On Monday morning, legendary striker Sam Kerr’s return to Gotham FC became official. By the afternoon, fans could already order her new jersey, Gotham’s third kit inspired by the Statue of Liberty, with free name printing for 48 hours through Foudys, a new brick-and-mortar store dedicated exclusively to women’s soccer in Manchester, England.
Just a few years ago, this kind of rapid merchandise rollout would have been almost unheard of in women’s soccer.
Helen Hardy experienced that firsthand. As she prepared to travel to France for the 2019 Women’s World Cup to support England, she struggled to find a Lionesses jersey to wear, a frustration that would ultimately inspire the creation of Foudys.
“Everyone around me was wearing men’s football shirts,” Hardy told The Athletic over a video call from her home in Manchester. “You had fans who had traveled from the U.S., the U.K. and Norway to be in France for this huge moment, and ******* ody was wearing women’s jerseys.”
The issue was not demand, but access. Women’s jerseys were difficult to find, often buried deep inside major sports retail websites even as England reached the semifinals and drew a massive television audience.