Mystery Shirt in a Box: The Rise of the Soccer Jersey
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LONDON — The soccer jersey has become part of a cultural phenomenon just as much as the sport itself.
French team Paris Saint Germain occupies a space on London’s Oxford Street; Stella McCartney designed a collection for the Arsenal Women Football Club as part of her deal with Adidas and Thom Browne has dressed FC Barcelona in tailored uniforms off-field.
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During the pandemic, soccer fans resorted to reruns of football matches; playing video games and collecting memorabilia.
Rory McLaughlan, who was 18 years old at the beginning of the pandemic, purchased two jerseys from Scottish soccer club Celtic F.C. from Australia on eBay for 25 pounds and sold them for 40 pounds.
He continued buying and selling until it spiraled into too much for one person to handle.
“I had a website for it called Rory’s Football Shirts, but the only problem was, I was selling 100 individual items every week and it was doing quite well. It became a nightmare and I decided if I could sell one product, it would be just that [soccer jerseys],” said McLaughlan in an interview.
“I saw that a few people were trying to do mystery products, but they didn’t look that inspiring and I had all these cool shirts that I could send out,” he added.
He rebranded the business model and turned Rory’s Football Shirts into Mystery Shirt in a Box in August 2021. The concept quickly took off. The mystery boxes range from 55 pounds for kids’ soccer jerseys to 200 pounds for special limited-edition jerseys, available as a subscription or one-time purchase.
Customers can identify specifics for jerseys they wouldn’t want to receive; meanwhile, subscribed customers’ boxes get upgraded every month with jerseys from popular soccer clubs.
Shorts and socks have been introduced, which are offered to subscribers as part of a plan to “reward our customers for staying with us for a period of time. If you make it all the way to 25 mystery boxes, we will send out personalized kits,” McLaughlan said.
McLaughlan made a TikTok video that generated more than 20,000 views, resulting in the sale of 30 jerseys. Instagram and video content is the biggest driver for the brand, which has ambitions of launching with TikTok Shop.
The business has now sold more than 80,000 soccer jerseys, stocking shirts from more than 30 different countries and 50 different soccer leagues.
Simultaneously running a business, McLaughlan is also studying a finance undergraduate degree at Queen’s University Belfast, where he’s currently on his placement year at his own company.
He manages a team of four from his Northern Ireland warehouse, as well as three remote-working employees. College students come in to help out part-time, picking up shifts in between their studies.
“I’m learning as I’m going and making some mistakes along the way, but it’s all part of it,” said McLaughlan.
Mystery Shirt in a Box currently holds 10,000 soccer jerseys in its inventory.
The company works with different manufacturers and suppliers that work with the likes of Nike, Adidas and Umbro.
“I’ve just always been fascinated with football and they always say if you can, mix your business with your hobby,” said McLaughlan, who is a Liverpool F.C. supporter.
When customers put in requests for jerseys, they often ask not to receive shirts from rival teams.
“The crazier requests are from redheads asking us not to give them a red or orange top, saying ‘I [will] look like I’m on fire,’ and then there’s the 50-year-old dads who don’t want to be wearing pink,” said McLaughlan.
The next step for Mystery Shirt in a Box is to set itself up in big soccer markets such as France, Germany and Spain. The U.S. has become a big market for the business since Lionel Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami CF.
McLaughlan has already been offered invitations to go down the rugby route from manufacturers, but he’s holding off for now, he said.
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