Four years ago today the idea of Kick Off Merchants was first discussed.
A WhatsApp group was created which included myself, and various graphic designers supporting Arsenal, Chelsea, Rangers, Everton and Sheffield United. Everyone already did their own thing for the club they supported and we all had one thing in common - merchandise we would want to buy
The idea was simple - to take what we knew doing merchandise for the clubs we supported and expand to do bits and pieces for as many clubs as possible.
After we all agreed their was legs in the idea, the first task was to come up with a name. We eventually agreed on Kick Off Merchants.
Then, whilst the designers got designing retro kit collections, a couple of non-designers went off to get all the operational bits in place - set up a Limited company, business bank accounts, social media accounts and, most importantly, a web page.
Fast forward to February 2021 and we were ready to launch. We had around 150 items for 15 teams available on the store. The majority of our first sales were retro kit face masks! Then we hit on our big idea - the beer mats.
Our football mats were meticulously individually designed and sold out in their thousands and provided us with a platform to build on. We gained a huge social media following and mailing list.
Over the next few years, we continued to grow our collections and now have over 120 clubs and nearly 6,500 items for sale!
We have had t-shirts go viral, and worn by Ian Wright. We have had footballers and celebrities buy from us. And we have continue to stand by our philosophy of creating items we would buy.
More recently we have moved into custom shin pads. This has been huge for us! And we now let you upload a picture to be printed on shin pads for a purely unique item!
It has not always been tough, nor enjoyable. But I am immensely proud of how we have grown from a WhatsApp group to selling thousands of items!!
We are scattered across the country with a small shared space in Liverpool where our printing machines are. The designing, customer service and running of the company still happens in the homes of myself and my other co-founders. One day we hope this will change!
Thanks to everyone who has bought from us, and to all those who have shared or likes what we do. One share, one like, one repost can do so much for company like us!
On to the next 4-years!!!