It’s the third week of the University of Hawaii football season. Do you know where your new replica jerseys are?

I can tell you where they aren’t: the Rainbowtique.

They weren’t there for people to buy prior to the first game of the season. They weren’t there when I went to the Ward Centre store and looked last week. And they might not even be there for the next home game.

When asked why, Rainbowtique management responded in an e-mail that "our vendor delayed our shipment but we are hopeful the jerseys will arrive before the Fresno State game (on Sept. 28)."

Not a very good answer. But what would be?

This isn’t just a disservice to fans who wanted new gear for the new season. It’s also throwing away revenue. There are fewer people who want UH football stuff now that the team is 0-2 than there were before the season started.

David Shinbara had hoped to buy jerseys for himself and his two sons to wear to the season opener against USC two weeks ago, until he was told there were none in the stores.

"I thought it was ridiculous," said Shinbara, who has held UH season tickets since 1999. "Football is the sport that drives your program. That stuff should be out before fall camp starts."

UH athletic director Ben Jay thinks it’s pretty bad, too. He promises things will be different when the athletic department takes over sports merchandising from auxiliary services. That is set to happen next July.

Having the basic merchandise available in a timely manner should be a given. Jay said he also wants to improve "diversity of the product."

"Especially with our great women’s sports, like Wahine volleyball and softball," Jay said. "We don’t sell their jerseys, their replicas."

A perfect example is Kelly (Majam) Elms. Three years ago, right after she led the nation in home runs and UH to the College World Series as a freshman, I asked the guy who was running Rainbowtique at the time if he had plans to put her distinctive 00 jersey on sale. He said no, because they’d have to order at least 25.

Considering the finalist for the NCAA’s Woman of the Year award starred three more years, I’m not exaggerating in saying UH could have sold at least 250 — for each of the past three years.

Jay said taking over merchandising will generate significant revenue for the athletic department and he hopes to bring in a $500,000 profit in 2014-15.

"That’s our goal. I think that’s a good goal for the first year," Jay said.

This year, it would have just been nice to have some No. 8 football jerseys in the Rainbowtiques before the much-anticipated debut of quarterback Taylor Graham — before his first two rocky outings.

"There were high expectations for Taylor when the team was 0-0. They would’ve sold a lot," Shinbara said. "Noah and Josiah had met Taylor last year and wanted to wear his jersey. So I was kind of shocked when one of the Rainbowtique employees I talked to before the USC game didn’t even know who Taylor Graham was."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.