Doug Bierton knows just about everything there is to know about soccer jerseys. The founder of Classic Football Shirts (an online marketplace for buying and selling vintage soccer jerseys), which has been around for almost 20 years, has one of his 6,500 most popular shirts housed in the company's vaults in Manchester, England. You can tell the history behind almost everything. For example, at the mention of Samuel Eto'o, Bierton could pull one of the player's jerseys from a rack and explain where and when he got it within 30 seconds.
The Chernin Group decided to invest nearly $40 million in Classic Football Shirts because of the credibility that Bierton and co-founder Matt Dale bring to the business, the company announced Thursday. . Greg Bettinelli, a partner at TCG, said he was considering investing in another company he felt was on the verge of a breakthrough. Bettinelli, previously a partner at Upfront Ventures, was an early investor in other resale startups including GOAT and ThreadUp.
“We're interested in investing in consumer-facing businesses that are permanent,” Bettinelli said. “We have spent a lot of time identifying opportunities at the intersection of sport and fashion, and soccer is the king of all sports.”
Biaton said Classic Football Shirts has been profitable since its first year in business, and “all profits go toward purchasing shirts.” Every year, millions of soccer shirts pass through the company's warehouses.. It has grown to more than 1 million followers on Instagram and has two stores in London and Manchester. On Friday, the company opened its newest store, and its first U.S. location, in New York's SoHo.
Currently, U.S. customers account for only 15% of classic football shirt sales, but Bierton expects interest to grow as new soccer-related events take place in the U.S. in the coming years. The World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026, is the biggest tournament yet.
“As we head into 2026, people across the country are becoming more interested in soccer,” Bierton said. “Celebrities are into it. Last year we had several successful pop-ups in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, with lines around the block. We're seeing more fans of the football shirts there.”
Various soccer tournaments are scheduled to be held in the United States over the next five years. In addition to the World Cup, the Copa America will be held in the United States later this year, followed by the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025, the Women's World Cup in 2027 and the Olympics in 2028. Apple spent more than $2 billion on this last year. Acquire streaming rights to American Major League Soccer. MLS saw a significant increase in viewership after Lionel Messi, one of the most decorated players in the history of the sport, joined Inter Miami in the summer of 2023. Currently, more than 2 million people subscribe to MLS Season Pass and watch games. this year.
Classic Football Shirts has a different business model than its main competitors such as eBay and Grailed. There are no fees for each sale. Instead, you buy the shirt outright from the seller and resell it at a profitable markup.
Mr Biaton said the funds from TCG would be used primarily to further expand the retail business. Additional stores have not been announced, but Biaton said additional U.S. stores are likely in Miami or Los Angeles. Classic Football Shirts is also interested in collaborations. Now partnering with whiskey maker Jameson, the bottle features the famous soccer jersey silhouette and classic football shirt logo. He also created a marketing campaign focused on the jersey. Recently, David Beckham created a video series that looks back on his career through shirts.
The company gets most of its inventory from customers who sell old shirts, but it also sources directly from the team. They also collaborated with teams such as Parma to create new jerseys.
“We want to do more of that,” Biaton said of creating the new style. “It would be great to work with the club to make a shirt for them and for them to be able to wear it and win something.”
As for expanding into jerseys for other sports, Biaton and Bettinelli revealed that the company is focused solely on soccer at the moment.
“Any sport can be placed between 'classic' and 'shirt'. [in our name]But for now, Doug and Matt's expertise lies in soccer,” Bettinelli said. “If the NBA called me tomorrow and said they had a bunch of old jerseys in storage that they wanted to sell, that would be an opportunity to look at it. But other than that, we're focused on football. ”
