Nike answer urgent Portsmouth SOS after 'phenomenal' demand sparks football shirt shortage for Christmas

Pompey home kits will be back on sale in the build-up to Christmas following emergency talks with Nike.

The Blues are toasting ‘phenomenal’ shirt sales this season, with a staggering 14,000 bought so far - surpassing the 9,000 sold over the entire 2022-23 campaign.

It’s a remarkable ramping up in demand which Nike and their partners, Just Sport, have disappointingly been unable to keep up with, resulting in the home shirt out of stock ahead of the festive season.

However, at the Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference on December 6, Andy Cullen revealed that, following negotiations with Nike, another 2,000 adult shirts are now to be distributed.

These are expected to arrive for the week commencing December 18, although will not initially be online sales, while there will be no additional children’s shirts.

And the Blues’ chief executive is delighted Nike listened to club pleas.

Cullen told the Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference: ‘Like everyone else, I’m really disappointed we don’t have home shirts to sell at the moment.

‘In 2018, there was a huge clamour to move to a really top, prominent brand. Mark (Catlin), Anna (Mitchell) and Tony (Brown) worked hard to deliver a brilliant agreement with Nike, which has proven incredibly lucrative for the football club and one of the best I have seen in all my time in football.

‘The thing to recognise when working with a major brand like Nike, though, is that there are very long lead times for kit. Kit designs need to be signed off in the September prior to the next season for delivery following July/August. So, for 2023-24, the kit has to be ordered in September 2022.

‘Just Sport review sales figures from previous years, then forecast their retail orders for that season. Sales of all our shirts have been phenomenal this year. 

‘We’re at 14,000 sales already, compared to 9,000 for the whole of last season. That incredible success and increase in sales has led to Just Sport exhausting their entire stock of home kit, with no opportunity to order more from Nike.

‘I’m disappointed, but we have not just sat back and accepted the situation. We have been persistent on the matter, met with Nike, and we’ve sealed a deal with them which they’ve not done for any other club.

‘They’ve agreed to produce 2,000 adult home shirts for us just in time for Christmas. They are doing their best to ensure these arrive with us in the week commencing 18th December.

‘Due to Christmas delivery times, these will go straight to our club shop – we won’t initially do online sales. If there are any left post-Christmas, these can then go online.

‘I was unable to secure more children’s shirts due to the minimum volumes needed. There won’t be any new kids shirts coming in, but Just Sport will continue to discount the remaining 125 third shirts available in both adults and children’s sizes.

‘We’re in a good place with overall retail performance – the 125th anniversary range has proven successful, we have vastly increased the range of merchandise for children following meetings I had with supporters last season and retro shirts have been hugely popular.

‘Our retail revenues are at record levels this year, even beating the season the club went to Wembley.’

As part of Pompey’s arrangement with Nike, Just Sport oversee the Anson Road club store, taking on all liabilities, stock, staffing and operations.

In turn, the Blues, who provide the premises receive a ‘good share’ of the turnover, according to Cullen.