 and Steven Pienaar's #20 both belong to the run that took Everton to the 2009 FA Cup final, and Brazilian forward Jo's brief loan spell adds a genuine curiosity to the mix.
2009-12 (le coq sportif) - Donovan, Saha and Baines
Landon Donovan's loan spells from LA Galaxy produced one of the most unlikely fan favourites in the club's recent history - American soccer fans still travel specifically for his shirts, which is why 4 of his 6 recorded sales have shipped to the US. Louis Saha's #8 and Leighton Baines' #3 both belong to the same era, and Baines' 2010/11 away shirt is the one currently in our archive - genuinely good value for a shirt from one of the most technically gifted full-backs of his generation.
2012-14 (Nike) - The Third Kit and a Teenage Lukaku
Everton's black-and-gold 2012/13 third shirt is in our archive, and a year later Romelu Lukaku arrived on loan wearing #17 in the 2013/14 home shirt, the season that first suggested he'd become one of the Premier League's most feared strikers.
2020/21 Home (Hummel)
Hummel's return to Everton and to the Premier League after a long absence got a solid reception from our own reviewer, Phil Delves:
"Hummel's return to the top flight of English football this year was a welcome one for me... the 2020 Everton home shirt is decent... this is the start of an exciting journey Everton fans." - Phil Delves, Football Shirt Collective
A subliminal diagonal pattern runs through the fabric, with white cuff trim picking out the Hummel chevrons - a modern shirt with more going on than it looks like at first glance.
Shirts We'd Add To Our Archive Next
No countdown built from our own sales data is ever the full picture - here are four genuinely great Everton shirts that don't yet appear in our archive, but that no outside ranking of the club's kit history leaves out:
- 2004/05 Away (Umbro) - an all-white kit with blue trim from the David Moyes season Everton finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League, still rated one of the best Everton kits ever by outside kit historians.
- 2012/13 Away (Nike) - a sleek black design with gold thread detailing, made partly from recycled plastic bottles, worn during a sixth-place finish.
- 2018/19 Home (Umbro) - the fan-designed "Go On" kit, built with supporter input and nods to Everton's history including Prince Rupert's Tower woven into the collar detail.
- 2021/22 Away (Hummel) - a black shirt with a burnt-orange sash, a deliberate homage to the club's very first kit from the 1881/82 season.
Most Popular Everton Shirts We've Sold
Sample size caveat: this covers 71 recorded units across four decades of Everton shirts - our largest sample for any club countdown so far, but still directional rather than definitive.
| Shirt / era | Units sold |
|---|---|
| 2000-04 Puma home/away (Rooney #18, Ginola #24, Gascoigne #18) | 12 |
| 2009-12 le coq sportif home/away (Donovan #9, Saha #8) | 9 |
| 2005-09 Umbro home (Arteta #6, Ferguson #9, Jo #11, Pienaar #20) | 7 |
| 1995/97 Umbro home (Ferguson #9, Kanchelskis #17) | 6 |
| 1992/94 Umbro away (Limpar #17) | 6 |
| 1999/01 Umbro home (Campbell #9, Moore #23) | 5 |
| 1991/93 Umbro home | 4 |
| 1997/98 Umbro away | 4 |
| 2012-20 Nike/Umbro (third kit, Lukaku, Gomes, Calvert-Lewin) | 4 |
| 1993/95 Umbro home (Ferguson #9, Amokachi #11) | 3 |
Most Popular Everton Shirts By Player
| Player | Units sold |
|---|---|
| Duncan Ferguson | 7 |
| Landon Donovan | 7 |
| Wayne Rooney | 6 |
| Marco Materazzi | 3 |
| Mikel Arteta | 3 |
| Louis Saha | 2 |
| Kevin Campbell | 2 |
| David Ginola | 2 |
| Peter Beardsley | 2 |
Ferguson and Donovan sit level as our two most-collected Everton names, with Rooney close behind from just two teenage seasons. 26 of our 71 recorded units carry no player name at all - plain club shirts bought for the badge rather than the name on the back.
Who Orders The Most Everton Shirts?
| Country | Units sold |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 35 |
| United States | 14 |
| Australia | 4 |
| Sweden | 2 |
| Netherlands | 2 |
| France | 2 |
| India, Poland, Spain, Iceland, Finland, Ireland | 1 each |
Just under half of our Everton shirts stay in the UK, with the US a clear second - Landon Donovan's American fanbase alone accounts for a good share of that.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Everton shirt of all time?
There's no single right answer, but our own sales data points to three eras standing above the rest: Duncan Ferguson's 1990s Umbro shirts, Wayne Rooney's breakthrough 2002-04 Puma home shirt, and Landon Donovan's 2009-12 le coq sportif shirts, which are tied as our three most-collected Everton names.
Did Wayne Rooney really wear a Puma Everton shirt?
Yes - before his move to Manchester United in 2004, Rooney wore Everton's Puma home shirt with #18 on the back for the 2002/03 and 2003/04 seasons, including the goal against Arsenal that first made him a household name.
Which manufacturer made Everton's shirts in the 1990s?
Umbro made Everton's kits throughout the 1990s, including the Duncan Ferguson and Daniel Amokachi era shirts and the 1995/97 home shirt worn by Ferguson and Andrei Kanchelskis.
Are Football Shirt Collective's vintage Everton shirts authentic?
Yes - every shirt we sell is hand-checked against our authentication process before listing, comes with multiple photos so you know exactly what you're getting, and carries our no-fakes guarantee, backed by an Excellent rating on Trustpilot.
How much do vintage Everton shirts cost?
Prices vary by era, condition and player name, but our Everton archive typically ranges from around £40 for an unflocked 1990s shirt to over £140 for rarer or player-flocked pieces like the 1986/89 title-winning home shirt.
Why Buy Your Everton Shirt From Football Shirt Collective
Ferguson, Rooney and Donovan shirts are among the most-searched Everton names on the market, which means fakes follow close behind wherever demand is highest. Every shirt we sell is hand-checked, comes with multiple photos so you know exactly what you're getting, and carries our no-fakes guarantee, backed by a strong Trustpilot score and 500+ five-star reviews. Where we can, we stock shirts with official flock name sets rather than aftermarket printing - the same standard we apply across our whole legend shirt archive, Everton included.
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