World Cup shirts business booming like never before (Feature)

By Joaquín Cavanna Jun 21, 2010, 15:22 GMT

Johannesburg,(dpa) - Body-clinging fabrics, environmental friendly material made from recycled plastic bottles, and retro designs from World Cups gone by - it seems despite a world recession the football- shirt business is booming like never before.

From shirts with the inscription of each one of the 64 games to the vintage strips based on those worn by Pele, Diego Maradona and Johann Cruyff the whole industry has benefited from being able to sell online on especially dedicated web pages, on FIFA's site or even on online social sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

'We have taken advantage of the Internet and of the social network sites that did not exist four years ago' said Adidas spokesman Herbert Hainer in an interview with Expansion.com.

German firm Adidas have provided the shirts for 12 of the 32 teams in the tournament. While United States manufacturers Nike are the kit-makers for nine teams.

Adidas are hopeful of passing the 1.3 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars) they made in Euro 2008. While Nike are pushing the green side of the kits they have made using 13,000 recycled plastic bottles.

The fact that the tournament is being played in a winter climate also means that teams can show off the tracksuit tops in the team line-ups for the national anthems. It's the perfect shop window for yet another highly marketable piece of sportswear.

On the fashion front Argentina have gone for that old 1986 look while Ghana proudly show off the Black Star which corresponds with the team's nickname.

The identity of the makers of North Korea's kit remained a closely-kept secret until the last minute when a 4.9 million-dollar deal with Italian label Legea was revealed. That came after playing one friendly against Venezuela in March while wearing their rival's shirts with the badge covered up.

Celebrated South African designer Gavin Rajah described the host nation's strip as 'horrendous' in the South African newspaper The Times, preferring the kits of France, Cameroon and Chile.

Despite indifferent performances from some teams it seems the love the fans have for their national team shirts remains intact. And the love the big kit manufacturers have for making a profit out of the greatest football show on earth is greater than ever.