Dozens of small-scale T-shirt manufacturers and football fans are stepping into a Nike own goal-shaped hole after the company again refused to produce a replica England goalkeeper shirt after England’s best finish at a Women’s World Cup.
Nike refused to change tack following England’s 1-0 defeat to Spain on Sunday, even as Mary Earps saved a penalty and was crowned goalkeeper of the tournament. The company would not commit to producing the shirt, saying only that they were “working towards solutions for future tournaments”.
It comes after ratings figures revealed the final was one of the most watched British broadcasts of the year, with the UK television audience peaking at 14.8 million viewers. The true figure is likely to be significantly higher as the figure does not include people watching streams on their laptops or mobile phones or in communal spaces.
Calls for the Lionesses to be recognised with honours, led by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, intensified on Monday. A spokesperson at Downing Street said that while the decision rested with the honours committee, “no one is in any doubt about what an inspiration they have been and that they’ve represented this country incredibly well”.
Controversy has raged around Nike’s decision not to produce a replica England goalkeeper shirt, with the England No 1 describing the omission as “hugely hurtful”, while the former England men’s goalkeeper David Seaman was among the names calling for the decision to be reversed.
But after a performance that saw Earps’s passionate reaction on saving the penalty launch a thousand memes, some fans addressed the lack of replica shirts using DIY methods. The BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Mary Anne Hobbs posted a picture of herself on social media on Monday wearing a customised T-shirt featuring Earps’s name. “MARY EARPS @maryearps027 such a powerful inspiration to us all.. love you so much i made my own shirt..”, she wrote.
MARY EARPS@maryearps027
— maryanne hobbs (@maryannehobbs) August 21, 2023
such a powerful inspiration to us all..
love you so much i made my own shirt..@Lionesses #EarpsShirt pic.twitter.com/46qgkwPSSQ
Explaining that she was a devotee of the woman fans have taken to calling Mary, Queen of Stops, Hobbs said: “Mary’s passion, fury, absolute devotion to her game is such a powerful inspiration. I customised my favourite T-shirt because Mary Earps is a queen in my world.”
Other smaller retailers have moved into the space vacated by Nike. Foudys – which calls itself “the first retailer dedicated to the fans and players of women’s football” – is selling a T-shirt for £20 with the slogan “This is my keeper shirt” against the pattern of the Earps player shirt.
A football illustrator, Holly Collins, who produces illustrations and T-shirts for her company HollaaaaFC, decided to make a T-shirt after the Colombia game. “I had been thinking about it since the start of the tournament. There was obviously a lot of noise online about there being a lack of a Mary Earps shirt available to buy,” she said. “So I thought, I’m going to design one that I would want to wear, mixing streetwear style with football fashion.” The shirt, which states “Number one, second to none” above “Mearps” with the words “Safe hands – safe heart. Mary, Queen of Shots” below it has seen a rise in sales, even after the defeat.
#MaryEarps t-shirt now available in white! #England #Lionesses #FIFAWomensWorldCup
— holly (@hollaaaafc) August 17, 2023
https://t.co/it5tupoT3S pic.twitter.com/3GzssUUTIB
In the last 24 hours more than 10,000 people have signed a petition launched by a 16-year-old football fan on Change.org, calling on the sportswear giant to change its mind and produce the shirt, taking the total signatories to more than 73,000.
Emmy Somauroo said she was “shocked and upset” when she couldn’t buy an Earps replica shirt, adding that the company should have changed its decision. “Mary is such an inspiration to me,” said the teenager. “I think on Sunday she showed the world, and Nike, who she is and she’s made the whole country so unbelievably proud of her.”
But Earps may take some solace that her own T-shirts, launched through her clothing range, MAE27, as a result of the scandal, had completely sold out even before the starting whistle of the final.
The keeper started selling two of her own T-shirts – one of them stating “Be unapologetically yourself” – in response to failing to get the response she hoped for from Nike after “fighting behind closed doors”, she revealed in an interview with the Guardian. The phrase comes from the acclaimed speech Earps made when accepting Fifa’s award for best women’s goalkeeper in the world in February.
“Sometimes success looks like this, collecting trophies,” she said at the ceremony. “Sometimes it’s just waking up and putting one foot in front of another. There’s only one of you in the world, and that’s more than good enough. Be unapologetically yourself.”
