Amidst criticism for failing to offer replicas of England goalkeeper Mary Earps' jersey for purchase around the Women’s World Cup, Nike performed a U turn on Monday and released the kit, selling out within hours.
The Man United net minder, who won the tournament’s overall golden glove award for her efforts in spurring her team to the World Cup final, was very vocal on the topic throughout the course of the competition, although she insists she wasn’t informed of the sale by the company prior to the launch.
Taking to Instagram to reflect on the limited sale, Mary Earps said;
“'Didn't realise these were going on sale today. And you've sold them out already!”
“More are coming before the end of the year and in more sizes (kids and adults) so stay tuned,” she added.
“Thank you all for your incredible support on this. You guys have made this happen!”
Sorry but Mary Earps selling out her shirt out within hours of it being released with zero marketing and shirts already re-selling online for £200+
Some might say this proves a demand for GK shirts? No? 🤔
Go EARPS 👏🏼 👊🏽— Stella Mills (@stellamills__) October 9, 2023
What Mary Earps had to say around the World Cup
When it had originally surfaced that the goalkeeper jerseys weren’t to be available to buy in the lead up to the Australia and New Zealand tournament, Mary Earps had spoke out about how “hugely hurtful” that decision was for her, but also for other goalkeepers and their supporters.
“For my own family, friends and loved ones not to be able to buy my shirt, they’re just going to come out and wear normal clothes. All my team-mates, they’ve ordered a lot of shirts for their friends and family, they’re talking at the dinner table ‘I wasn’t able to get this’ and I’m saying ‘I wasn’t able to get it at all’,” she said.
“I know there’s a lot of people who have spent a tremendous amount of money on outfield shirts and then put ‘1 Earps’ on the back, which doesn’t sit well with me either” she added.
“It’s a very scary message that’s being sent to goalkeepers worldwide that you’re not important.
“A lesson I’ve learned is that I should have made a public statement sooner maybe. I look back on it and I’ve tried everything. I offered to fund it myself and my team-mates have been really supportive."
It’s ironic that Nike dropped Mary Earps’s England kit with no announcement after the World Cup “hype” at a very VERY high price thinking it’s past the demand, for it to sell out immediately.
If that ain’t a statement, I don’t know what is.— SHE scores bangers (@SHEscoresbanger) October 9, 2023
Nike came under heavy criticism at the time, and it was believed that their reasoning behind choosing not to sell the goalkeeper editions of the jerseys was a commercial one.
In a statement following the conclusion of the tournament they had pointed towards how this may have been an oversight on their part, announcing that “The England GK jersey will be available in limited quantities on the FA’s website, in the coming weeks, and we are currently working to make youth GK jerseys available by the holiday season.”
“We are committed to retailing women’s goalkeeping jerseys for major tournaments in the future,” they added.
