Classic Football Shirts' World Cup orders surge 101pc

Classic Football Shirts recorded the busiest trading period in its 20-year history during the World Cup, with orders dispatched in June and July up 101 per cent on the same period in 2025.

Demand from supporters around the world pushed volumes beyond the retailer's previous peak during the latest Black Friday and Christmas trading periods. The Hyde-based business said the surge tested a fulfilment operation upgraded through a five-year technology partnership with shipping software provider Shipster.

Earlier this year, Shipster integrated a Logopak/Adpak Ecommerce Auto Bagger into the retailer's warehouse operation. The system sends shipment and label data to the packing equipment, which then prints and applies shipping labels as part of the automated packing process.

For eligible orders, packing time fell from minutes to seconds, according to the two companies. During the tournament, the machine automatically packed 64 per cent of all orders handled by Classic Football Shirts.

The sales increase was driven in part by shoppers buying products linked to international football nostalgia. The strongest-performing product line during the tournament was the retailer's Away Days Mystery Box range.

Between May and August, customers ordered 23,830 Mystery Box products, including almost 10,000 England Mystery Boxes. Argentina shirts were among the strongest-selling national team items, while Cape Verde shirts also saw higher demand following the team's performance against Spain.

Founded in 2006 by friends Matt Dale and Douglas Bierton, Classic Football Shirts has grown from a student-house venture into an eCommerce business serving customers in more than 130 countries. Annual revenue exceeds GBP £30 million, according to the company.

Its stock includes more than one million authenticated football shirts and memorabilia items. The collection spans vintage and modern products, including shirts associated with players such as Pelé, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and David Beckham.

Fulfilment pressure

The World Cup spike tested whether automation investment could absorb sudden swings in demand. Over the course of its partnership with Shipster, Classic Football Shirts said it has more than tripled warehouse productivity, allowing staff to process hundreds more orders each day.

The work has also covered shipping rules, routing and labelling, as well as processes for product lines such as mystery boxes. Shipster said it also supports the retailer's international shipping setup as the business expands its US retail presence.

Brandon Evans, Outbound Operations Manager at Classic Football Shirts, said: "The World Cup has always been one of the biggest moments in the football calendar for us. Every tournament creates a new wave of nostalgia as supporters reconnect with the teams, players and shirts that defined previous World Cups. Whether it's a classic Brazil shirt, a memorable England kit or a shirt worn by one of football's biggest icons, fans want to own a piece of those memories.

"This World Cup put our fulfilment operation under sustained pressure, and Shipster made a massive difference. Without the automation and flexibility we've built into the operation with Shipster, we simply wouldn't have been able to dispatch anywhere near the volume of orders we achieved while maintaining the speed and service our customers expect."

Demand swings

Manchester-based Shipster provides multi-carrier shipping software for eCommerce retailers, warehouses and distributors. It said large sporting events can create abrupt increases in order volumes for specialist retailers.

Tony Cheetham, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Shipster, said: "Major sporting events can create huge spikes in demand almost overnight, so retailers need systems that are fast, flexible and capable of scaling quickly.

"Classic Football Shirts has some unique operational challenges. It manages more than one million individual products, ships to customers around the world and regularly experiences sudden peaks in demand driven by tournaments, product launches and viral moments.

"Over the last five years, we've worked closely with the team to build a highly automated and increasingly sophisticated fulfilment operation that gives CFS the speed and flexibility to adapt as demand changes. That has ranged from routing and labelling to bespoke processes supporting products such as the hugely popular CFS Away Days Mystery Boxes, as well as international shipping infrastructure supporting its growing US retail presence.

"The World Cup provided the ultimate real-world test of that investment, and it delivered."