England supporters are facing record-high prices for official replica shirts, with Nike charging £95 for an adult shirt ahead of the World Cup in the US. The cost has risen 53% since the 2010 tournament, when a stadium shirt cost £45.
According to market research by Dr Peter Rohlmann, an analyst specialising in football merchandise, the average price for an adult replica shirt across all teams is now €100, up from €65 in 2010. Nike’s England, France and Brazil shirts are the most expensive at €110, while Adidas and Puma charge €100 for their top teams.
In the UK, an adult England replica shirt costs £90, compared to £75 for Scotland’s Adidas kit. Children’s England shirts are £65, £10 more than Scotland’s. The price surge has led some fans to buy counterfeit shirts, with KitLegit, an app that verifies shirt authenticity, estimating that 30-40% of shirts in circulation are fake.
Ben Houston, co-founder of KitLegit, said: “The price of official shirts will be having an impact on demand for fakes, but due to the cost of living crisis many fans seek out counterfeit product.” He warned that some consumers are duped into buying fakes on secondhand platforms and clone websites.
Rohlmann said football shirt prices have “risen much faster and proportionally more sharply” than the general cost of living, “meaning that fans’ love for their favourite teams is being ruthlessly exploited.” Nike said it regularly reviews product costs to balance performance and rising material, manufacturing and logistics costs.
