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Rugby shirts sell out after England win

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
16/10/2007
The Telegraph

Nike, the sportswear manufacturer, has run out of replica England rugby shirts, as fans rush to buy official merchandise in the run up to the World Cup final this weekend.

Some replica England shirts are selling on eBay for £100

The manufacturer admitted it had been caught out by the surprise success of the English team, pointing out that it made the shirts eight months ago after retailers placed their modest orders.

“They are not the kind of thing that you can run up over night,” a spokesman said.

As a result, there are now close to a thousand England replica shirts on sale on eBay, some with reserve prices of £100 – double the official price of £50.

A total of about 40,000 replica shirts have been sold in recent weeks, and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) says sales of all merchandise are up 46 per cent on 2003, when England won the tournament.

Andy Ward, head of retail at RFU, said: “We don’t feel silly for under-ordering. It’s always a risk, but it’s better to sell out that be left with unsold stock.”

Some retailers still have some stock on their shelves, but Nike warned that once that goes there is no more.

“We kept some stock separate that retailers could call upon and that’s been completely cleared out in recent days.

"The replica round-neck shirts that the team wears on match days have all gone.”

While retailers are nervous about the lack of stock, most are looking forward to the expected surge in sales of other merchandise.

John Lewis said they had already seen a 77 per cent increase in sales of hats, scarves and England rugby balls compared with a year ago.

Meanwhile its £129 Carslberg Draftmaster – which allows sofa-bound fans to pour themselves cold, draught beer – has sold 50 per cent more over the last two weeks.

Asda said its pizza sales had increased 30 per cent last weekend, as fans stocked up ahead of the crunch match with France.

Nike said some limited number of old-fashioned collared rugby shirts remained “but they are dwindling fast and its possible we could run out by the weekend,” the spokesman added.

telegraph.co.uk

RadgeJougal · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:59 pm Post subject:

So why do the other ones have blue on them? None of the English flags have blue on them.