Replica shirt

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England players Owen, Beckham and Lampard model a new England away shirt.

Replica shirts, normally replicas of the shirts worn by sportsmen, are most commonly found in the football (soccer) market, with increased popularity after the commercialisation of football in the 1990s.

Replica shirts commonly cost £40 in the UK for an adult shirt, with extra charges for long-sleeved shirts or numbering and/or a name on the back of it. Such high prices mean that shirts are often the subject of satire among football fans, but many still consider it an obligation to wear them. Newcastle United fans for example have a famously high take-up rate on their clubs black and white striped shirt, such that seeing a stadium full of them is akin to casting a magnifying glass over a barcode.

Generally all modern shirts are sponsored on, apart from national teams in major tournaments. There are varying limits as to how covered in logos a kit may be, but apart from the sponsors logo, there is also generally a smaller emblem of the company making the shirt, a club badge and numbering (often includes a player's name) on the back.

Replica shirts in the F.A. Barclays Premiership and the Guiness Premier League are now becoming very expensive and clubs are bringing in new kit every season. This has led to many fans buying fake shirts which are imported into the UK from Thailand and Switzerland.