The Birth of the Retail Jersey, 1960s-1980s

Retrospectives on the rise of the sports jersey as a mainstream wardrobe staple for non athletes are conflicted about the origins of the “retail” sports jersey and at what point it saturated the stands of sporting events worldwide. Yet, there is one thing that these retrospectives do agree on: that there is no clear reason as to why sports jerseys became a phenomenon amongst fans in the second half of the 20th century, other than an increase in their availability.

This rise in availability of jerseys to retail customers began in the 1960’s and 1970’s a number of regional sporting goods suppliers across America made sports jerseys readily available to eager consumers by creating and selling replicas of professional sports jerseys- without the licensing rights from professional sports leagues.

The images in this section show early examples of celebrities and on screen characters wearing sports jerseys alongside early examples of retail jerseys.

In 1971, a somewhat mysterious supplier called SCORE-LINEUP Co. began placing ads in The Sporting News advertising personalized jerseys for $10.50. The Spokane, WA company boasted the ability to make a jersey in a customer’s choice of color with their name emblazoned across the back.

The ad's text reads: Custom order your choice of jersey number, personalize jerseys with your name on the back, pro-style. Priced from $10.50 up ... send your address to: SCORE-LINEUP Co. Spokane, Wash.

Susan Saint James in a San Francisco 49ers jersey in the T.V. show McMillan & Wife, 1979. St. James wore a San Francisco 49ers jersey as a nightgown in several episodes of the NBC series McMillan and Wife, which first aired in 1971. In this still shot, St. James is shown wearing the oversized #18 jersey as a dress. She is propped up on one elbow reading a book as her bare legs peek out from beneath the red fabric. Her co-star Rock Hudson, who was 21 years older than her, is propped up behind her, gazing down his nose at where the jersey meets her skin.

In 1987, Sports Illustrated published an article about Mitchell & Ness titled, “Baseball Flannels are Hot”, which led the MLB to give Mitchell & Ness the exclusive rights to produce player jerseys. In the photo, M & N owner Peter Capolino wears a 1946 Cardinals jersey. His wife, Fran, wears a vintage Indians jersey.

In the second version of the opening credits (debuting in 1973) of her eponymous Mary Tyler Moore Show, Moore wears a replica Minnesota Vikings jersey while washing her car. MTM show took place in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, so the jersey further emphasizes a sense of place. It is important to emphasize that two early, high profile examples of pop culture figures wearing sports jerseys are of two young women wearing what appears to be a men’s football jersey as a dress. On St. James and Moore, these jerseys are meant to appear “sexy”, as if women would not wear an athletic jersey unless they were trying to attract the attention of men.

Michael Jordan’s 1983 entrance into the NBA, coupled with his unprecedented, exclusive deal with Nike made the economic impact of selling jerseys as retail products exceedingly obvious. The Jordan Brand, through the sale of sneakers and jerseys, made Nike $100 million by the end of 1985. During the 1980s, the major league sports teams took notice of the profitability of the sports jersey market and began exclusively partnering with select supporting goods suppliers.

The Philadelphia sporting goods store Mitchell & Ness is arguably the most infamous and enduring manufacturer of replica sports jerseys. Started in 1904 as a golf goods dealer, Mitchell & Ness began supplying athletic jerseys to Philadelphia sports teams like the Phillies and the Eagles in the 1930s. Over the next 50 years, major league sports teams began contracting with larger sporting goods stores to make their uniforms, leaving independent manufacturers like Mitchell & Ness financially destitute. In 1985, Mitchell & Ness’ owner Peter Capolino agreed to mend two vintage baseball jerseys for a customer using discarded wool from a nearby manufacturer. Pleased with the outcome of these two restored jerseys, Capolino began incorporating vintage baseball jerseys into M & N’s product line. Capolino’s innovation, paired with his desperation to save his business, created a whole new category of retail athletic wear- one that would forever change how consumers incorporated sports jerseys into their everyday wardrobe.