Art Direction Megan Kewley

For years, the industry has shaped the landscape here.

In the years before the floodlights and the matchday chants, Middlesbrough was a town that was built on iron and working hands. From Smoke rising from the old blast furnaces to ships sailing down the river. A skyline dominated by industry. It’s that same grit that is still felt in the streets as well as in the people to this very day.

On matchdays, however, the town moves differently.

Footsteps marching on cold pavements, streetlights casting a faint orange glow on concrete and steel. Floodlights lighting up the riverside.

This collection aims to bridge the gap between industry and identity.

Between the sound of machinery and the roar of industry, between streetwear and workwear. Between history and whatever comes next.

Garments are reminisent of the language of the town, with structured silhouettes and outerwear desinged to ward off the harsh northern winters. Graphics and surface decoration to allude to 150 years of The Red and White Army, a story in the making since 1876.

The colour pallet inspired entirely by the landscape, with deep Boro reds. Each colour feels familiar, as if taken directly from the streets.

Nothing here is polished. Everything in this town belongs to the streets.

The collection is meant to feel worn, feel lived in. Carried through back alleyways and over iconic bridges. It’s a collection shaped by the atmosphere. Shaped by the fog over the Cleveland Hills, the cold breeze coming off the Tees. The sound of voices rising triumphant.

Because here, in Teesside, football is not separate from the town. It moves through it.

Through terraces and tower blocks. Through memories and through routines.

Through generations that have worn the same red, walked the same streets and stood beneath the heavy sky.

Not just football, but not just fashion either, A people. Worn on the streets.

“I WAS BORN AND RAISED ON STEEL RIVER”

Carving paths through steel towns, carrying generations of hope with it’s current. Like the Tees, Middlesbrough FC, belong to the people who stand beside it through the rain and the wet. Calm waters and violent floods. Triumph and hardship. It will always run home.

150 YEARS OF THE RED AND WHITE ARMY

Red and white courses through our veins. Wearing shirts with pride, game days or not. Boro is our past, present and our future.

UP THE BORO

WHO’S THAT TEAM WE CALL THE BORO?

WHO’S THAT TEAM WE ALL ADORE?

THE

INFANT HERCULES OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE.

BUILT FOR 90 MINUTES AND WHATERVER COMES NEXT.

In the North East, football fashion develops beyond just clothes. It’s a culture. Sportswear is worn by the youth all across the Tees Valley, and it carries such weight with it. It has been deemed ‘Terrace Fashion’ reminiscent of items of clothing worn by those growing up in terrace housing and back alleys. It has become almost synonymous with football culture and hooliganism. How is it possible that mere leisure wear carries with it the assumption of recklessness and disorder. For the kids here, its a uniform. Its the group of kids stood by the corner shop all dressed differently, but somehow all dressed the same.

Est. 1876 is born from the need to reclaim typically working class fashion, whereby appearance allows for quick conclusions, and returning it back to the streets.

Here, there’s not a catwalk. Just five-a-side matches, pub culture and late nights dreaming of tomorrow.

LIVED IN, NOT STYLED.

AYRESOME PARK, TS5

“My granddad lived round the corner from Ayresome Park, on Brompton Street. My dad was born on Brompton Street and grew up there. It’s in the blood, I’m a Boro fan, I love Middlesbrough and the dream has always been to play for Middlesbrough.”

Jonathan Woodgate

The infant Hercules of a new generation of industrial output. Forging a new future for Britain, powering us into the modern age. With it’s foundation in 1876, the Boro has seen it all. It’s seen the rise and fall of our industry, right from Ayresome Park. It’s seen advancements in building materials and the outsourcing of industries to favour overseas manufacturing. With new advancements in materials allowing for the construction of the new Riverside stadium, home of Middlesbrough Football Club for the past 30 years.

Ayresome Park welcomed fans adorned in red through its iconic gates through era defining historical moments. Welcoming fans back after they endured Luftwaffe bombings, hosting world cup matches that contended with geopolitical negotiations, the opening of the west to the east, the fortification of the Iron Curtain. It has endured such world shaping events, but it has also endured events that have shaped the Tees Valley. Strikes in the 1980s, unemployment. It has withstood years of negative assumptions of the North. And still, people wore that Middlesbrough badge with pride.

THE RIVERSIDE, TS3

“We go back to 1876, the infant hercules, fathomed out of the foundries of Teesside, mined out of the Eston hills, we’re roaring all the way to Eindhoven and the UEFA cup final.” Ali Brownlee

Today, the Riverside is symbolic of a new age in Teesside. A push to remember our past as a way to reshape our future. Its about looking back to propel forward. Celebrating what made us as a way to inspire the next generation. New waves on industry are welcomed down the Tees, pushing forward advancements in green energy and industries in the technological sectors. This final push into the future is monumental. And yet, it is that same badge that continues to be worn and hung with pride. Its our way of remembered those who came before us, those proud Teesside’s, who fought adversity and rose up against oppressive central governments. A movement in red. Its that same pride that still lives on the streets of Teesside today. Times are changing. Its hard not to look back on the ‘Glory Days’ of Thursday nights in the pub after long days on the chemical plants. On the days where estates were built and depended on local industry. But it’s their duty, the next generation to bear the weight of stories of hardship told to them over the dinner table with pride. Like a suit of armour. That’s what the Riverside Stadium is symbolic of. The need to celebrate who we are, what shaped us. And carrying the weight of that into tomorrow, the same way young men carried their picks into the mines.

BORN OF SMOG, INDUSTRY AND HARDSHIP

‘Smoggie’ was originally a derogative term bestowed on the people of Teesside as an insult, reducing them down to nothing more than their working class routes. However, in recent years, the term ‘Smoggie’ has been used to empower our people, celebrating the very soul of our community.

FROM THE BANKS OF THE TEES TO THE CLEVELAND HILLS

From the River Tees, winding from Teesdale to the North Sea, meandering through villages and past the industry. To the top of the Cleveland Hills and Roseberry Topping’s crest, standing proudly over our town below. From Acklam to Coulby Newham, Nunthorpe to Redcar. This is our town.

‘WHERE THE STRUGGLES ARE REAL AND THE GRIT IS TRUE’

Here, hardship is not hidden, worn proudly like a badge of honour. Built on grit, powered by pride. It’s in the shadow of The Transporter Bridge, standing proud over the Tees. Resilience forged in steelworks and shipyards, and communities which have weathered change and stand firm.

‘IT’S IN THE PEOPLE WE ARE AND THE WORK WE DO’

Their hands are worn and their laughter is rough. They stand firm against the cold. Grit lives in them, as a heartbeat opposed to armour. They are the people of Teesside. All for one and one for all, solidairty forever.

MATCH DAY RITUALS

Sheltered from the bitter northern winters, strangers become teammates for 90 minutes. Pint glasses rattle with every goal, Pubs become alive with the same atmosphere as the game, united by hope and loyalty.

FROM THE STANDS TO THE PITCH.

Grassroots to red roots, the true soul of football. On a cold northern morning, players are connected by their love of the game, navigating uneven pitches and waterlogged fields. The game does not belong to the stadiums, it starts here. It belongs to us.

A LIFETIME OF SATURDAYS IN A SINGLE MOMENT

GEORGE FRIEND

266 Middlesborough appearances.

A NEW AGE FOR TEESSIDE.

Here, the collection has been photographed in a deliberate way to capture the authenticity of being a kid in the Tees Valley. A true bairn. A deliberate way to capture kids being kids. The collection stands out against the red bricks of the estates, and the greys of the Tees and it’s skies. It is loud and it is proud, exactly like those wearing it. It’s less about clean pictures, but more about being able to portray life on Teesside. The collection encapsulates the very pride that flows through their veins, through all of our veins.

I wanted to capture exactly what it means to grow up here. How it felt for me. Therefore it was important for me to use real kids, who aren’t professionally trained. The hairdresser’s son, the boy next door. These estates mean so much to these kids, and to be able to freeze the magic of them is truly special.

These kids grew up together, and together they bare the weight of years of economic turmoil and uncertainty. These streets speak, paving slabs tell stories of generations. Generations who marched these streets into the pits and the generations who will lead us into the future.

Pride and power and promises of tomorrow captured in a collection made for a people who back it. An innate feeling felt throughout Teesside. Tales of toil and triumph told right here.

A game played in back alleys, the very same played on the world stage. Fr om playing under the orange glow of street lamps to playing under the eyes of the world. A clear path, etched in the paving slabs of local estates.

by

FORGED ON TEESSIDE.

HARD-WEARING. HARD-EARNED.

PLAY LOUD. DRESS LOUDER.

Inspired by Teesside’s steel heritage and the quiet power of match day culture. This isn’t merchandise. It’s a uniform for the next generation. Unapologetically local. Built from grit, finished with style. Made to be worn with pride.

SIDE BY SIDE SEASON AFTER SEASON.

The red that runs deep. In every one of us. It’s who we are.

YOUNG. NORTHERN. UNSTOPPABLE.

“BENEATH THE ROAR OF INDUSTRY, WE KICKED, WE RAN. WE BECAME BROTHERS.”

A collection rooted in Teesside’s estates, with authenticity and pride at it’s center. More than just merchandise, but a uniform for the next generation of supporters who carry the uncomprimising pride and spirit of the Boro into the streets everyday.

A collection united by its heritage. A people united by their love for it. The youth of Teesside carry a complicated inheritance. They grew up in towns shaped by industry, football culture and communities poised to withstand economic change for decades. Within that environment, there is more. Creativity. Resilience. Identity.

On local pitches, on the back streets, on unkept fields, young people learn more than just the game. They learn discipline, friendship. They learn to be proud of where they come from. The future of Teesside depends on its youth.

Teesside has always spoken through its people, and in places like this, identity isn’t something you learn. It’s something you live. This collection is built from that reality.

These pieces carry the colours, textures and attitudes of a generation growing up with such pride from their hometown. A reminder that culture doesn’t need to come from global capitals or fashion houses. Sometimes, it’s built from five-a-side matches and late nights dreaming of tomorrow.

The youth of Teesside’s tomorrow. Because, when these streets speak, the future listens.

To be young in Teesside is to be young with a weighty history baring down on you. It’s growing up in a shell of what was, with ghosts of the steelworks and the stories of the shifts at ICI Billingham. It’s playing out in the streets under the faint orange glow of streetlights until Mam calls you in for tea. Here, you are raised on the notion that if you want something, you have to work for it.

Here, there’s prides in Stockton’s estates, pride on the X67 bus to Billingham and pride in the late nights on Redcar sea front, the rigs in the North Sea akin to stars in the night sky. Its cold and it’s loud but it’s entirely ours.

These kids cant be reduced to just some statistic in an article about post-industrial decline. They are so much more than what society tells them they can be. It’s about flipping the script. They will be the kids who refuse to leave, not because they can’t, but because they don’t want to. Making it here, as opposed to making it out.

And if they do leave, they will be able to wear exactly who they are.

Here, ambition is collective. Everywhere you go you carry your people with you. Rising above here isn’t about forgetting our past, about erasing the decline of the industry which shaped us into who we are.

And when tomorrow comes and the cranes rise again, they won’t just symbolise a new industrial age for Teesside, it will symbolise them.

Rising not to forget their heritage, but rising because they want to celebrate it.

Celebrate them, and all those before them. A red rising.

FORGED IN STEEL. SEALED IN RED.

From back alleys to the school yard. Style isn’t about standing out alone, its about standing out together. It’s a loyalty without question. Same roots. Same code. Same cloth.

The Middlesbrough Football kit is a symbol of pride and hardship, endurance and spirit. A strong spirit that carried the weight of generations. It tells a story, a story of the rise and fall of industry, of acceptance and overcoming. Of rebirth. It carried us through the industrial and an here it is carrying us into the future.

It’s important that like the people of Teesside, the kit learns to adapt to the changing times, as the river carries our new future. After 150 years, we stand on the precipice of the next sesquicentennial. And through this collection, Boro has shown that it can, like it’s people, learn to adapt to the present whilst celebrating the past.

It’s designs speak not just of history, but persistence. We too shall persist, carrying our history into the next generation. The echos of yesterday used as momentum, as we step forward strengthened by the knowledge of where we came from, wearing exactly who we are.

Est 1876. Ready for tomorrow.

‘‘WE WERE BORN AND RAISED ON STEEL RIVER”

The river whispers stories of toil and triumph, of nights under floodlights and days under clouds heavy with industry. We move with the town, we wear the streets and carry the grit of generations in every thread. Red runs deeper than the river.

2026 Megan Kewley

Atha & Co. 2021. ‘A Look Into Middlesbrough Football Club’s History’. Atha & Co [Online]. Available at https://atha.co.uk/news/a-look-into-middlesbrough-football-club-s-history [Accessed February 18 2026]

The Beautiful History. 2010. ‘Middlesbrough’. The Beautiful History [Online]. Available at https://thebeautifulhistory.wordpress.com/clubs/middlesbrough/ [Accessed February 18 2026]

BBC. 2025. ‘Middlesbrough unveil 150th anniversary crest’. BBC [Online]. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c8x1pqn8wplo [Accessed February 18 2026]

WARWICK, Tosh. 2019. ‘The FIFA World Cup, International Friendship and the ‘Mystery Men of the East’: When Middlesbrough Fell in Love with North Korea.’ North Korea Review. Available online at https://www.jstor.org/stable/26632422 [Accessed February 18 2026]

LLAMAS, Carmen. N.d. ‘MIDDLESBROUGH ENGLISH: CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT TRENDS IN A ‘PART OF BRITAIN WITH NO IDENTITY’. Available online at https://www.latl.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2019/05/Llamas_2000.pdf [Accessed February 21 2026]

TELFORD, Luke. 2019. ‘Brexit and the working class on Teesside: Moving beyond reductionism’ Available online at https://journals.sagepub.com/ doi/full/10.1177/0309816819873310 [Accessed February 21 2026]

WARWICK, Tosh. 2019. ‘Scenarios of Uncertainty’ in Britain’s Steel Communities’ History Workshop [Online]. Available at https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/capitalism/scenarios-of-uncertainty-in-britains-steel-communities/ [Accessed February 21 2026]