The men’s team wore black jerseys after wins against Qatar and South Africa earlier in the tournament.Fran Santiago/Getty Images
The line started forming after 11am last Saturday.
There was no official announcement. But somehow, through word of mouth and the good fortune of the right timing and the right location, news spread that the Sport Chek store in downtown Vancouver had received a surprise reception of what has quickly become one of the most coveted and hard-to-find items in this country this World Cup season: the black “away” version of the Team Canada jersey.
Even before the boxes were opened, about 40 people had lined up on the second floor of the store. By the end of the day, nearly all of the 500 jerseys were sold out.
“This store is the busiest I’ve ever seen it. It’s busier than the Olympics,” said store manager Bruce Haug. Just two weeks ago, the store processed about 2,700 jerseys a day. Additionally, the jersey is on sale for $135 on Nike’s official website, and the black shirt is also consistently sold out.
Just as Team Canada’s success at the World Cup wowed the world, so too did the jersey. As Team Canada rose from unexpected disadvantage to one historic victory after another, the black jersey emerged as a symbol of stealth and quiet perseverance for the team, and the country.
When Team Canada’s jerseys (red for home games, black for away games) were first released in March of this year, the design drew polite, perfunctory praise. The latter jersey features a white etched maple leaf design on a black background, as if scratched onto dark ice.
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But all that changed when Team Canada faced Qatar in a Group B match on June 18th. Canada made history by winning the World Cup for the first time. The image of the Canadian team in its black jersey at the game quickly became iconic.
“Six nothing win” [in] World Cup with that jersey. Isn’t that a blessing in disguise? ” said Vinny Buraro, Soccer World Central store manager in Toronto. It was enough to excite even the most superstitious sports fan.
Ten days later, when Canada wore the black jersey again in a win over South Africa, the idea that the shirt was lucky seemed to take hold.
Since then, “they’ve sold like crazy,” Bulalo said. He said all Team Canada merchandise is popular. “But black is definitely hotter.”
Demand is likely to increase further as Team Canada is scheduled to wear black again in Saturday’s Round of 16 match against Morocco.
Across town from Pro League Sports in Toronto, owner Tex Thomas said he hasn’t been able to keep black jerseys on the shelves.
“Champions. Foot Locker. Sports Check. They’re all sold out,” he said.
Every day for the past few weeks, he came into the store and found 40 to 50 messages on his voicemail.
“They all ask, ‘Are there any black jerseys left from today?'”
The jersey designer is Holly Gallacher, a Scottish-Canadian who lives in Calgary and worked as a senior designer at Nike from 2021 to 2024. When she first started working on the jerseys in 2022, she said, one of the main messages the athletes reiterated was “confidence in black.”
“It made them feel powerful,” she told the Globe and Mail. “One of them said, ‘I feel like a murderer when I wear black,'” she said. “The other thing was, ‘You’re wearing black to a funeral, and that’s what you want other teams to feel.'”
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Gallasher and her team also liked the symbolism of black. “When you think of Canada, you think of red and white, right?” she said. “That’s why I like the unexpectedness of black.”
Her team at Nike began calling the design “Black Ice” internally. Ice seemed like the obvious choice to represent Canada. cold winter. rough terrain. There was another iconic moment for Canada in 2021. Several members of Team Canada jumped into the snow to celebrate a goal during a frigid World Cup qualifier in Edmonton.
“When you have black ice, you can’t see it coming and it’s dangerous,” she says. “You only realize it’s there after the fact. After the damage is done.”
Haub said black jerseys are once again sold out at the Sportchek store in Vancouver. Fortunately, he said, most shoppers are reacting reasonably.
Similar to how they view the tournament and how they view Team Canada’s performance, most shoppers come to the store with no expectations.
“Everyone still seems to be in a pretty good mood,” Haub said.
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