Overview
- Adidas acknowledged short-term shortages of the letter "V", which prevented online personalization of Germany shirts bearing names like Kai Havertz, Deniz Undav and Aleksandar Pavlović.
- An attempted online order produced an out-of-stock message for the character "V" but the company said the issue was quickly resolved and the letters were available again later the same day with replica shirts listed at about €170.
- Physical Adidas retail locations, including the Berlin flagship, had ordered extra letters before the tournament and were able to process custom shirts with a short lead time of a few days.
- Adidas attributed the squeeze to fans rushing to buy shirts for players who scored in Germany’s opening match, highlighting that customized tops are assembled from limited character inventories so concentrated demand can cause specific letter stockouts.
- The episode sits inside a larger commercial picture in which Adidas supplies many World Cup teams and the German national side is set to switch to Nike as kit supplier from 2027.