Vintage soccer jerseys have become a streetwear staple and a target of major investors, but their real appeal lies in the memories they conjure
The temperature drops perceptibly as Doug Bierton discreetly sweeps the bracelet on his left wrist over a wall-mounted sensor and enters the vault.
Bierton, though, can find any particular jersey in just a few seconds. He has memorised the provenance, the background and the story of each one. He knows the stains, and the defects, that prove their authenticity. His prize possession, for example, is a jersey from the 1991 final of the Cup Winners’ Cup, a now discontinued European competition. That match was won by Manchester United, the team Bierton supports. It is one of the first games he remembers.
Elia Husmann, in the Classic Football Shirts store in Manchester. Photograph: Jack Roe/The New York Times The trend may have reached its peak last year when Kim Kardashian decided to go for a walk in a 1997 Roma jersey, and her ex-husband, Ye, appeared in a wholly forgettable Portsmouth goalkeeper shirt. Drake, Addison Rae and Robert Downey Jr., among others, have endorsed teams from Juventus to Celtic.
Now, in addition to two permanent stores, they have run pop-ups in Berlin, Tokyo and New York. They acquire stock directly from the companies that manufacture jerseys. And they sort the hundreds more vintage editions that still arrive at their warehouse every day, unearthed from the backs of closets and private collections. The company authenticates them, passes them under the expert eyes of its valuation “gurus” and then sells them on.
”Soccer came relatively late to the idea that fans might want to wear the jerseys of their favourite teams. There are some really famous ones that never really existed as replicas,” Bierton said. “If you look at some of the shirts from the 1990 World Cup, say, there were only ever a handful of them: one for each of the players in the team, and maybe a few spares.”
The rationale, of course, is pure uncut capitalism. But the effect is profound. The precise combination of design, sponsor and manufacturer happens only once, representing not just a team but a moment in time.
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