Classic Football Shirts are about to open their second store in the USA and plan more expansion as Premier League fans across America are fuelling their growth.
Ahead of the new Premier League season, the company have big plans for the United States of America.
[ MORE: Premier League 2024-25 schedule, how to watch every game live ]
When it comes to buying retro and current shirts online and in their new Stateside stores, Premier League fandom in America is a key part in the huge rise in business for the British based company which is the leader in selling every kind of shirt you could imagine.
And recently they received $38.5 million investment from from The Chernin Group to further accelerate its expansion plans, specifically focused on America.
Founder and Owner Doug Bierton revealed that currently the North American market accounts for 15 percent of Classic Football Shirts’ business, which has two flagship stores in the UK in Manchester and London, but has recently opened a store in New York City which already matches the revenue of their London store and in NYC they will be opening a newer, larger store soon.
They’re also opening up a store in Los Angeles in the coming months and more expansion is planned in the U.S. in the near future.
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American expansion coming for Classic Football Shirts
“North America is our fastest growing market by revenue and volume and particularly in the last 12 months,” Bierton said. “Looking forward to 2026, it is the one where we see it has the most growth potential. It could end up being 30 percent of revenue after the 2026 World Cup in North America, such is the way it’s going. We opened a retail store in New York back in May and that has been hugely successful. It is trading at the same level as our London store, which has been open for six years. Crazy numbers. It is all very exciting really.”
What are Classic Football Shirts seeing when it comes to soccer fans in America buying more shirts?
“Our U.S. anecdote for Classic Football Shirts is that it feels like where the UK market was about five or six years ago,” Bierton explained. “You are transitioning from aficionado collectors into more mainstream fashion, general awareness of football and people, even if they’re not an expert in it, just want an old shirt now.”
In terms of expansion in the U.S., their New York store is moving to a bigger permanent unit later this year and another store is scheduled to open in Los Angeles, California in October 2024.
Bierton revealed they also plan to open pop up stores across the USA in the coming years and urged fans in America to follow their social media accounts for the latest information on their Stateside expansion.
“We plan to test the market through a series of pop ups and we want to give the whole country a taste of Classic Football Shirts and see if there’s any particular traction anywhere,” Bierton added. “We want to be covered for the 2026 World Cup and where the games are, but New York and LA will be the flagships for sure and then we will see how it goes after that.”
Dedication of U.S. Premier League fans fuelling growth
Soccer fans in the U.S. are some of the most dedicated in the world. We all know that. Timezones dictate that they have to be to watch leagues in Europe, and across the globe, and they go above and beyond to close the geographical gap between themselves and their beloved teams.
Despite that, Bierton explains that soccer fans in America are basically like soccer fans anywhere else in the world.
“It’s not like totally unique,” Bierton explained. “That is what the football shirt market kind of looks like. People just buy shirts that they think look nice or are interested in because of nostalgia or want to collect. It falls into those three buckets. The U.S. audience is very similar to any international fan.”
He did acknowledge the fact that fans of the sport in the USA go that extra mile when it comes to supporting their team, and have done so for some time as American fans have made up a huge part of their customer base through online sales for many years.
“You see that commitment, getting up early in the morning to watch the Premier League, it is not the easiest,” Bierton said. “The thing with the U.S. is that it’s not a new market for us. It has always been second or third biggest since we started the company. We’ve had a loyal customer base there for years.
“It’s just that football is growing and maybe there’s the potential for it to be the fourth-biggest sport in the U.S., and what does that look like in terms of our business? It is then that a lot more mainstream people are aware of it. How we are feeling it is that the U.S. fandom is spreading in a positive way and there’s a more general awareness and appetite for football. It is the best sport, so it kind of should be! Football does the marketing for us. Messi, Ronaldo, Man United, Arsenal, they do all the marketing and raise the awareness and I guess now it’s all coming together, the football masterplan.”
If there was one big takeaway Classic Football Shirts see about soccer fans in the USA, what is it?
“The big takeaway is they love hero shirts. They love having the name and number on the back. I guess given that in U.S. sports you can’t really buy a shirt without a name and number on the back, it’s kind of that expectation that it would come with it,” Bierton explained.
“Also, I’m generalizing here, but there are of course lots of people who support particular teams but there’s also a lot of ‘I just want a Zidane shirt and I’m not bothered if it’s Real Madrid or Juve I just want a Zidane shirt’ and how I think of the U.S. audience is how I think of myself when it comes to being passionate about Italian football. I don’t have any loyalty to one team, I would buy a Milan, Fiorentina, Parma shirt, and all the heroes from that era as well. And then there’s having a team in every country, so you might be a Man United fan, Barcelona fan and a LAFC fan. Which is makes it very interesting because the more teams you’re interested in, the more shirts you’re open to buying.”
American fans eager to show connection to history of their Premier League clubs
When it comes to Premier League fans in the U.S., there’s also a huge surge in buying retro shirts and shirts with the names of star players from the past few decades on the back of them.
“I think you want to demonstrate that you’re not a new fan. You appreciate the history and are aware of, for example, Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea and the origin story of it all and the football shirt allows you to demonstrate that. A football shirt is such a powerful piece of clothing,” Bierton explained. “You put it on and it helps create an immediate bond with people. It shows part of your personality, which shirt from the history you have decided to pick. I think the U.S. fan, given that they’re long distance they can’t go to the stadium that often, that choice of what shirt you’re going to wear to the sports bar or out and about says a lot about you.”
Familiar names, both clubs and players, lead the way in terms of shirt sales in America, but Bierton also explained that Premier League fandom is different.
He states that all 20 Premier League clubs get plenty of love from the U.S. market which is unlike other leagues they sell shirts from.
“For Premier League in general, Man United is still the number one seller. They might not be top of the table but it sells the most shirts,” Bierton, a lifelong United fan, smirked. “We think that part of that is because Man United has got two of the three biggest selling players in Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham are on the back of Man United shirts. Are people buying a Man United shirt or are they buying a Beckham or Cristiano shirt? There’s a bit of both.”
“Man United shirt is the biggest selling club in the classic side of things. Then you’ve got Messi, Ronaldo and Beckham as the three biggest-selling players. In our store we have a dedicated base to Premier League. There is definitely a lot of hype around the Premier League teams compared to Spanish teams beyond Real Madrid and Barcelona, Italian teams beyond two or three. With the Premier League there is hype for anyone who is in it, and we sell a lot of Liverpool Fernando Torres shirts and Arsenal Thierry Henry shirts, Chelsea Drogba, they are real staples of what people are interested in.”
What is the dream scenario for Classic Football Shirts in the USA over the next few years as they aim to ramp up their expansion plans?
“Dream scenario is to have a few stores beyond New York and LA and get towards the scale where we are in the UK,” Bierton said. “We are not a household name [in the UK] but there’s a lot more general awareness of us and that if you want a football shirt we are the place to come. Whether it is classic, current season or a bit of a bargain we want people in the U.S. to be thinking of Classic Football Shirts.”