Shirts and the City

I was planning on going to a soccer game today, but it got rained out. In light of that cancellation, I've decided to share this. This was originally posted on another blog, but since that blog is more or less dormant, I've decided to repost it here (with some edits). It was originally published on November 9, 2025, and the trip it details was prior to a Brooklyn FC women's match.

If you’re of a certain age, you may be a fan of vintage or thrift store shopping. It’s become a massive trend amongst the younger generations for various reasons (at least I think it has), and thrift/vintage stores are quite popular on social media.

Personally, I’ve had my fair share of thrift store trips for one simple reason: it’s one of the more interesting ways of sourcing jerseys (which is one of the main things I collect as I've detailed before). Y’see, modern jerseys are often highly overpriced; for example, hockey and baseball (i.e. the two I’ve collected the most) usually START around $200, but the super nice ones (i.e. the only ones worth getting for me) are typically >$400. However, at thrift stores, you can find jerseys for a much lower price; sure, most of the jerseys you find at thrift stores are random schools, very clearly fake, or those old NFL/NBA jerseys with ironed on lettering that is peeling like crazy, but every once in a while, you’ll come across an absolute GEM (for example: I've found jerseys made for use in game for less than what most retail jerseys cost nowadays).

This post, however, is going to focus on one specific sport: soccer. I’m here to talk about soccer jerseys (or, as I will be calling them going forward, “football shirts”), as I’ve been using them as workout shirts for when I go for walks or to play pickleball with friends since I’ve found that they’re good for these purposes (plus they turn heads).

Inasmuch as I could just stick to the easy to find clubs at American stores (and I kinda have at times)...it’s not always the most interesting thing to me. Yes, I do have some of the bigger clubs like Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Newcastle United (I have somewhat of an affinity for them because they play at a place named St James’ Park¹), and there are some shirts that I’m interested in (like that green Liverpool shirt they just came out with), but I’d absolutely love to rock teams like AFC Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, or Fulham - teams whose shirts I have NEVER seen sold in the United States (before this trip). At vintage stores...you're going to find a lot of the same big teams sadly. HOWEVER...you can occasionally find a gem, and there are certain stores in New York City that specialize in vintage football shirts, so that's what I'd like to discuss in this post². I visited them both on November 8, 2025 (which, as mentioned in the intro, was the same day I saw Brookyn FC Women), but decided to head into New York City early so I could check these stores out.

The first store I went to, aptly enough, is named "Classic Football Shirts". They're an "import" from the United Kingdom, and have been featured somewhat extensively on YouTube via a video series in which soccer/football content creators search for shirts in their stores. They have locations in Los Angeles, Miami, and obviously New York (plus a few in the UK - internet "weirdness" prevents me from seeing their UK website, but their Instagram implies they have two).

The other one is a place called "Saturdays Football" (which is kinda sorta also fitting as this trip occurred on a Saturday). From what I can tell, it's an American operation with two locations: one in Los Angeles, and the other in New York³.

My original intention was to discuss each of these stores separately; however, they ended up being rather similar: both have some "store brand" items and of course...a TON of vintage shirts. One BIG difference, however: Classic Football Shirts had sizes on the hangars, which IMO gives it a slight edge in customer experience. Also, I felt that some of the shirts both stores had were quite pricey, so I tried to limit myself to avoid spending too much - both in terms of number of shirts and "average shirt price".

I was hoping to have more time than I did for each store - my original plan was to arrive at 11 AM when Classic Football Shirts opened, browse that store for a while, and then go to Saturdays when it opened at noon (conveniently, it's only a few blocks away); I likely would have had a good 30-45 minutes at each store, which I felt would be plenty of time to peruse and make decisions. However, my train into New York got delayed for almost an hour, so I ended up arriving at like 11:45 and had much less time than I wanted. This ended up being kinda important, as the MASSIVE selection of teams ended up being kinda overwhelming, and I didn't have the time to go through all the shirts.

On this occasion: I ended up getting one shirt from each store - both of them being teams from England:

• From Classic Football Shirts: This Sunderland shirt from 2007
  The feel good story of the Premier League when this was originally published, Sunderland have been punching well above their supposed weight in their first Premier League season since 2017 (and having been in the third division as recently as 2022)⁴. In fact, the day I bought this, Sunderland played a big game against league leading Arsenal and pulled out an exciting 2-2 draw. It's also apt that the link above includes a Dwight Yorke shirt as its example, as his name and number are on the shirt I got too!

  I also considered coming BACK here later in the day to check one thing out, but ultimately decided against doing that as well.

• From Saturdays Football: This Blackburn Rovers shirt from 2006
  With how things have been going for Blackburn recently (having last been in the Premier League in 2012), it can be easy to forget that they're one of two non-Big Six teams to have won the Premier League (back in 1995)⁵. They ended up languishing near the bottom of England's second division this past season, though they JUST missed out on the chance to return to the Premier League (that Sunderland ended up getting) the year before. While the contrasting half-and-half design is cool, the front of this one has "pits" which are the same colors as the sleeves, and it makes this one look a bit awkward...

  Also, I got a free Brooklyn FC sticker since I was wearing their shirt (remember, I went to one of their games after this).

Since this visit back in November 2025, I've been to both stores several times and gotten more shirts. Ironically, most of the shirts I got from "Classic" Football Shirts were actually from the current season (i.e. 2025-26), but there's a few vintage pickups in there as well, and most importantly: they're all shirts for teams you'd almost never find in most of the United States (Atalanta, Bournemouth, Real Betis, Espanyol, and Brighton & Hove Albion from CFS; Leeds, Huddersfield, and Werder Bremen from Saturdays).

There are, of course, A TON MORE vintage stores - and that’s just if you’re talking about New York City! Of course, these stores can be HIGHLY hit or miss, but I have found some interesting things from time to time (including me getting a fitted Toronto Blue Jays hat one time).

Also, thank goodness I realized I (almost) forgot my shirts at the pizza place I ate lunch at almost immediately after leaving it...

(One final note for those who don't understand the divisions mentioned in the shirt descriptions: most countries have all of their soccer/football clubs in a singular "pyramid" which is divided into several divisions, and teams can go up and down the divisions depending on if they play well/poorly season by season.)

ON DECK

Let there be (black) light.