Rory McLaughlan

Shirt in a Box

Founder of Shirt in a Box, the world's leading Mystery Football Shirt Retailer. 

In the space of 18 months, we grew from a bedroom start up to a hyper growth business, with over 2.7 million recorded in revenue and 70,000 in sales.

Founder

Numbers Game

Director

Rory's Football Shirts

Originally selling vintage football jerseys on online marketplaces, including Depop & Ebay, grew into a brand with 10,000 followers and a succesful website.

What initially started as a hobby way back in March 2020 when the UK entered a lockdown, would turn into over 2000 sales.

Business Owner

Hello! I’m Rory, the founder of Shirt in a Box and I’m on a mission to disrupt the football industry.

After setting up my first business at 17, I developed a huge passion for entrepreneurship, especially around what I live and breathe… Football. 

Fast forward to now, I have over over 70,000 sales & counting through two businesses, a team of 10 and collaborations with some major partners across the football industry. 

Shirt in a Box offers football fans a unique experience like no other. Once purchased, they are sent a high quality mystery football shirt. This allows customers to get a new shirt they may not have been aware of and clubs get their kit in to the hands of a different audience - it’s a win win! 

Through running 2 businesses, I have built a large entrepreneurial skillset including social media advertising (both organic & paid), management, supply chain and logistical management.

In my down time I’m a Web 3.0 enthusiast, a crypto investor and I play football semi-professionally, winning multiple Irish cups at youth level.

Feel free to send me a dm to chat all things business and football!

Founder of Shirt in a Box, the worlds leading Mystery Football Shirt Retailer. 

In the space of 18 months, we grew from a bedroom start up to a hyper growth business, with over 2.7 million recorded in revenue and 70,000 in sales.

A HUGE moment for Shirt in a Box!

Thanks to Gary and the Stick to Football team for a mention on this week's episode!⚽️

We loved hearing Jill Scott was a fan of her Bari top from us - clearly great taste! As for Roy...let's just say his reaction was a little less enthusiastic (no surprise there😅).

Either way, we'll take it!

Disrupting the Sport Industry / Founder of Shirt in a Box

It was great to catch up with Gary Neville yesterday & show him the progress we’ve made since we last met. 

10 months ago he took an interest in what we were building at Shirt in a Box & decided to share it with the world on Stick to Football - that kindness has helped open our eyes to what’s possible, and propelled us to greater heights. 

Congratulations on yesterday Gary Neville - a great occasion & fitting ceremony. Thank you to Queen's University Belfast for helping to facilitate this opportunity. 

The journey is still only getting started.

LinkedIn, I need your help.

Our box manufacturer has just burned us. Original timeline: delivery before Black Friday. New timeline: after Christmas.

We need 30,000 boxes urgently:

📦 Diecut

📦 Printed one colour

📦 330mm x 247mm x 19mm

📦 12mm DS tape rip seal

I know this is ridiculously late notice. But Black Friday is our biggest moment of the year and we can't let our customers down.

If you know a factory with capacity or have any connections in packaging/manufacturing, please DM me or comment below.

Any shares massively appreciated. There's got to be someone out there who can help.

We've worked too hard on this Black Friday to let boxes be the thing that stops us.

I love working at the Christmas Market, even if it's only a few hours once a week.
 
Why? It gives you a great insight into your customer & product that you can't get online...
 
I found out we were too cheap at the Christmas market last year.
 
We were charging £40 for mystery boxes when they're £45 online. We changed to match online prices on day 2, and finished 25% up on the previous year.
 
The market gives you real feedback you'd never get sitting online.

We purposely go 'late' with our Black Friday deal. We launch tomorrow, the Wednesday of Black Friday week.
 
Increasingly, I see brands going early, usual with the idea that if you don't, your potential customer will have spent all their money by the time Black Friday rolls around.
 
However, to make it work you have to run about 4 different offers across the promotion. Each one progressively getting better, and as a result decreasing your margin.
 
In my opinion, it's a lot of effort, for similar returns (according to those who can see the data across multiple brands like Stuart Worgan) as one mega offer on Black Friday week.

I posted about our box supplier crisis last week. 30+ shares, flooded with DMs. Fred Lill came through. Boxes arriving just after Black Friday.

Grateful for everyone who helped. A reminder of the power of building in public.

Other stuff I discussed in EP14 of Building the Box…

Christmas market opened with our best weekend ever.

Visited our first claw machine in Sheffield at Yardball (class venue - street football mini golf). 200 plays in week one.

Flew to Manchester to meet suppliers. The progress from one in-person meeting beats six months of emails.

Testing Australia/New Zealand markets. Early signs promising.

Black Friday strategy: Everyone goes early with 10 offers. We go late with 1 killer bundle. Similar results from what I’ve seen, less complexity.

Full episode now on

YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ed7iRrGC

Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e-Z5uNQE

Interested in how Shirt in a Box gets a shoutout on one of the UK’s biggest football podcasts?

In Episode 16, I break down how we featured on Stick to Football, chat about the whirlwind of Black Friday sales, and share why taking new staff out for lunch is our secret to building trust (and having a laugh).
 
Whether you’re a football fan, a startup enthusiast, or just love a good underdog story, this one’s for you.
 
Watch & listen now:
▶️ YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eRimwNMF
🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eFK5FVxT

Open video: EP16: How we got on Stick to Football, New Staff & Black Friday Madness on youtu.be

EP16: How we got on Stick to Football, New Staff & Black Friday Madness

The Retro Football Company Ltd

The Retro Football Company Ltd bring both Retro Football Shirts & Retro Football Fair under 1 banner.

Company Owner

Retro Football Fair

Retro Football Fair events celebrate all things independent & football related, the focus of the events are to provide a dedicate B2C platform for independent traders whilst also representing good value for attendees - this is achieved by offering FREE entry at every event.

Genre's covered include:
- Retro & Vintage football shirts
- Programme & memorabilia dealers
- E-Sports Gaming experiences
- Subbuteo collectors
- Artists & graphic designers
- Football boot traders

Events run from 10:30-16:00 and regularly achieve over 1000 attendees throughout the day, with a family friendly atmosphere. Traders regularly make over 680% ROI or in Lehmans terms, between £400-£1200 gross profit.

A dedicated website is in the pipeline however in the meantime please follow Retro Football Fair on the socials.

As the frequency of the events & size of the venues increases, there will be sponsorship opportunities available.

Owner

Circa88 Limited

Independent UK based football shirt selling store offering a diverse mix of retro, vintage and current football shirts from around the world.

Global shipping is standard (shipping costs included within the shirt cost).

Fantastic relationships with various networks has allowed a superb bulk-buy option to be created, ensuring high quality shirts available at a great price. We handle the journey from the source to your door including both international & national logistics - VAT invoicing available.

** Company Name Changed in April 2025 **

Mystery Jersey King 

Content Creation.
Trend Analysis to plan content.
Data Analysis to review content & plan future creation.
Content scheduling.

Social Media Manager

TalentTrack

TalentTrack is a 'candidate attraction platform' that specialises in driving more applications into businesses as well as providing real-time analytics & reporting.

Account Manager

eSalesHub

Plusnet Business

Inbound role which requires the skills listed below whilst also successfully refining skills already developed from previous positions.

- negotiation 
- objection handling
- B2B sales & retentions
- account management

Business Sales & Retentions Advisor

Plusnet

Inbound role which required and developed the skills listed below:

- objection handling
- B2C sales 
- rapport building
- needs analysis

Residential Sales & Retentions Advisor

Embrace Nightclub (Brook Leisure)

Duties Include:
•	B2B & B2C Networking 
•	Social Media Promotion 
•	Event Organisation

Promotions & Marketing Assistant

Skilled in Account Management, Customer Service, Sales, Business-to-Business (B2B) & social/online media marketing.

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The Battle

Rory McLaughlan

Tom Rainsford

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The Battle

Rory McLaughlan

Tom Rainsford

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Rory McLaughlan's LinkedIn Performance

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