Women's sports merchandise is an estimated $4 billion industry but fans still can't find the items they're looking for
iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
- The women's sports merch industry is worth an estimated $4 billion annually, per a new report.
- But fans have complained about a lack of retailers, minimal options, and low inventory.
- Small companies are stepping up, but questions remain over how bigger brands will meet fans' demand.
As a two-time All-American, two-time World Cup winner, and National Women's Soccer League champion, Ali Krieger has had many unforgettable experiences throughout her career.
One was the first time she saw a fan wearing her jersey.
It was 2007, and Krieger, then 23, was playing for FFC Frankfurt, now known as Eintracht Frankfurt, in the German women's league, Frauen-Bundesliga, when she saw her name emblazoned across a fan's black-and-white jersey.
"It was a moment I'll never forget," Krieger told Business Insider. "Where you just see at a game and someone says, 'Hey, can you sign my jersey?' And they turn around and it's your name on the back."
For her, the experience was a reminder of the passion fans have for the sport and its athletes.
"When you invest in a jersey, that means you really appreciate that person, their character, and what they bring to the game," Krieger said. "And I think if you're worth spending money on that, then, you know, you must be doing something right."
But not all professional female athletes get to experience a moment like Krieger's.
Female athletes are fighting to get their names on jerseys
Marc Atkins/Contributor/Getty Images
At the beginning of the 2023 Women's World Cup, England Lionesses goalkeeper and eventual Golden Glove winner Mary Earps questioned Nike's decision not to sell goalkeeper kits, The New York Times reported. (Other companies, including Adidas and Puma, also did not sell goalkeepers' jerseys during the competition.)
What followed was social media backlash from fans and Earps, a statement from Nike, thousands of signatures on a Change.org petition, and a motion from a then-member of Parliament before the company publicly reversed its decision in August.
When Earps' kit was finally released in October, she said it sold out the same day.
The frustration endured at the club level in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) until this April. In a Washington Spirit press release celebrating the league's decision to sell goalkeeper kits, the team's goalkeeper, Aubrey Kingsbury, said, "To have goalkeeper kits available for fans in the women's game as they have been for so long in the men's game is not only a long-awaited move in the right direction, it's just good business."
After the league's announcement, Chicago Red Stars and USWNT starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher's jersey sold out in less than three hours.
While these examples are a good indicator of demand, they also reveal one of the many problems — low inventory — plaguing women's sports merchandising.
Klarna, an AI-powered shopping and payments company, and Sports Innovation Lab, a sports data company, are spotlighting these issues in a new report, "Rep Her: Unveiling the Unmet Demand for Women's Sports Merchandise."
The report used data, including Klarna payment trends, survey responses, Google Trends, transactional data, and an inventory audit, to examine the women's sports merchandise industry, including inequities in fans' shopping experiences and the potential size of the market. It also considered a variety of merchandise across professional women's sports leagues, including the WNBA, NWSL, WTA, LPGA, and the PWHL.
Sports Innovation Lab estimates the women's sports merchandise industry is worth $4 billion — conservatively.
Sales are hindered by 'a broken buying experience'
The report identifies what it calls "a broken buying experience," which needs to be addressed before the market can be fully realized.
People simply don't know where to find merchandise — 32% of fans reported having an issue finding a seller for women's sports merchandise compared to just 18% of fans looking for men's, according to Sports Innovation Lab's 2024 Women's Sports Merchandise Survey.
When they do find a seller, some fans are disappointed with the available options. Over a quarter of respondents reported having difficulty finding women's sports merchandise styles they liked, and nearly four-fifths said they think men's merchandise is better quality and has a wider variety.
Even when there is an item fans are interested in, there's a chance it will be out of stock — more than half of those who intended to buy an item but didn't blamed a lack of inventory.
Ultimately, 79% of fans surveyed said they would purchase more women's sports merchandise if more options were available.
Major brands have made strides
Nike partners with both the NBA and WNBA, and has provided signature shoe deals to star WNBA players like A'ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark.
In February, for the first time, Nike also provided all 14 NWSL teams with "new, reimagined primary and secondary kits," which fans can purchase, and has made NWSL goalkeeper jerseys from all teams available on its website.
But while big brands are making strides in partnering with women's professional teams to create merchandise, the women's sports merch buying experience is still lacking. Sports Innovation Lab's inventory audit found that when comparing products available for men's and women's teams in five of the same cities, 311 pieces of women's apparel were available on the NBA team shops compared to just 38 pieces of women's apparel available on the WNBA team shops.
Other brands like Adidas and Puma are more prominent in the international women's sports market, thanks to their investments in major international soccer teams, like Manchester United and Germany and AC Milan and Morocco, respectively. Adidas and Puma sell team jerseys on their company websites.
In response to low inventory complaints, major brands have previously said it's hard to predict demand. In 2023, Bloomberg reported that retailers like Nike, Adidas, and Puma decided "how many replica and authentic jerseys to manufacture for each of the women's teams" months before the Women's World Cup began in July.
Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden told Bloomberg "there is no formula" for forecasting demand, while Puma CEO Arne Freundt told the outlet "demand was significantly higher" than they had anticipated.
Still, the numbers suggest it's worth the investment.
Merchandise boosts community and exposure
Dylan Buell/Contributor/Getty Images
From the 2022 season to the 2023 season, the NWSL saw a 101% increase in ticket sales, while the WNBA saw a 92% increase, according to StubHub's 2023 Year in Live Experiences report.
Meanwhile, the WNBA reported that the 2023 season was "its most-watched regular season in 21 years." In 2024, there's also the Caitlin Clark effect.
Merchandise is a key factor in how fans of women's sports build community. Some 67% of respondents in Sports Innovation Lab's survey reported purchasing women's sports merchandise without ever going to live games.
What brands are missing out on, then, isn't just a revenue opportunity, it's exposure.
"You're a walking billboard when you have a team's logo on your chest or a league's logo on your chest," Angela Ruggiero, cofounder of Sports Innovation Lab and a four-time Olympic hockey player, told Business Insider.
Ruggiero cited the WNBA's signature orange hoodie, which created buzz when NBA stars wore it during the 2020 season. It generated feelings of "That represents me, that's more than sport. I want to wear it, I want to go to a game now because I see all these people in orange hoodies and famous people in orange hoodies and like, wow, this is cool," she said.
Roy Rochlin/Stringer/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust
As more leagues emerge, like the Professional Women's Hockey League, Athletes Unlimited, and League One Volleyball, the fact that the conversation has shifted to merchandise is a reminder of how far the women's game has come in the last 20 years.
"At the very beginning," Krieger said, "it wasn't really a concern for all of us because we were just so focused on getting our own gear for training and trying to have the accessibility and the resources, and all the things that we needed in order to perform our best just from a player's perspective and then just getting paid what we deserve."
Now that some women's sports, like soccer and basketball, are reaching mainstream conversation, merchandise is another step toward building profitable, sustainable leagues and fanbases.
"It is just such an untapped opportunity," said Megan Gokey, head of business-to-consumer marketing and brand partnerships at Klarna. "The opportunity is there, but brands, retailers, etc. are actually just not keeping up with the demand, which is insane."
Smaller businesses are stepping up
To respond to the increasing excitement around women's sports, smaller brands are paving the way with merchandise.
Media and commerce company Togethxr, which was founded by athletes Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird, is partnering with Klarna and Krieger to release a limited-edition merchandise collection with a percentage of proceeds going to Billie Jean King's Women's Sports Foundation.
Esther Kim's Playa Society is also making waves with its self-proclaimed "best women's sports merch in the game," with items geared toward fans of NCAA women's basketball, the WNBA, and the USWNT. And Athletes Unlimited sells softball, volleyball, basketball, and lacrosse merchandise.
Zach Boisjoly
Business Insider reached out to Nike, Adidas, and Puma about what each company further plans to do in women's sports merchandise. Adidas said it was "unable to identify a spokesperson" for this subject, while a Puma spokesperson was also unavailable. Nike did not respond.
Beyond retailers, team sponsors and partners have a responsibility, too. CarMax, for example, is the marquee partner of the New Jersey and New York NWSL team Gotham FC, as well as a partner of WNBA team New York Liberty. In 2023, the company helped support a "first-of-its-kind" joint merchandise collaboration between the teams featuring the tagline "Pass Her The Torch."
Building the women's game takes an ecosystem of collaboration involving fans, athletes, leagues, team sponsors, and retailers. Whoever steps up to the plate could reap major rewards.
"We've been in this movement as female athletes, but everyone thinks it's now just the moment," Krieger said. "This has been the moment for a long time and we've been moving it along for decades. And so now people are just finally getting interested in it and knowing and seeing that we are valuable and that the investment is real and that it's worthwhile."
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