Anyone who did not get their Caitlin Clark jersey before the initial batch sold out is going to be waiting for a while.
Fanatics has the next batch of Nike’s jerseys for the Indiana Fever star on pre-order now, with a disclaimer they will not be shipping until August — and they don’t ship from Dick’s Sporting Goods’ until October.
“We are currently sold out of our initial batch of this jersey – if you choose to place a pre-order today, our restock will be available to ship in August due to Nike’s manufacturing times,” a disclaimer on Fanatics’ site says.
When you click to order a jersey, the site says that it will ship “no later than Aug. 14”.
The Fever season starts on May 14, and their final regular season game is Sept. 19, about a month after the jersey would arrive.
It’s a tossup what aspect of this story is more astounding — that Nike was not better prepared for an onslaught of Clark’s jersey sales given the fanfare that has followed her the last two years, or that they think it’s going to take four months to get them manufactured.
Companies like Barstool Sports and Breaking T take viral moments from sports and get apparel printed and shipped within a week or two.
Given the amount of jerseys Nike’s retailers can sell, starting at $100 a clip for replica jerseys, one would’ve thought they could get them produced a lot faster.
This blunder comes as Nike and Fanatics have come under fire over MLB jerseys that look like knockoffs, get visibly sweaty and seemingly rip more than any uniforms in recent memory.
Nike took responsibility for the sweaty jerseys.
“We have isolated the issue,” the company told The Athletic earlier this month, “and are exploring a solution to minimize it.”
MLB told the outlet that Fanatics has manufactured the jerseys according to Nike’s specifications.
“We’ve purely been doing exactly as we’re told — we’ve been told we’ve done everything exactly right — and we’re getting the s–t kicked out of ourselves every day right now,” Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin said in March as the controversy over the MLB uniforms was raring.
“That’s not fun. Normally when I get beat up it’s because I actually did something wrong.”