A new German football shirt bearing four stars for Germany's four World Cup wins had sold out on Monday within hours of the team's triumph in Brazil - showing the kind of boost retailers can expect from the feel-good factor among fans in coming days.
The German team snatched victory against Argentina late on Sunday with a goal in extra time in Rio de Janeiro.
It was the first time Germany has been champion in the soccer tournament since the country reunified in late 1990.
German sportswear maker Adidas is already seeing the benefits, with customers flocking to its Frankfurt store on Monday in a bid to get one of the new white shirts, which cost 84.95 euros.
Adidas had made a small batch ahead of the final in case Germany won.
Andre Langer was one of the customers lucky enough to get his hands on a replica of the number '19' shirt worn by Mario Goetze, who scored the winning goal.
“My son will get this shirt - which of course has four stars on it - for his 18th birthday. He's one-year-old now,” he said.
On Monday morning Adidas' website was already displaying a “sold out” sign next to the new shirts. The company said it would fly in new ones from China to meet the urgent demand.
Adidas shares ended the day up 2.85 percent and a spokeswoman said Germany's win would give the company “a small extra boost”.
Werner Haizmann, head of Germany's VDS sports retailers' association, said the old shirts almost completely sold out in the last days before the final and sports retailers could expect good business after the summer holidays due to World Cup fever.
Retail associations and economists say jubilation at the win could help boost consumer morale in Germany, which is already at its highest level in more than 7-1/2 years, even if only in the short-term.
“It's the icing on the cake for what's already a good consumer mood,” said Kai Falk, spokesman for Germany's HDE retail association.
Rolf Buerkl, an analyst at GfK market research institute, said the general mood in Germany would likely improve but added that he did not expect the consumer climate index for August to rise significantly, given that it is already at a high level.
Volker Treier, deputy head of the DIHK chamber of industry and commerce, said the World Cup was “a great success for the German economy” and had already brought in orders worth more than 2 billion euros - mostly in infrastructure.
Photo Gallery: Germany Wins World Cup Final
