Classic Football Shirts, a popular store providing a wide selection of classic soccer jerseys, opened it’s Los Angeles location on Oct.19.
Driving past 447 N Fairfax Ave in Los Angeles, CA, soccer fans crowd outside waiting for hours before the new Classic Football Shirts store would open.
Classic Football Shirts started in the summer of 2006 in a house on Brentbridge Rd, Manchester, UK. The store was founded by Doug Bierton, Gary Bierton and Matthew Dale.
From looking to find 1990 West Germany iconic jersey to creating an online business to now having stores in Manchester, London, New York City and Los Angeles the trio has created access for soccer fans to help them collect iconic jerseys.
Bierton said, “Yeah, it’s amazing. I mean, from where we started in a student house in Manchester 18 years ago, could never have imagined in our wildest dreams that we’d be one day opening a permanent store in LA. It’s pretty wild.”
Around the store, jerseys from hang from the ceiling and on the rack. From current to classics, like 2024 LA Galaxy third jersey to 1996 Germany jersey.
Bierton said,”It’s quite a curated selection. Obviously, we sell classics, current season and off -season. I think the main aim is always to have as much interesting variety of plastic as possible, something that really blows away the customer when they come in, but then, yeah, also to kind of show the best of what else is going on in football shirts as well, so it’s all considered.”
With soccer on the rise and with the signing of Lionel Messi to Inter Miami in MLS. It should be considered as a top tier sport with the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL in the United States.
“I mean, it’s crazy. I moved to New York two months ago to see how many people were watching games, how many people were in jerseys. I’ve been walking around the streets and you see more people wearing soccer jerseys than you do all the other sports combined,” Dale said.
John McNamara, an employee at Classic Football Shirts said, “I have the great opportunity to work here. It’s an amazing store. I‘ve seen their stores in the UK it’s like a great opportunity for me to be able to just like be around jerseys the whole day, pretty much.”
Melanie Davis, a customer at the grand opening said, “Oh wow, I love like the Jamaica jerseys are pretty awesome, really cool but then I love like some of the more classic styles. I used to live in Madrid so their white jerseys are pretty nice.”
Some of the biggest names of soccer has come to Classic Football Shirts shops such as Ian Wright, Martin Tyler, Giorgio Chiellini, and David Beckham.
Retired US star Alex Morgan has invested in the company and Rob McElhenney the owner of Wrexham A.F.C. is doing promotions for them as well. This is sure to help their business grow.
James Jones, a customer at the grand opening said,” Yeah, it feels great. I’ve been following classic football shirts for the last eight, nine years when a friend introduced me to them online and I’ve been shopping with them for a long time and yeah for them to have one in LA right after I’ve moved here is pretty crazy. I had to come.”
This is the place to go if you’re a soccer fan and into retro items. The Classic Football Shirts store will become an icon in LA and it’s only just the beginning.
