Fox Leisure: The Tail End
Fox Leisure is as iconic of ’90s Leicester as Walkers Crisps, Mark Morrison and The Shires. Conceptualised by former Director of Marketing and later Chief Executive, Barrie Pierpoint, as a method for generating income and providing the club and fans with quality manufactured kits. The Foxes kits had many manufacturers over the years, from Leicester-based pioneers of football shirt branding Admiral to historic England shirt producer Umbro. Fox Leisure remains popular amongst Foxes fans with Score Draw recently reproducing retro items on behalf of the club.
Shirts emblazoned with the Walkers Crips brand, the cinquefoil fox and Fox Leisure logo were the epitome of Leicesterness. So, what happened to Fox Leisure?
“Quality, standards and value for money.”
Pierpoint’s initial vision for the kit was to provide fans with a quality replica shirt. Bukta manufactured Leicester City’s 90/92 kit. Despite a rich history, the Bukta brand has since been passed from company-to-company, with Staw Ltd being the last to hold the label. According to Pierpoint and Matthew Mann’s book “Minding My Own Football Business”, he was unimpressed with the quality of Bukta’s product; colours ran, shirts had non-uniform shading, and a Leicester Del Boy was selling factory seconds to traders. East Midlands rivals Derby County had a Bukta kit in 93/94…
