Reading FC - Biscuit Men Shirt

Why stop at just badges? So many teams these days (to my sheer delight) are using their own kits to tell the story of their history and heritage. There are lots of teams doing it this season but one of the stand outs have baked their story onto the home kit in a very iconic war… Reading FC. So let’s #GetTheShirtIn

Their 2025–26 Macron home shirt is a proper tribute to Reading’s industrial heritage, dipped in nostalgia for the days when biscuits made the town world famous.

From a distance it is familiar: white base, blue hoops with a red trim. But zoom in and you’ll see those stripes aren’t flat colour blocks – they’re filled with Victorian-inspired patterns, the kind that once decorated Huntley & Palmers’ biscuit tins.

Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, those tins were as recognisable as Coca-Cola bottles are today. Ornate, intricate, often depicting exotic scenes from around the globe, they turned the humble biscuit tin into a worldwide icon.

Reading wasn’t just a railway stop between London and the West Country – by 1900, it was the home of the world’s largest biscuit factory. Huntley & Palmers employed thousands, powered the town’s growth, and exported to 172 countries.

Huntley & Palmers produced an astonishing variety of biscuits – around 400 by 1903 – ranging from everyday staples to more elaborate creations. Their range included digestives, chocolate-coated biscuits, Nice biscuits (which they are often credited with inventing), Bath Olivers, Abernethy biscuits flavoured with caraway seeds, arrowroot biscuits for children, and their own versions of cream crackers. They also made Opera Wafers, Morning Coffee biscuits, shortcakes, and rich shortbread, while their famous assorted tins mixed ginger snaps, chocolate creams, and countless other varieties. These tins, decorated with ornate Victorian and Edwardian designs, became collectors’ items in their own right and helped turn Huntley & Palmers into one of the world’s first truly global brands.

The brand was a symbol of the British Empire’s reach – their tins even made it to the Congo River and the Himalayas.

The company’s biscuits went as far as Antarctica too. Captain Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition packed Huntley & Palmers fruitcake, one of which was rediscovered in 2017 – still intact after more than a century.

Closer to home, Huntley & Palmers shaped Reading itself. The Palmers family gave land and money to the town, with Palmer Park still carrying their name. For years, Reading F.C. carried theirs too: The Biscuitmen. A nickname lost when the factory closed in 1976, but not forgotten.

This isn’t the first time Reading have worn their story. In 2022/23, the “climate stripes” kit – designed by a University of Reading professor – turned data on global warming into a striking visual pattern. Other kits have carried town landmarks and their away kit this season also features the designs from Reading Town Hall. As a history teacher and football fan I am thoroughly enjoying Reading’s philosophy of football kit design.

From factory floor to football pitch – that’s how you #GetTheShirtIn.