When the US women’s national soccer team got its start in 1985, the players didn’t even have their own jerseys, as Michelle Akers, a member of the team and a FIFA Women’s Player of the Century, remembers it.
“We just came in with these men’s jerseys that we had to sew patches on, [that] didn’t have our names on [them],” she told Marketing Brew. “Our sweats were pink and white and blue.”
Ever since then, Akers said, it’s been a dream of hers to see the team in jerseys of their own. Now, the 17 players who made up the ’85 team have founded an LLC and partnered with sports memorabilia company The Realest to correct that, creating and selling the merch that didn’t exist when they first represented the US on the international pitch.
With demand for women’s sports merch growing and supply struggling to keep up, the ’85ers jerseys sold out in less than two weeks, according to The Realest Founder and CEO Scott Keeney, and he, Akers, and the rest of the team are now planning to do even more to help fill the market.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda
Keeney told Marketing Brew that he first met the team through Jaymee Messler, a sports exec who co-founded the Players’ Tribune as well as Storied Sports, the content studio that helped set up The 85ers LLC. Keeney said he “instantly clicked” with Akers, who told him the story of her team’s jerseys—or lack thereof. Keeney had the jerseys ready to go in a week, Akers said.
In addition to the jerseys, the merch collection also includes T-shirts, hats, and trading cards. The collection went up for sale online on Aug. 18, the same day the ’85ers were honored at a Seattle Reign NWSL game, and exactly 40 years after the first-ever USWNT game. The only other time the squad received recognition like that was at a Kansas City Current game two years before, Akers said, so the team was “very emotional.”
On game day, though, the team didn’t even have any merch to sell or give out in person; the prior weekend, they brought some to a panel event at Rough & Tumble, a women’s sports bar in Seattle, and it was all spoken for within five minutes, according to Akers.
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“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we should have brought more,’” she said. “The demand, just in those few minutes, was incredible.”
Hard proof
Online, the jerseys and one of the T-shirt designs sold out in less than 10 days, according to Keeney. The online reactions, like DMs, comments, and press coverage, have also been encouraging, he added. While Keeney said he’s been interested in the women’s sports memorabilia market since he started The Realest, the reception to the ’85ers collection has been further proof of concept.
“The sales numbers speak for themselves,” he said, later adding that the first drop was something of a test to gauge the level of interest in the products. “We knew there would be, but it’s always great getting validation, because it enables us to just do more.”
Keeney is looking into making more of the jerseys and is planning to do more work with the ’85ers, he said. The team, which has already worked with Adidas on a podcast, intends to partner with more pioneering women athletes for similar lines, according to Akers.
Never go out of style
The demand for the ’85ers collection not only speaks to the state of the women’s sports merch market, but also a more broad cultural embrace of all things nostalgic that’s been at play for the past few years. The power of nostalgia is especially strong in sports, Akers said, perhaps because fans like feeling connected to athletes—even those who aren’t competing anymore.
There’s also a certain level of exclusivity that comes with wearing a nostalgic jersey, especially one from a team that’s not as well known as it should be, Keeney said. “It’s kind of like you’re in a club,” if you own the ’85ers merch, he said.
Beyond sales, Kenney said the ’85ers merch has already led to some additional interest from athletes and brands in similar initiatives of their own.
“Sometimes other people need to see somebody else do it and have that success to then be like, ‘Oh, wow, we should do something with them, too,’” he said. “So hopefully we’re breaking more floodgates open.”