BUSINESS is wunderbar for a celebrated Tyneside company that makes replica football strips from yesteryear for nostalgic fans.

A blockbusting German film celebrating the country's World Cup win nearly half a century ago means big business for Toffs - The Old Fashioned Football Shirt Company, based in the Team Valley.

The company announced its success today as Germany's Consul General Ingo Radcke was making a fact-finding visit to the North-East.

When Toffs negotiated a licence with the German football authorities to reproduce the white shirt worn by the squad that lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy in Bern, Switzerland, in 1954, it seemed little more than a routine piece of business for the company.

But that was before the German cinema sensation of the moment, Das Wunder von Bern, or The Miracle of Bern.

And while the film is packing them in at the cinemas, tills have also been ringing loudly hundreds of miles away at Toffs - 1,000 replica shirts have been shipped to German fans during Christmas and the New Year.

"We worked hard to acquire a licence with the Germans in 2000," said Bob Malone, of Toffs. "But we had no idea just how popular the shirts were going to go on to be."

Toffs, which has 30 staff, has been forced to put external suppliers on standby to help meet demand for the German shirt.