Soccer Jersey
 

I will be traveling to London in three weeks. I had a request to bring a soccer jersey back for a friend. I appreciate any information on the best place to buy one, and also some idea on what it might cost. Thanks alot.

Recently flew out of Heathrow, and there is a sport shop once you go thru to international gates, at which there are great soccer jerseys of all teams.

recalling that the price was approx $45-65. Everything was pricey in London....

65-69e seems to be the going price - i know this might not have the allure of getting one in the UK, but go online to EUROSPORT.COM, they also sell jerseys for the various teams and the cost is about the same (no guessing on the exchange rate, etc)

Thank you for the fast replies. I do appreciate your help.

Soccer scene on Carnaby street. This is Europes largest soccer store, selling nearly every jersey you will ever want.

Thanks Jim. I'm glad I asked. The more info the better. It will save me from having to do a lot of searching once I get there. Leaves more time to shop for ME.

I assume that a particular team jersey has been requested?

Why not simply visit the club's Home Page - most have online stores - and have it delivered to the States or the hotel where you are staying?

Brian

Two points, if you buy it at the airport (there's a Nike shop in the departure lounge - but not all kits are made by Nike) you'll save at least 17.5% tax. If you want a bigger choice there is a big sports shop called Lilliwhites on Picadilly Circus in the centre of London. The new season is about to start so all the new kits are out now and cost about £40/$60

Just a note, re: Lillywhites. We were there last year and they had sold out of most of the Arsenal jerseys. But that was (I think) at the end of the season (and a good one for Arsenal).

Sorry, another comment: I have inquired about shipping jerseys to the US. My last inquiry was that the cost of shipping nearly doubled the cost of the jersey. I think there is a catalog (maybe website) called Big Toe in the US, or something like that, that has some (but not all) jerseys.

If you are after ManUnited jersey, remember that the club controls are very tight for somebody else to re-sell their shirts. So, many London stores do not have the 'REAL' thing, just a copied replica at best, with few important copyrighted fetures missing.
I don't know about other clubs but I imagine that some of the top ones do the same, so just a word of caution, what may 'look' like it, may not be even close.

Just checked the manutd.com website - and registered to browse the shop.

A home jersey with short sleeves is $65 + $18 shipping. I used an address in Florida as a secondary address.

$18 isn't too much for shipping IMHO.

Brian

Hi, My friend printed out two pictures for me. One is a white jersey and he wrote on it " England's home team shirt". The red one "says England's away team shirt."
Make sense?
I'm not a sports enthusiast so I don't have a clue. Thanks for all the great feedback.

How do American teams solve the same problem?

A football team - in this case England -wears a strip of a predominant colour. The strip's main purpose is to make team members instantly recognisable to team mates and opponents while playing a fast-moving game.

Inevitably, they're often going to play a team whose strip is a similar colour (there are, after all, only five basic colours for any strip). So the norm in football - and I'd have thought, any similar game - is that when strips clash, the away team wears its secondary strip. All teams have a primary and secondary strip.

The fact that this offers the merchandising industry twice as many opportunities for sales is, of course, an entirely unintended consequence.

"" All teams have a primary and secondary strip.

The fact that this offers the merchandising industry twice as many opportunities for sales is, of course, an entirely unintended consequence.""


Get real !!

The last I heard ManU, and other Premiership teams, have at least 3 or 4 strips per season.

And, of course, there are the special " oh, this is the Champions League version" and, "this is the FA Cup Final version" !!

Being a ManU fan, I'm waiting for the "and this is the post-Beckam version" !!

Agh well, Mr Merchandiser is at least happy with the 'customer choice' he is giving.

Brian

Irony is clearly lost on some people.

BTW you might be amused at the justification one of these guys offered: "The kid wears the shirts all day, every day. So, say four shirts a year at 35 quid each. You'd easily spend over 140 a year on ordinary children's shirts.
We're actually doing the housewife a favour"

Hmmm....

The other thing that makes me cringe is at the airport.

Mummy, Daddy and the rest of the ' junior' crew kitted out in jersey, shorts and socks of their favourite team.

Now, the kids have every right to be young and support their team - but seeing grown-ups trailing round holiday destinations in their football regalia.............

What an advert for the UK.

Brian

In addition to the english premiereship teams, there is also an English Nation Team jersey from the World Cup. The English jersey was white with a red cross on it, similar to the flag of England, not Great Britain.

This might be what your friend is requesting too.

It would be the difference between a Lakers Jersey and an Olympic Jersey for the US Basketball team.

Koshka,
I think you are probably right about that. Is that something that would be available? If not, I'd better ask him to pick an alternate fast. I'll be leaving this Saturday. Thanks for your help.

Not having been to England since the World Cup, I couldn't be sure, but I bet you can still find the ones with the St. George Cross on them.

Alternatively, this might be the new model for WC 2006?

http://store.bigsoccer.com/item.jsp?...google_england

If it England shirts you want check out
http://www.the-fa.org/

and look at their shop

Jim

Nike Town on Oxford Circus(Man Utd,Arsenal,Leeds)Soccer Scene at the far end of Carnaby Street,Lillywhites on Piccadilly Circus ,as well as numberous Sports shops on Oxford Street.
Make sure you purchase the shirt for the forthcomong season and not last seasons(with an old sponsors logo or made by a different manufacturer)check out the Clubs website to see the latest shirts.

Your friend sounds like he want the national team shirt - which makes it easy for you. You should have no problem getting these in any sport shop.
Just ask for the "England home shirt" or "England away shirt".
They aren't cheap!

Another, slightly leftfield offering here...

Sportspages in Charing Cross Rd (by the side of Macari's music shop) sell TOFFS shirts (the old-fashioned football shirts), which are vintage versions of national and club shirts. Much nicer to wear than the polyester jobs.

Hi,
Just returned from London last night. Thanks to all who helped me with suggestions on where to buy this jersey. I purchased it at Soccer Scene on Carnaby Street. I also noticed that Debenham's Dept. Store had a nice selection for about the same price. 35 pounds.

Hi--my 15 year old niece has put in a request for me to pick up a soccer jersey for her brother when I am in London late October. Considering the comments about "last season's" jerseys etc.--what is the "in" soccer jersey or team to look for? Thanks!

Many of the top Premier League teams have new "kits" every year. It's a good business for them. So last years shirt may look different than this years shirt, but if it's the "real" thing, it really doesn't matter. They don't change that much. Most teams also put out 2-3 versions of the shirt, as in home shirt, away shirt and practice shirt.
The most popular teams are: Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle. If he is not a fan of any particular team any shirt from one of the above teams would be a good choice.
Very important - The licensed shirts(the real thing) will cost ~35BPs. The shirts you will see at the London street stalls that cost ~10BP are NOT the real thing. They are not even close to what the real shirt looks like. They may be the same color and have the team name on it, but that's about it.

And of course there is the England shirt which is always a good choice. That's the national team shirt and it also comes in 2-3 versions.

Have a great trip!

And jujst a note on the England shirt:

the white version is the "home" strip, and so the most instantly recognisable, but the red shirt is also very popular, as England wore the red version when they won the World Cup back in 66 (yes, it really was that long ago). So the red shirt has great sentimental value for the English.

You won't get this shirt at the Nike store, as Nike don't make it. They do, however, make the Arsenal and Manutd shirts, the 2 biggest clubs in English football.

England's national team's jerseys are made by umbro.

Their last design for the European Championships was really cool. They should be readily available at most sport shops. I don't think it makes a difference whether you opt for the red away version or the white home version.
Either will be a great souvenir!

Our family is heavily invested in football kit. I offer and secod the following advice. Soccer scene in London is the beast place to go. Lillywhites is second- I dislike it sice it was sold and is now like a Bob's store in the US. Piles of sports clothes (80% crap) with no room to move around. If you're looking for a specific team go on their web site and figure out exactly what you want. Then ask for it -"the most recent Arsenal away jersey. or The euro 2004 England kit........." Getting the real or authentic shirt is more important in Europe than in the US.

In the end ask your taxi driver where the best place and he'll probably have the best opinion!