Nike to produce 8 million France national football team jerseys to meet demand after selling out
On July 15, France went mad after the national team’s triumph in the football World Cup in Russia, the second in the team’s history. Fans were ecstatic and wanted to lay their hands on replica kits already decorated with two stars, one for each World Cup victory, straight after the final whistle. Nike, kit supplier to France’s national football team since 2011, explained that only a first batch of customers were able to buy the jersey on its website. Others, and all those who wanted to share in the euphoria by buying the kit in-store the day after, went without. And they will have to wait a few weeks more.
According to some sources, Nike had produced about 20,000 jerseys. Whatever the exact quantity, they soon sold out. The world’s number one sport brand, whose football kit sales more than doubled in the quarter preceding the World Cup compared to the same period a year earlier, simply stated that it would be able to stock its stores in mid-August, without giving any further details. Sport retailer Intersport actually said it expects to receive more France kits only in September.
According to an investigation by French weekly paper JDD, the kits are currently being produced. After inquiring with Nike’s suppliers, JDD wrote that eight million units of the kit have been ordered, the majority of them manufactured in Thailand, where Nike works, still according to JDD, with 30 factories, employing 37,000 workers. Reporter Loic Grasset indicated that the jersey’s production cost at the Thai factories is €3. After three weeks, the length of time it takes to ship the kits overseas, the replica jersey is retailed at €85 and the match-day jersey at €140. Grasset also wrote that fake kits are available at €8.
Nike and the French Football Federation renewed their partnership deal last year, and Nike will be the national team’s official kit supplier until 2026.
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