Choosing a goalkeeper kit your number one will actually want to wear

Most custom kit conversations spend ten minutes on the outfield shirt and forty seconds on the keeper kit. Then the keeper finds out their kit is the same shirt in a slightly different colour, and quietly resents the season. Here's how to avoid that.

The thing keepers actually want

Ask any keeper what makes a good GK kit and you'll get the same five answers, in this order:

• It looks different from the outfield shirt. Not just a green version of the same design.
• Long sleeves available. For winter games and players who like cuffs.
• Padded shorts or pants. Or at least, the option.
• A second colourway. For the day the opposition turns up in green too.
• Generous fit. Keepers throw themselves around. Tight fits don't help.

What's included as standard at Peaq

Every full-squad Peaq order includes one goalkeeper kit, in a contrasting colourway, designed alongside the outfield kit. Same fabric (140gsm performance poly), same studio finish standard, sized to the keeper's shirt and shorts spec.

Long-sleeve GK shirts at the standard rate. We design the GK shirt with subtly different panel work where it makes sense — sleeve cuffs, neck, sometimes the back panel — so the keeper kit reads as its own piece of kit, not a recolour.

Things you can add

• Padded GK shorts — slightly tougher fabric, foam inserts on the hip. Roughly £8 extra per shorts. Keepers usually want these.
• Second GK colour — for cup runs and clash kits. Designed at the same time as the primary, ships in the same window.
• Extra GK kit if you carry two keepers — at the same per-player rate as the squad.
• GK gloves — we don't make gloves, but we'll point you at the brands worth buying. Not all "club gloves" are.
• Padded GK trousers — for clubs that play through winter. Available on request.

Colour, properly

The classic GK colour was green because outfield kit colours rarely included green. That was 1970. Now everyone plays in green, so the actual rule is: the GK kit must contrast both the home outfield kit and the typical opposition kits in your league.

For clubs with a green or dark home kit, that usually means yellow, orange or sky-blue keeper kit. For clubs in red or yellow, dark green or navy works. For clubs in black-and-white stripes, anything bright is fine.

Two practical tips:

• Pink, salmon and lime green are over-represented because they look great on Instagram and clash with most opposition kits in real-world leagues.
• If your league publishes a kit registry (most do, somewhere), check the GK colour distribution before committing. Three teams in the same yellow GK kit is no fun in October.

The keeper number question

Keepers wear 1 by default. Some carry a second keeper as 13. Some clubs assign 12 or 22. Tell us the number, we'll print it. If you carry two keepers and don't know who's number one yet, give us both — we can produce both kits with both numbers and assign at delivery.

Replacements when the keeper signs new gloves and the kit follows

GK kits get destroyed faster than outfield kits. Diving on dry pitches in August, sliding in mud in November, the relentless studs of training drills. We hold the GK design on file for 24 months alongside the outfield design. Single-piece replacements ship in the same 3–4 weeks, no setup fee.

The short version

• Budget the GK kit properly — it's not just a recolour.
• Long-sleeve standard, padded shorts add £8.
• Pick a GK colour that clashes both you and likely opposition.
• If you carry two keepers, order two GK kits.
• Replacement keeper shirts mid-season are easy.