The Holy Grail Of Soccer Jerseys Is Restocking

BY CAM WOLF

When it comes to flaming-hot streetwear, the best gear is always fleeting. The sneakers you prepped and strategized to buy are gone before you can even take a sip from your possibly counterfeit Supreme Nalgene bottle. The much-hyped Nigeria 2018 World Cup jersey seemed to fall into that same pattern: after accruing an amount of hype typically reserved for new Jordan retros last year, it sold out immediately and trickled onto the secondary market at sky-high prices. But, in a rare act of generosity from the streetwear gods, Nike is restocking the grail-level soccer jersey.

Up until about 36 hours before the writing of this blog, the only way to get a 2018 Nigeria jersey was to tread into the choppy water of the secondary market. While prices have dipped from their high point last summer, users on resale site Grailed are still trying to flip the jerseys for anywhere between $120 and $162. But soccer retailer Pro: Direct announced on Twitter that it is restocking jerseys and kits from Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup collection.

Here is a miracle we should just simply not question. Not only is the much-loved Nigeria jersey with the swooping, Acronym-like arrows restocking but also the Naija logo kit, and the warm-up kit twisting with vines and blooming with early-spring-green flowers. This is no doubt some savvy marketing by the powers at be who are taking advantage of renewed global soccer fever with the start of the Women’s World Cup. Nigeria’s team, by the way, lost by a score of 3-0 against Norway on Saturday and plays France Wednesday.

It’s pretty unusual for an item of this stature to restock, but the Nigeria World Cup was always an outlier. A soccer jersey that churned through the hype machine like it was a Supreme collaboration. After it was unveiled in February of last year, reports started leaking that three million pre-orders rolled in. That figure was rightfully questioned because it was reported before the jersey even went up for sale, but the myth-making was already done. The extremely stylish Skepta was photographed in the jersey.

Of course, when it finally did go on sale, the jersey sold out immediately. A jersey meant to be worn by fans of the Super Eagles team adopted by a team-agnostic collection of hype-crazed dudes. Now, the jerseys are available for purchase or pre-order all over again. If last year is any indication, that won’t be true for very long. Remember: you miss 100 percent of the jawns you don’t cop.

SOURCE: GQ