Nike's influential backing of the 2019 Women's World Cup combined with a ruthless American side reaching the semi-finals has resulted in the USWNT 2019 home shirt becoming the top-selling football jersey for a single season in company history.
The USWNT will take on England in Lyon tonight for a spot in the 2019 World Cup Final, and both nations are flying in terms of growth in the women's games. Something will have to give, but the United States with a squad of influential personalities on and off the pitch have clearly captured the hearts and minds of their nation.
“The USA Women's home jersey is now the No. 1 soccer jersey, men's or women's, ever sold on Nike.com in one season,” CEO Mark Parker announced on the company’s earning call Thursday. “The exposure is driving outstanding sell-through in kits, high-performance bras and lifestyle extensions.”
That means the USWNT 2019 home shirt has outsold every European club including leading Nike teams Barcelona and PSG, as well as major footballing nations such as Brazil, England, and the much hyped Nigeria 2018 home shirt. Nike are also now biggest seller of bras in Northern America for the first time in their history, as well as increasing wholesale revenues in the women’s segment by 11%, up to $7.4 billion this year. Parker continued, “It’s hard to overstate how important this year has been to the evolution of the women’s offense at Nike”.
Nike made their intentions clear at their epic WWC19 Innovation Event in Paris earlier this year by revealing all of their international jerseys in one go – nearly two-thirds of the 24 nations in this year’s World Cup wore a Nike jersey, and almost half of the players are wearing Nike boots. Since then they've backed the USWNT in numerous high profile and high presence campaigns across their social media.
Expect the USWNT jersey to consolidate that record position if the USA reach and win the 2019 World Cup. You can still pick one up at prodirectsoccer.com.
