In late July, the BBC reported that just 44 out of the 92 clubs in England’s top four divisions had both new shirts – home colours as well as those worn on the road – on sale. As many as 19 teams had neither available for fans to buy.
“The whole of the football kit industry in Europe pretty much uses the same industry path and has done for 20 to 30 years, ever since it moved to Asia,” Carl Davis, CEO of fashion company Perry Ellis Europe and former managing director of sports equipment producer Mitre, told Nikkei Asia. “It worked perfectly until Covid.”
Far-reaching anti-coronavirus lockdowns in China and Vietnam upended supply chains in everything from automobiles to consumer electronics, and now football is feeling the effects.
Two of the biggest sportswear manufacturers, Adidas and Nike, employ a total of around 500,000 workers in Vietnam alone, and a Covid-19 spike in the summer of 2021 in the Southeast Asian nation resulted in the closure of a third of their factories. Even when production returned to former levels, the sportswear industry had plenty of competition as it sought to ship its goods around the world.
“Like many other industries, we continue to be confronted with limited port and transport capacities,” Adidas was reported as saying by the BBC. “We understand the frustration felt by the fans at this time and we have worked in close collaboration with our club partners to find the best solution on delivering the product as soon as we can.”
Previously, clubs would start work over a year ahead of the new season release, usually in May or June. The goal was that after designs were agreed upon, the shirts would be manufactured in December or early January to ensure that shipments left Chinese or Vietnamese ports before the start of the Lunar New Year holidays around February.
“Then the most cost-effective way is to put delivery on a boat for 12 weeks,” said Davis. This means it usually arrives around April, just before the existing season ends in May. “Clubs can then put their latest sponsors on if they want, which means that as soon as the old season ends they can announce next season’s kit and put it on sale, as everyone wants to buy it in the summer.”
It is the big clubs, whose shirts are likely to be prioritised by manufacturers due to their greater selling power, that can ride out the financial issues much more easily.
The likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, the two most successful clubs in England in terms of championships won, are usually paid a hefty upfront fee from manufacturers. In 2020, Liverpool’s deal with Nike was worth US$200 million over five years, with the club also reportedly taking 20% commission from sales. The team’s shirts for this season cost around US$85.
The 20 clubs in the English Premier League, the country’s top tier, divided around US$3.2 billion in prize and broadcasting revenue alone in the 2021-22 season. Smaller clubs further down the pyramid receive far less money from television. The pre-pandemic total revenue for the average club in England’s fourth tier was around US$5 million.
“Most UK football clubs don’t make money, which means if they then make less money, it puts them at risk,” said Davis. “For bigger clubs, the league and broadcasting generate the most money, then shirt sponsors, then gate receipts and then it is selling kit. The lower down the pyramid you go, the greater the reliance is, and the greater the potential damage from not being able to sell shirts at a peak time.”
Moving manufacturing back to Europe from Asia may not be the answer. “Even if your shirt is not manufactured in China, the fabric still comes from China,” said Davis. “The trims and collars are from China, so you can have goods that are three-quarters made in Europe and you are still waiting. That can be even worse.”