Loch Ness Football Club sell 800 shirts worldwide in monster success
It is not often that an amateur football team gets exposure on national television.
Perhaps it is even less likely when the team in question is based in Inverness, but that is exactly what Loch Ness FC’s new kit had given them after they released their designs for the 2020/21 season on social media.
Those posts were picked up by the official Match of the Day Twitter account, which shared the kits to their nearly three million followers.
A segment on BBC Breakfast then also featured the kits, meaning the new addition to the North Caledonian League were having their shirts shown off to a nationwide audience at a peak time.
Loch Ness have since released their third, alternative blue kit which was made by Zero Negativity Clothing, a company that aims to have no adverse effect environmentally.
Since taking off, the club’s manager Shane Carling says sales have soared to around 800 from all over the world, which will have a crucial impact on their future.
“With the virus, we had a lot of sponsors coming in and they all pulled out, which is understandable,” Carling explained.
“Three weeks ago I was panicking. Even two weeks ago I was panicking thinking how I was going to pay for the season, because it’s not a cheap league to play in.
“There’s a lot of travel you’re doing, and by the time you buy all your kit and everything, it’s a lot of money. This kit has helped us big time, it has taken a big weight off my shoulders.
“People have been buying from all over – we are getting people from Canada, America and Australia, Europe too from Holland and Germany.
“You would think it would have gone out to Britain before it hit these places, but once it went on TV the amount of people from England that have bought it is pretty incredible.”
The black home shirt was designed in collaboration with Historical Football Shirts, while Loch Ness’ own Martin Mainland designed the white away and blue alternate shirt through his design company.
There may be no date set for Loch Ness to get back on the pitch as yet, but they have certainly captured the imagination of football fans – something that took Carling by surprise.
“It was just a matter of getting the kits out on Twitter and Facebook, just to see what people’s response was,” he added.
“It has been pretty amazing to be honest, we didn’t expect it to go like this at all.”
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