There's Already A Problem With Fanatics' Caitlin Clark Jersey

17/04/2024 18:04

Well, that didn't take too long. We're less than 48 hours removed from Caitlin Clark being drafted by the Indiana Fever and subsequently setting a new record for jersey sales on draft night, and already the manufacturer is having problems.

According to Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico, the latest Clark jerseys being sold by Fanatics are currently set to ship in August - a full five months from now - due to what is listed on the website as "Nike manufacturing time." 

"Caitlin Clark jerseys for sale at @Fanatics say they'll ship in August "due to @Nike 's manufacturing times". Reminds me of the Messi/ @InterMiamiCF jerseys, which took months after his MLS signing because of @Adidas production. Shocking we can't figure this out in 2024..." Novy-Williams wrote.

A screenshot of an attempt to pre-order the jersey confirms that Fanatics is pretty much blaming Nike for their inability to get the restock available until August.

"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 - please see details below..."

At the time that the historic pre-order numbers were confirmed, there were some fans who joked that Fanatics would struggle with the manufacturing in the same way that they had issues with the rollout of the new MLB jerseys. 

So long as the jerseys themselves turn out okay, fans probably won't give Fanatics much flak. But if those jerseys get delivered looking off in any way, there's going to be a ton of very angry fans.