Why are football shirts so expensive?

According to an August 2023 survey by Statista, 71% of Premier League fans in the UK considered that replica shirts were of poor value for their cost. It is a pretty popular opinion: football shirts are just not worth their price. But how did that happen? We’ve collaborated with Edward Howarth of DashTickets to figure out what’s wrong with the football shirt market and what are the reasons behind it.

How much do football shirts cost?

If we look at the stats, we see that despite clear public dissatisfaction with the prices, most well-known clubs sell millions of shirts every year.

When we look at how some of these clubs price their shirts, we see that the prices are quite high, yet they still manage to sell them well. For example, In 2024, the combined annual value of Real Madrid’s shirt sponsor and kit supplier deals amounted to 190 million euros.  

Official short-sleeve adult men’s T-shirt prices
Club	Authentic	Replica
Borussia Dortmund	140 EUR	90 EUR
Juventus	150 EUR	100 EUR
Manchester City	158-174 EUR	113-129 EUR
Paris St. Germain	172 EUR	122 EUR
Real Madrid	140-160 EUR	95-115 EUR

What is the difference between authentic shirts and replicas?

Now that we’ve established the costs, we need to clarify one thing. There is a huge difference between authentic and replica shirts in terms of cost, and many fans might see the authentic shirt, think it is the baseline fan product, and get confused by its price. While replica shirts are already quite expensive, authentic ones cost even more. But what’s the difference?

As experts at DashTickets put it, authentic shirts are way closer to the ones players actually wear during matches. These shirts have a tighter fit, use different, more expensive materials, and are generally designed to be used during sports activities. 

Replica shirts, on the other hand, are mostly designed for fans to wear in more casual settings: at home, on the street, or while cheering at the stadium. They have a more loose fit and use different materials, which makes them cheaper. However, that doesn’t mean that these shirts aren’t fit for sports activities, or that they are poor quality. In fact, they still use high-quality materials and rely on several crucial technologies, just not the top-notch ones. 

For example, while Adidas only offers its incredible HEAT.RDY system in authentic shirts, replicas are still manufactured with a great AEROREADY system. 

What makes football shirts expensive?

Exclusivity of the product

Let’s start by stating the obvious — there is no way a true fan can get a club shirt without relying on its official shop. While you absolutely can buy some fake version of it for cheap, you will miss out on the quality and authenticity, and that alone can be persuasive enough to make customers pay extra, even if they aren’t particularly happy about it. 

As a monopolist, you can set your own rules, and everyone else has to adhere to them.  

Quality

That said, it’s not like official shops are selling you whatever because you have no real choice. Most of the teams partner with extremely popular brands like Nike and Adidas and sell extremely well-made shirts that will last for ages and feel great to wear. However, quality doesn’t come cheap, and the teams are especially interested in ensuring that their shirts are as great as possible because that positively reflects on their overall image. So, they would much rather sell more expensive products in smaller numbers than mass-produce a mediocre one that would eventually damage their reputation. 

Inflation

As journalist Ben Hyde points out in his article for Footy.com, inflation actually plays a huge part in this matter. While official shirts did cost 30 euros in the nineties, they weren’t cheap by today’s standards. In fact, if you account for inflation, that same shirt would’ve cost more than 60 euros in 2021. While it may seem like clubs artificially increase their prices for no natural reason, a lot of it really comes down to the global economic processes.  

Popularity of the player

Finally, sometimes teams simply know which shirts will be far more popular than others, so they change their pricing accordingly. For example, Real Madrid prices authentic shirts with Kylian Mbappe’s name on them 20 euros more than similar ones. After all, shirts are products, popular players have personal brands built around them over time, and all of this leads to people willing to buy these shirts even if they know they will cost more for that reason only. 

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