Famous footballers like Markus Babbel don’t have to worry about the cost of their football shirts. It’s their uniform for work after all!
However, for mere mortals such as football fans, purchasing a replica shirt or maybe even two, is part of the process of getting ready for the new season. Or a major tournament, such as Euro 2024 or the Copa America 2024.
For many supporters, it is as much a part of their role as a fan as going to the game, tuning in on TV to watch or having a bet on the outcome of a match with bet365 Sport.
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But the price of replica football shirts has rapidly increased over the last decade or so. And it is making it more difficult for the cash-conscious fan to buy the latest strip for their chosen team.
However, there is a way to save money on the cost of purchasing the latest replica shirt for your team. Enterprising football fans have discovered the benefits when they go retro!
So, before we explore the retro kit phenomenon, let’s examine how much the cost of replica shirts has increased over recent years.
For many years, replica football shirts represented excellent value for money. Up until 10-15 years ago, the cost of a new replica shirt for the current season was somewhere between £35 and £50 for adults. For children, they usually cost between £25 and £40 (but often included shorts and socks too).
While that price seemed high for what is essentially a t-shirt, football kits were durable, hard-wearing, kept their shape and colour. They also were adaptable, meaning you could wear them while playing football with friends, or when heading out to watch a game.
However, that changed when sponsorship deals between kit manufacturers and clubs markedly increased in value.
Fans gleefully celebrated the news that Club Y had struck a huge sponsorship agreement with kit manufacturer X. But they were unaware who would fund these new mega-deals.
Of course, it is the fan who foots the bill. The easiest way for kit manufacturers to recoup their cash is to charge fans more for club-branded items. And the replica shirt is by far the most prominent and popular.
Soon, replica shirts breached the £50 barrier for adults. Back then costing between £50 and £70 for a single home or away shirt for top teams.
That upward trend in prices for adults and children has continued.
Now, a replica shirt for a top team will cost over £100 for many teams. Children’s shirts are now priced at around £60 to £80. In some cases, they may be just £10 or £15 cheaper than an adult’s shirt.
Those prices often do not include personalisation or numbers, which can add a further cost of between £15 and £25 to the average cost of a shirt.
A family of four wanting to kit themselves out with personalised home and away shirts for a season, would find they are shelling out around £1,000 per season for the privilege to do so.
That is an astronomical amount of money and not easy to find in these somewhat frugal times.
But savvy football fans have found a cost-effective alternative. Retro shirts.
For many years, old football shirts stayed at the bottom of drawers, or hung on hangers, left alone and unloved once the season had passed.
Many would go to charity shops. That was until companies began to realise that there was a growing interest in retro shirts.
Nowadays, there are many companies offering retro shirts from bygone seasons. And if you look at the pictures of fans at Euro 2024, you will see hundreds of examples of fans wearing retro shirts, rather than the latest national team strip.
By retro shirts, we don’t mean second-hand shirts (although there is a thriving market for these shirts too). We mean genuinely unused products, from seasons gone by, or which have been made as a replica for a specific team and a specific year.
These replica shirts have a number of big advantages over the latest home or away shirt for your club or country. They are: –
Furthermore, replica shirts can be as durable, hard-wearing and fashionable as the latest expensive football shirt. In many cases, they can also be personalised in the same way as current replica shirts too.
Little wonder then that so many fans go retro when it comes to donning their team’s colours!
So, what are the retro shirts that are proving to be hugely popular? Let’s take a look at a list of some of the most popular retro shirts available today.
The following clubs all have an extensive collection of retro shirts available from across many different eras.
In fact, you can find replica shirts for almost any club, including some famous fictional clubs (such as Melchester Rovers, Harchester United and even Richmond Greyhounds from the Ted Lasso TV series).
And if you are looking for inspiration for a top-quality retro shirt that packs a real wow-factor, check out these: –
At around a third of the cost of a standard replica shirt for the current season, it is easy to see why retro football shirts are so popular.
With a wide range of stockists available, including a number of clubs that have their own retro-styled collections available from the club shop, you are never short of choice!
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