Ian Wright career in kits

The Best Football Shirts Ian Wright Ever Wore

Ian Wright is a national treasure.  One of the few football pundits that is still relevant without being clickbait.  He didn’t just score goals, he defined culture.

Across 288 appearances for Arsenal, Wrighty scored 185 goals, becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer and doing it with a smile, a celebration, and an unmistakable sense of joy that made him impossible not to love. Some players pass through kits. Wright made them iconic.

Some players glide through eras untouched by what they’re wearing.  Wrighty wasn’t one of them. From baggy early-90s Adidas classics to sharp Nike numbers at Arsenal, every phase of his career feels visually locked to a kit, a celebration, a moment. Arms out. Big grin. Pure joy.

These are the football shirts that define Ian Wright’s career.  Not just because of how they look, but because of what he did while wearing them.

Shop authentic Ian Wright shirts.

So what are the greatest Ian Wright jerseys?

Crystal Palace Home Shirt (Late 1980s)

Manufacturer: Bukta

Before the Arsenal goals. Before the records. Before that grin became part of football culture, there was Wrighty at Crystal Palace.

The late-80s Palace Adidas home shirt is proper old-school.  Proper crest, button up collar and amazing Fly Virgin sponsor.  It’s the shirt of a late bloomer playing like a man in a hurry.  

Shop classic Crystal Palace shirts.

Arsenal Away Shirt 1991-93 “The Bruised Banana”

Manufacturer: Adidas

The shirt everyone talks about.  It was worn by Wright in his debut for Arsenal away to Southampton where they won 4-0.

The bruised banana isn’t just one of Arsenal’s greatest shirts; it’s one of football’s. And Ian Wright absolutely owned it. Yellow and black zig-zags, worn with confidence, chaos and swagger.

This kit matched Wright’s personality perfectly: bold, impossible to ignore, and fun. When people think of Wrighty celebrating in the early 90s, chances are they’re picturing this shirt.

Still iconic. Still divisive. Still brilliant.

Shop classic Arsenal shirts.

Arsenal Away Shirt 1993-94 (Adidas)

Manufacturer: Adidas | Sponsor: JVC

If the bruised banana was chaos, the 1993–94 Arsenal away shirt was confidence.

That oversized Adidas trefoil with the 3 stripes on the shoulder.  This kit looked serious, and Ian Wright played like it.  Worn during a period when Arsenal were focusing on the cup.

You'll remember it from the charity shield v Manchester United played in South Africa.

Arsenal Home Shirt 1994–96 (Nike)

Manufacturer: Nike | Sponsor: JVC

The switch from Adidas to Nike marked a new era for Arsenal and a slightly sharper Wright.

Nike’s first Arsenal home shirt is cleaner, tighter, more modern.  This shirt designed by Drake Rahmberg at Nike feels transitional.  It used classic elements but made them feel model. The league was changing, the aesthetics shifting, but Wright still leading the line.

It might not get the same love as the Adidas years, but it’s an essential part of the story.

Arsenal Home Shirt 1997–98 (Nike)

Manufacturer: Nike | Sponsor: JVC

This is the one with history stitched into it.

The 1997–98 Arsenal home shirt is the kit Ian Wright wore when he broke Cliff Bastin’s long-standing Arsenal goal record. Same classic red, but now with a sleeker Nike cut and a squad on the brink of something special.

Wright was nearing the end of his Arsenal journey, but this shirt cemented his legacy. The moment. The embrace. The tears. One of the most emotional shirt-player pairings the club has ever seen.

It was also worn when Ian Wright won his first and only Premier League title.

England Home Shirt (Early–Mid 1990s)

Manufacturer: Umbro

Wright’s England career never quite matched his club success - but seeing him in an Umbro England shirt still feels right.

Big collars. Heavy fabric. Classic Umbro detailing. Wright represented England with the same enthusiasm he brought everywhere else, and these shirts carry that same early-90s weight and nostalgia. 

You'll remember Wrighty wearing this shirt when England played away to Italy and needed a draw to qualify for World Cup 98.  

Shop classic England shirts.

Where can I get an authentic Ian Wright shirt?

Ian Wright’s career is inseparable from the shirts he wore in it. From Palace to Highbury, Adidas to Nike, raw beginnings to record-breaking moments — these kits don’t just tell a fashion story. They tell his story.

If you’re looking to own a piece of that history, at the Football Shirt Collective we stock authentic vintage Arsenal and England shirts from the eras Wrighty made his name. Proper originals, properly checked, and photographed in detail.  The way collectors expect.