The “popular” product was selling like hot cakes, but it was out of stock due to insufficient supply!

Recently, the English Premier League ( " Premier League " ) kicked off in the UK. As one of the "five major European football leagues" , the Premier League has always been a high-level event that football fans have been looking forward to. At the same time, a series of football-related products have become the hottest-selling products at this time.

However, according to foreign media reports, due to the ongoing supply chain crisis, jerseys of major teams are almost unavailable on the market this year. The jerseys of supported teams that were easily available in previous years have become "luxury goods" this year, and no seller has responded even if offered a high price.

"No jerseys to sell" has become a rare phenomenon in this year's Premier League season . According to statistics, as of late July, only 44 of the 92 teams in the four major leagues in England had new jerseys for sale, and as many as 19 teams were unable to supply new jerseys .

Fashion Company Perry   Ellis   Carl, CEO of Europe   Davis said that as early as 20 or 30 years ago, the entire European football equipment manufacturing industry moved to Asia , and this supply chain process operated very smoothly before the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world .

But starting this year, China and Vietnam , known as the "Asian Factory" , have adopted stricter epidemic prevention and control measures , which have caused changes in the supply chain , thus affecting the operation of global industries, including the football equipment industry.

It is understood that Adidas and Nike , the two major sporting goods manufacturers, employ about 500,000 workers in Vietnam alone, but in the summer of 2021, a surge in COVID- 19 cases in Southeast Asian countries led to the closure of one-third of factories. Even though the previous production levels have been gradually restored , it is difficult to quickly respond to the huge demand of the global sporting goods industry in a short period of time .

Likewise, the football equipment industry faces issues with limited port and transportation capacity.

As a rule, major football clubs start preparing new jerseys more than a year before the new season is released ( May or June ) . After reaching an agreement with the brand design, the " Asian factory " produces them in December and early January, and sends them from Chinese or Vietnamese ports around February ( before the Chinese New Year ) , arriving in Europe around April .

The entire production and delivery process was well planned . However, since last year, the epidemic blockade, supply chain crisis, high inflation, and frequent port strikes have hindered production and transportation.

Football jerseys have always been a favorable market that cannot be ignored. Major teams such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc. have a large number of fans supporting them. Star players such as Ronaldo, Neymar, Mbappe, etc. have both strength and popularity. The jerseys of these teams and players are sold out like crazy during each season.

It is reported that in the 2020 season , Liverpool 's jerseys were sold out and could not be restocked after selling 1.7 million pieces . Neymar's No. 10 jersey sold 10,000 pieces in Paris in just one day , with sales reaching about 1 million euros in one day . 20,000 pieces were sold in a week , exceeding Di Maria's annual jersey sales . 120,000 pieces were sold in a month , causing many physical stores to run out of stock .

This shows that the market for peripheral products of star teams and star players is huge and is popular among fans.

Carl   Davis pointed out that the current supply chain crisis has not yet found a perfect solution because jersey manufacturing cannot be completely separated from Asia. Even if it is moved back to Europe, the basic materials for production such as fabrics and collars still have to come from China.

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