On Thursday morning, I woke up, and because I have a crippling addiction to my phone and didn’t have to go to work in-person, I logged onto Instagram. One of the Arsenal accounts came up fairly quickly, announcing another merchandise drop, this time in conjunction with A Cold Wall. Yes, I clicked on it, and then quickly exited when I saw the price of a rugby polo shirt was over $200. And look, yes, I get that A Cold Wall is somewhat of a reputable brand, but honestly. That’s obscene.
Perhaps it would
feel less obscene if it wasn’t the regularity with which Arsenal do merch drops. The drop on Thursday was the second release of October, after the AFC Autumn/Winter collection (which, to be fair, includes some things already released). Before that, in late September, there was the Last Days of Highbury collection, the Champions League training wear drop, and the NTS Collection. Then, in August, there was the Arsenal Since Forever collection, and that’s not to mention everything associated with the new kits this season (especially the third kit), and like, normal training wear drops. So, excluding things related specifically to the kits, there have already been six merchandise drops this season, and even if you argue that the Champions League training wear was an adidas drop, as was the NTS collection, that’s a LOT of merchandise drops given the season is two and a half months old.
There are lots of questions here. First of all, who the hell is buying all of this stuff? The Arsenal Since Forever collection (no I don’t get it) had sweatshirts that were selling for £60. Adidas merchandise usually goes for £90/$100. Simply put, there is no way anyone can regularly afford this.
More broadly, there’s a larger question about the quality of some of these garments. Over the years, I’ve collected a few, as I’m sure most of us have. The adidas stuff isn’t as good as it used to be – things are stuck on rather than sewn in, the polyester feels cheaper than it used to. But it’s true of clothing the club makes too. Essentially, all of this is part of a growing global trend of fast fashion, which makes clothes cheaply, sells them at a huge profit margin, and then moves on to the next trend quickly. The end result – because many of us have small closets – is that a lot of stuff ends up in the dump, and it’s all very bad for the environment.
Last season, it was a running joke that after every bad result the club would drop new merchandise. But that’s continued this season, even as results have been good and Arsenal are top of the league. I’m sure between now and Christmas, there’ll be at least four more drops of merchandise. After all, adidas have their Original/Retro line that always comes in November and December, with a slick advertising campaign. It can all be rather persuasive: here’s a new way to look cool and sleek, and look like your favourite football players without having to be a footballer.
I’m not saying don’t buy these things. I’m as guilty as anyone. I have my eye on an Arsenal Christmas jumper. But it’s worth reflecting on why the club have as many drops as Forever21 used to. Because, at some point surely the running bit (which Laura Kirk-Francis did an excellent job with last season) no longer becomes amusing but rather nakedly obvious. It is after all, another way the club are trying to get money off of their fans. And as the fanbase is truly global, but not everyone can get to the Emirates, it’s surely a lucrative revenue stream; if it wasn’t, Arsenal wouldn’t be paying US tariffs. But that reveals that it’s not a way to keep everyone in community; rather, like many things in this form of capitalism, it’s extracting as much money from people as possible, as the quality of product gets even worse.
But hey, at least this season, the football’s better.
