Wednesday 28 March 2018 4:49 pm

Shirt pull: Classic football kits have never been bigger business thanks to the 90s fashion boom and looming World Cup

During this summer’s World Cup you will be nearly as certain to spot a football fan sporting a France shirt from 1998 or West Germany’s block-patterned effort from 1990 as you are to see someone kitted out in the latest England kit.

Vintage football shirts have not only become commonplace at stadiums, in the pub, or on a five-a-side pitch but are increasingly finding themselves in the more unlikely arenas of fashion shows or hip-hop music videos.

Should you notice any of the designs from your childhood reappear during June and July, the likelihood is that its owner bought it from one of a handful of retailers who have made a business out of this burgeoning football nostalgia.

Just as pubcos, sponsorship agencies, the tourism industry and broadcasters are gearing up for a summer spike in sales from the World Cup, so too is Classic Football Shirts, the most popular online destination for retro football gear.

Started in 2006 by two students in their final year at Manchester University, the company has grown from orders of £100 a day to turnover of £7.5m in its most recent financial year, a workforce of 40 full-time employees and 500,000 items in stock.

The Fabric of Football exhibition in Manchester attracted thousands of visitors (Source: Classic Football Shirts)

“Two years ago we had about 25 people working for us and by the end of the year we’ll probably be at 50 people, so it’s growing quite fast,” co-founder Doug Bierton tells City A.M.

“A World Cup sends everything crazy. Our sales our very consistent — it’s not a seasonal business – but we tend to do twice as much during the World Cup.

“Once we get into December, January, going into a World Cup year then the focus is to build as much international stock as possible — England shirts especially.”

Three Lions shirts from successful campaigns such as the 1990 World Cup and 1996 European Championships — kits Bierton describes as “the iconic classics” — are the biggest sellers, but the interest is not limited to England nor always tied to particularly successful teams.

In fact, Classic Football Shirts was able to attract thousands of visitors to an exhibition of its most iconic jerseys held in Manchester earlier this month. Bierton is bringing it to London for three days in April before taking it around the world.

Iconic: England’s home shirt from Italia ’90 is a Classic Football shirts bestseller (Source: Getty)

“We’re a very global business,” he says. “South Korea is actually our second biggest destination, which probably not many people would expect. We’ve got people based all around the world who source shirts for us.”

Other companies, such as Box2Box, operate on a smaller scale but aim to speak with authenticity to a historically clued-up and hipster-leaning community that has blossomed around new magazines, podcasts and documentaries.

Like Classic Football Shirts, Box2Box is in what co-founder Josh Warwick describes as “a buying frenzy” ahead of the World Cup from a network of suppliers ranging from Malaysia to Ukraine to a former kitman in Scotland.

But Warwick, who says business has grown 15 per cent every year since starting in 2014, is expecting customers to be motivated not only by nostalgia and not even necessarily by an interest in football.

“Football is super cool at the moment,” he tells City A.M. “Skateboarding four, five, six years ago was the sport that brands wanted to identify themselves with but that’s shifted towards football.

Before betting companies, there were video game manufacturers: Fiorentina’s Nintendo-sponsored shirt is a hit (Source: @_box2box / @osangphoto)

“We did a pop-up store in Elephant and Castle and I think we were a bit overwhelmed by the interest. To actually see people who aren’t interested in football suddenly massively interested in buying an Ajax 1993-94 away shirt – it’s quite baffling but great for us.

“I think the fact that the early 1990s is playing such a dominant part in the fashion industry at the moment helps. That was a golden era for football shirts too: the bold design, the colours, even the sponsors.

“One of our strong sellers is the Fiorentina Fila shirt with Nintendo [from 1998-99] as a sponsor. People love it as much for the sponsor as for the design of the shirt.”

The influence of early 1990s football is unmistakable in a number of the shirts designed by the major sportswear brands for this year’s World Cup, especially those from Adidas which often explicitly borrow from kits of old. Germany’s latest kits, for instance, are clear nods to their iconic 1990 designs.

Clubs and countries alike, meanwhile, have called on musicians and artists whose aesthetics align with the new design to help promote the shirts. Nike used Afrobeat superstar Wizkid to launch the new Nigeria kit, while the patronage of artists such as Drake and MIA have helped turn football shirts into fashion items.

Germany’s 2018 World Cup kit (c) makes reference to their iconic 1990 kit (l) (Source: Classic Football Shirts)

“Bands have always been into football but the shirts weren’t seen as cool things to be into until today,” Neal Heard, author of The Football Shirts book and a consultant to major brands, told City A.M.

“I call it ‘the basketballisation of football’, in Britain you’ll see someone wearing a Yankees cap with an NY logo. I was working as a consultant to Nike at this secret event last year in which they were telling all their customers that football jersey culture has changed, you’ve got to catch up.

“The 1990s are over all fashion at the moment and football has become a part of that. It’s a long time overdue.”

Heard has his own exhibition, The Art of the Football Shirt, touring the world and returning to London in June.

Fashion, then, has never given football fans a greater opportunity to indulge in their fandom. Just make sure you get your shirt while its cool stocks are still up.

Classic Football Shirts’ five most popular kits:

England home, Italy World Cup 1990