Arsenal Take Inspiration From ’90s Cult Classic for 2026–27 Away Jersey

Arsenal have harked back to a questionable era of the club’s past with their new design.

Arsenal have announced their new away kit for the 2026–27 season. | Arsenal/adidas

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. A combination of the ancient Greek words for homecoming (nostos) and, more pertinently, pain (algos), it was originally diagnosed as a sickness. It’s new definition could be Arsenal’s marketing strategy.

Few clubs exploit their rich history as successfully (and relentlessly) as the Gunners, who have taken to reimagining the past through endless waves of kits, training gear and any other memorabilia they can conjure each season. The 2026–27 away kit is no different.

The largely blue design with yellow accents is a deliberate nod to the famed ‘Bruised Banana’ away kit which was worn from 1991–93.

Arsenal wore the ‘Bruised Banana’ kit for two seasons. | Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images

“We’re all looking forward to playing in this kit,” Riccardo Calafiori, who was born more than a decade after it was first worn, is quoted as saying in Arsenal’s press release. “We know the impact that the ‘Bruised Banana’ has had on our supporters, you only have to see how many still wear it today to understand how much it means to the club.

“We’re proud to wear something with such history attached to it and use that as inspiration as we continue to push ourselves forward. It’s our turn to create our own legacy at the club, we’ve enjoyed so many amazing moments with our supporters but we’re hungry for more. We want to keep winning, keep creating special memories together and give our supporters even more reasons to be proud of the team.”

Arsenal pulled out the big guns for the kit reveal. | Arsenal/adidas

Calafiori makes an accurate observation regarding the prolificacy of Arsenal’s ‘Bruised Banana’ kit, but whether it is an era that warrants so much revery is another matter entirely.

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Has the ‘Bruised Banana’ Ever Inspired Anything Good?

Declan Rice sporting Arsenal’s new threads. | Arsenal/adidas

It makes sense of fans to pine after those hazy halcyon days of golden triumph, but the ‘Bruised Banana’ era was hardly that illustrious. As the name implies, those seasons didn’t quite go to plan.

The first campaign of the flawed fruit, 1991–92, began with Arsenal manager George Graham fretting: “I have been in football too long to think it is going to be nice and comfortable every season.” The defense of the club’s top-flight title never got going, as Arsenal failed to climb higher than third throughout the entire, trophy-less campaign. By the end of the season, the only success for Arsenal was Ian Wright beating Gary Lineker to the Golden Boot.

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The 1992–93 Premier League season saw the retention of both kits—which was a sign of the times before the rampant capitalism of later years rather than any lingering affection for the designs—and an acceptance that Arsenal were no longer a force in the league.

The Gunners, champions just two years earlier, slumped to 10th place as they became one of many clubs to suffer from the change of the backpass law that summer. The ‘Bruised Banana’ kit was promptly binned only to find a second life in the (much more successful) modern era.

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