J.J. Watt Unveils Burnley FC's New Away Kit for 2026-27 Season
The cream always rises. On this occasion, it’s wearing claret and green.
J.J. Watt has thrown himself headlong into Burnley FC since buying a minority stake in the club, but this latest project goes beyond the boardroom. The former Houston Texans defensive talisman has helped design Burnley’s new cream-colored away kit for the 2026-27 season, leaning into his self-styled “Milk Man” persona and a deep dive into the club’s history.
Watt, the Milk Man, and a very Burnley story
Burnley unveiled the kit on Friday, July 31 with a tongue-in-cheek promotional film titled “The Cream Rises.” Watt isn’t just a cameo; he’s the lead.
Dressed as a local milk man, he starts his day among cows and sheep before climbing into a milk float and trundling through the Lancashire countryside. His deliveries aren’t bottles of cream but the new away shirt, dropped off to “local legends” including cricket icon Sir Jimmy Anderson and entrepreneur Dave Fishwick.
The journey ends where it always had to: Turf Moor. There, Watt steps out to reveal the full Castore strip — a cream base broken by horizontal red and green stripes, a look that feels both fresh and rooted in something older.
“From day one, I didn't want this to be just another football shirt. I wanted to create something quintessentially Burnley,” Watt said in a statement on the club’s website. “Every decision we made started with one question: are we doing the supporters of this club proud?
“As I’ve said many times before, this club existed long before I arrived and it will exist long after I’m gone. But during this time, my goal is to help honor its great past while also shepherding it to a brighter future.”
Digging into the archives
This wasn’t a quick celebrity collaboration. Watt, married to former United States soccer international Kealia Ohai, spent two years working with the club on the design. He pored over past kits and quickly locked onto one detail he felt had to return: an old crest.
The chosen badge is an ornate shield, packed with symbolism — symmetrical lions, roses, a bee, and a knight’s helmet. Burnley wore it from 1979 to 1983 and again from 1987 to 2009. For many supporters, it’s the emblem of promotion pushes, blood-and-thunder afternoons, and the club’s gritty climb through the divisions.
Watt wanted that weight of memory stitched back onto the shirt.
“I am merely a steward for this club,” he said in a behind-the-scenes video charting the making of the kit. “But the opportunity to create a kit with this badge and this crest and hopefully with the proper respect for what it means is an incredible honor for me and I hope everybody likes it.”
The details run deeper than the badge. A subtle geometric pattern runs through the fabric, inspired by the stonework at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley’s historic training base. It’s the kind of touch you only find when someone has taken the time to walk the corridors, study the walls, and ask what makes a club feel like itself.
‘Future-retro’ and a fan-first launch
Inside the club, there’s a clear sense Watt has not treated this as a vanity project.
“It's been great fun working with JJ on this project,” said Ed Stewart-Lockhart, Burnley’s Chief Marketing Officer, who described the jersey as “future-retro.” “He's brought incredible energy all the way through. You can see how much he's enjoyed it, but also how much it matters to him that we've got it right.”
Burnley have matched the storytelling with a nod to their most devoted supporters. The first 100 fans to buy the jersey in the club’s official store will receive a collector’s box, complete with an exclusive cap and a signed photo of Watt. The first 100 online customers will also receive an autographed picture.
It’s smart marketing, of course. But it also fits the narrative Watt keeps returning to: the idea of stewardship, of doing right by the people who fill the stands.
A new look for a new fight
All of this lands at a pivotal moment for Burnley. Relegated after just one season back in the Premier League, the club now faces the grind of the EFL Championship again — a division that rarely forgives hesitation or self-pity.
The cream strip will get its first outing on Sunday, August 2, in a home friendly against Torino at Turf Moor. It’s only a pre-season game, only a kit launch. Yet for a club trying to reset its trajectory, the symbolism is hard to miss.
Burnley are back in the Championship, but with a global star on the board, a fanbase stitched into the fabric of the shirt, and an old crest restored to the chest, the message is clear.
They expect the cream to rise again.
