Football Shirt Culture.com

Everton officials have admitted they have been overwhelmed with the response to the recently released pink replica shirts .

1,000 of the specially commissioned shirts went on sale on Monday at various retail outlets, with a donation of each purchase being donated to the Breast Cancer Campaign. The limited edition shirts were an instant hit and the final few remaining were sold out on Tuesday morning. The pink shirts were part of Everton’s second annual Ladies Day in October 2007, which raised over £10,000 for breast cancer awareness. A small number of the shirts were commissioned to support the event along with a series of other special events throughout October.

Since Ladies Day, the pink shirt gained an unprecedented amount of interest and with that in mind the Premier League gave permission to sell the shirts.

Following the successful launch of the pick shirts, the Club is investigating the possibility of releasing a further batch of pink shirts at a later date.

"As expected the shirts have proved a hit with Evertonians," said Head of PR Ian Ross."It was always our intention to make only a limited number available but we will be talking to our retail partner about the possibility of a securing a further batch."

Meanwhile, Everton have voiced their disappointment after discovering that a number of shirts are being made available to purchase on the internet, only hours after going on general sale.

Mr Ross added: "Frankly, we are dismayed that these shirts are now being sold for profit on the Internet. This is a fantastic fund raising initiative for the Breast Cancer campaign and to learn some people have attempted to make money for personal gain is disappointing."

Everton have moved to explain the reasons behind the shortage of the promotional pink Everton shirts that has led to some being made available on e-bay for up to £250.

Just 1,000 of these shirts were produced, and sold out within a matter of hours, with the proceeds of the sale going to Breast Cancer Research. However, within hours, several shirts appeared on E-bay, creating quite a stir among Evertonians.

Gary Wilton, Retail Manager at Everton, told one fan that the shortage of shirts produced was down to a shortage of material at the Umbro factory :

"We manufactured 1000 shirts as Umbro's factories only had enough fabric remaining to make 1000, at this stage of season, Umbro have made all their club shirts for the season, and we were fortunate to acquire any fabric."

Shirts are still on sale on E-Bay, with sellers now claiming to be donating a percentage of their sales to the same charity as Everton when the shirts were originally purchased.