February 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nThis causes brands such as Nike to try to forecast the exact number of jerseys that will sell and only make that amount. Therefore, when Team USA does the unexpected and wins the gold medal in men\u2019s hockey for the first time in 46 years, there is an unexpected spike in interest that hadn\u2019t been accounted for during manufacturing. Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Athletic about how many jerseys it manufactured or how quickly they sold.<\/p>\n
Retailers such as Fanatics and Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods get all of their licensed Team USA hockey jerseys directly from Nike, which controls the supply chain. If Nike doesn\u2019t make enough, the retailers don\u2019t have the supply to sell and can\u2019t make their own because they aren\u2019t licensed to create the jerseys.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a great example of Nike\u2019s manufacturing process ending up being frustrating to fans. The outcome is like giving up an overtime goal that costs your team gold. By the time a jersey could now be manufactured and distributed to meet the current demand, the moment of intent-to-purchase is long gone. (Even anecdotally: Sunday at noon, one of the writers of this piece was absolutely ready to plunk down $40 for a Jack Hughes USA t-shirt jersey. By noon Monday, he was already like: \u201cEhh, I don\u2019t need it.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Potential winners here? Rapid-response merchandisers such as BreakingT that have deals with pro players associations, like the NHLPA, which gives them access to the name, image and likeness of U.S. Olympic hockey players and a chance to capture a slice of a massive market of fans hoping to memorialize the medal moment with a T-shirt featuring a player\u2019s name, a winning catchphrase or, perhaps, an iconic broken-tooth smile.<\/p>\n
Fanatics, which had the licenses to produce jerseys for the Super Bowl earlier this month, ran out of stock for Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots jerseys<\/a>. Neither team was projected to make the big game and, in turn, saw a huge surge in interest.<\/p>\n\u201cNFL fans, we\u2019ve seen your jersey feedback, and we take it very seriously,\u201d Fanatics wrote in a statement during Super Bowl week. \u201cWe\u2019ve let Patriots and Seahawks fans down with product availability, we own that and we are sorry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Super Bowl matchup created unprecedented challenges for us because of the massive surge in demand we saw from Patriots and Seahawks fans. Both teams went from missing the playoffs last season to being in the Super Bowl, an incredibly rare occurrence that led to these two fan bases buying nearly 400 percent more jerseys since Thanksgiving vs. last year. Even though we ordered substantially more jerseys for these teams than ever before, we\u2019ve struggled to meet the overwhelming demand to keep team color jerseys in stock, which we know is your expectation. As sports fans, we understand your frustration, and we will work tirelessly to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time, though, Fanatics is the outlet for Nike, which was tasked with projecting the exact amount of merchandise needed and producing it. The excitement of Team USA unexpectedly winning gold became the reason jerseys sold out everywhere.<\/p>\n