World Cup boost for football kits

"Story taken from our B U S I N E S S section.

SEVERAL OF Trinidad and Tobago’s sporting goods stores said sales of football gear and accessories have been significantly boosted by the Soca Warriors debut at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Some of these stores said even though the Soca Warriors have been eliminated from the tournament, sales of football gear are still quite good.

Kenny Da Silva, owner of Kenny’s Sports Centre, told Newsday yesterday that the Warriors’ World Cup debut has served as a tremendous fillip for business. Da Silva said from the moment TT qualified for the tournament to its 2-0 loss to Paraguay in Kaiserslautern on Tuesday, people have been purchasing nearly every football item that had the colour red in it.

He said the hottest item were the official TT team jerseys which the Warriors wore in Germany. Other big sellers included football boots, soccer shorts and bags — all red. Da Silva added that his business was never running low of official Soca Warriors football kits. He described Wednesday (the day after TT’s defeat to Paraguay) as “the calm after the storm” but there were still sales of football gear and Warriors paraphernalia, such as supporter T-shirts.

Da Silva believed that one of the main reasons why sales of Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation-approved Warriors items and related football accessories continue to do well is because so many people idolise the team for their achievements in reaching Germany and during the tournament.

Staffers at Bajnath’s Sporting Goods store in Chaguanas told Newsday that sales of Soca Warriors jerseys and other football gear were very active while TT was involved in the World Cup but have declined since the Warriors’ elimination. They added that the main sellers were red and white TT team jerseys. Neither store said they were faced with a shortage of Warriors or other football stocks. Sportsworld staffers said outside of TT items, Argentina and Japan team jerseys were big sellers.

Meanwhile, employees at Jaggernauth’s sports store in San Fernando said sales of Warriors items and football gear were “extremely slow” right now. They said sales of these items were good while TT was still taking part in the World Cup and the decline in sales could be due to the fact that the country is currently in between cricket and football seasons. The employees said business could have been better but Soca Warriors items, especially team jerseys, were not marketed properly prior to TT’s World Cup debut. They claimed that certain businesses did better than others because they had a virtual monopoly on Soca Warriors football gear and other related items.