Why you couldn’t buy that Croatia, or England, World Cup jersey

Football’s coming home, slowly: Nike and Adidas are embracing fast fashion, but they’re not quite there yet with the kits of unfancied teams like Croatia. — Reuters

THE advance of unfancied team Croatia to the World Cup final – leaving England and Belgium to square off for the consolation third prize yesterday – has offered up its own test to the sportswear giants Nike Inc and Adidas AG: how they’re coping with the shift to fast fashion.

Both companies face increasing competition from upstarts who aim to cut the time it takes to conceive, design and manufacture sportswear. In response, they’ve accelerated efforts to mimic the approach.