Castore – Thoughts So Far & Online Availability V Rangers Store Exclusives

I bought Castore golf apparel prior to our kit launch, it came next day with DHL. Not sure why they decided to go with Hermes?

The local Hermes driver was binned, he would store his parcels in a roof rack and come to the door with a rollie in his mouth. The parcels also stunk of of cigarettes and oil. That's how amateurish Hermes are.

That's one problem in a list of them.
 
BagoBorealis said:
I’d love one of the unsponsored hoodies or some of the other casual stuff that they have in store, but I live 500 miles away.

Not hugely bothered, I try and avoid FOMO and it is saving me money, but it is money Castore and the club are definitely missing out on.
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Agreed. I was definitely thinking of getting the hoodie.
But not even making it available online is a bit of a joke. With the whole refurbishing of the club store at Ibrox I get they want people to come in, but they would do that regardless of any exclusives.
 
Thankfully they put in clauses that Sports Direct were unable to match and we got rid of Ashley. I don't think anyone else was willing to.

A company that's growing and will suffer issues as it expands. It's the midst of a pandemic which was always going to have an impact. That's not to ignore the issues, of course.

I'm not sure what's wrong with 'in store exclusives' either. It's the flagship store at the stadium. We want the foot traffic.

I'm sure all of the stuff will come online in due course.
 
BrooklynBlue said:
Thankfully they put in clauses that Sports Direct were unable to match and we got rid of Ashley. I don't think anyone else was willing to.

A company that's growing and will suffer issues as it expands. It's the midst of a pandemic which was always going to have an impact. That's not to ignore the issues, of course.

I'm not sure what's wrong with 'in store exclusives' either. It's the flagship store at the stadium. We want the foot traffic.

I'm sure all of the stuff will come online in due course.
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There is a queue around the stadium just now without in store exclusives. They should concentrate on fulfilling orders before releasing new items.
 
BrooklynBlue said:
Thankfully they put in clauses that Sports Direct were unable to match and we got rid of Ashley. I don't think anyone else was willing to.

A company that's growing and will suffer issues as it expands. It's the midst of a pandemic which was always going to have an impact. That's not to ignore the issues, of course.

I'm not sure what's wrong with 'in store exclusives' either. It's the flagship store at the stadium. We want the foot traffic.

I'm sure all of the stuff will come online in due course.
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That's my hope, but I just dislike exclusive stuff I can't get right now.
I fucking want a hoodie! :D
 
I personally feel like we’re being asked to constantly stump up cash on tops, training gear and fancy hoodies. Except, they can’t offer people an email or a bit of support.

all feels like style of substance at the moment and I’m not putting my hand in my pocket for anything else.
 
It’s been an indifferent start from Castore. Some great things, some poor things. The pandemic is a valid excuse but it only washes in some instances.

Nike and Adidas don’t seem to be affected by the pandemic and Bayern, Barca, PSG, Chelsea strips etc have been on sale for numerous weeks. I’d imagine they’ll also have bigger sales throughout the world than ours.

However..... it’s a free hit and learning curve for Castore this summer imo. They live or die by their performance next summer.

I hope it works out as their gear is decent quality. My reservations from the outset about their ability to supply demand still remain though.
 
I’m holding off even attempting to order until it settles down. This was fairly predictable to be honest and it’s an annual disappointment in recent years.

Find it quite sad that a club and support our size can’t get the basics of a decent merchandise supply chain going.

Having to balance “the kit is quality” against all the stock and delivery problems to try and paint any kind of positive picture, while saying “this time next year I’m sure it’ll be better” is a pretty depressing situation.
 
Our club is losing money sadly due to Castore not being up to the task.A real shame as the gear seems pretty good so far
 
I have sent numerous emails/PM asking about 4-5, 5-6 sizes and have had no reply.

really annoying not having the kits for my son.
 
sherbrook_loyal said:
I’ll start by saying there’s much to admire about our partnership with Castore.

The quality of the items I have, and have seen, are superb.

And, let’s not forgot, the most important thing of all – we’re 100% free from Mike Ashley’s clutches.

However, I’m getting really fucked off with nothing being available online.

Is Rangers Store exclusive a euphuism for we’re unable to meet our stock commitments?

Castore deserve many plaudits... but, for me, the lack of availability online is very poor – particularly for a challenger company that prides itself on being digitally native.

I also believe stock levels in the store at Ibrox leave a lot to be desired.

We have a worldwide fanbase absolutely desperate to part with their money.

We need Castore to meet this desire – and as soon as possible.

The Castore guys seems very happy to chat to the fans, so I’d be really interested to hear from Castore and/or the club about when they’ll be able to provide a level of service that adequately meet fans’ demands.

As I said, there’s so much to be happy about with this deal – but let’s not be afraid to call it out when things aren’t good enough.

And, in my opinion, Castore have seriously been found wanting when it comes to the subject of stock availability, particularly online.

Let’s hope there’s a big improvement in this area before too long...
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That is it in a nutshell the product quality Is good but the service levels do not match the quality of the product
 
RFC_Champions said:
It’s been an indifferent start from Castore. Some great things, some poor things. The pandemic is a valid excuse but it only washes in some instances.

Nike and Adidas don’t seem to be affected by the pandemic and Bayern, Barca, PSG, Chelsea strips etc have been on sale for numerous weeks. I’d imagine they’ll also have bigger sales throughout the world than ours.

However..... it’s a free hit and learning curve for Castore this summer imo. They live or die by their performance next summer.

I hope it works out as their gear is decent quality. My reservations from the outset about their ability to supply demand still remain though.
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We've five years of them so they had better get it right.

They seem ambitious so I'm sure they will be doing all they can to improve their all round service.
 
Stuff I’ve received so far is quality.

still don’t have my home top, and customer service is a shambles!

when they sort that element out, it will be great
 
CaptainCourageous said:
I bought Castore golf apparel prior to our kit launch, it came next day with DHL. Not sure why they decided to go with Hermes? - £££ saved, pure & simple

The local Hermes driver was binned, he would store his parcels in a roof rack and come to the door with a rollie in his mouth. The parcels also stunk of of cigarettes and oil. That's how amateurish Hermes are.

That's one problem in a list of them.
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Cant fault their produce including anything bought direct from them, the service however.... in the words of Del Preston "That's a different story altogether"
 
CaptainCourageous said:
We've five years of them so they had better get it right.

They seem ambitious so I'm sure they will be doing all they can to improve their all round service.
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Without a doubt - they can talk the talk on their podcasts and interviews etc.

Whether they can put it in to action we’ll soon see.

I’ve also no doubt that considering we took a chance on Castore (they’re getting more reputational opportunity from us than we are from them imo) we’ll have some get-our clauses if the don’t do the business.
 
Also their womens/ladies selection ain't that great or well stocked, I thought I was being over critical but its 2020 and we have a womans team, I have two daughters and money to spend .... I'm hoping we get more tbh
 
Maw Broon said:
Also their womens/ladies selection ain't that great or well stocked, I thought I was being over critical but its 2020 and we have a womans team, I have two daughters and money to spend .... I'm hoping we get more tbh
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I thought the same but would expect that to be ramped up to coincide with the women's side starting back in October
 
In terms of stock levels etc then it seems like we are still dealing with hummel. To not have any stock for any one to buy is a disgrace especially when we need all the money we can get. Amateur hour and this sort of stuff only ever seems to happen to us. Nothing ever just works or goes right for us.
 
Got my kit around the 8th of August in NY. I can't complain, and I wouldn't have had too much to say if I didn't see the top for another couple of weeks. Exceptional circumstances and all that.

I will agree with others that I'd question the wisdom of the in-store exclusives, particularly given the current state of affairs. I'm ready and willing to have my wallet destroyed, Castore!
 
The fact some have had their pre-orders cancelled for no apparent reason should be viewed universally as unnaceptable.

I received two tops out here earlier this week.

For a week our tracking numbers didnt work and like others hadnt heard back via an enquiry email.

Obviously I was happy to get them in the end however the number and variety of different complaints is concerning.
 
After load of nonsense I think should still have a short sleeve medium home strip which was a %^*& up for sale tomorrow. Cannot face the hassle of taking back.

It's a game of cat n mouse with them. Shambolic customer service.
 
Been to the store Today and the availability Is a big let down, didn’t have my size or the wee ones size in the home kit or even Broxi teddy’s. Not sure about others but I don’t like how much the Castore brand takes precedence in the store, for me it should be all about Rangers.
 
Castore need to get an awful lot better at managing our expectations - fast...

Their gear is great and they/ Rangers have got an awful lot of things right with this deal; but right now they are clearly swamped and struggling. Best option in that situation is to come out, acknowledge that, say what they are doing to resolve it and apologise (in cash/ credit terms) to those most badly affected. That won't fix things overnight, but will take some heat off and give them some time to re-group.
 
I read on here that the quality is superb. Made in Portugal.
perhaps concentrating on a home an one away unit would have been better than all these different non strip units.
also, China/Korea might have been able to produce the numbers but not the quality.
 
I can only go by my experience of them so far. They took a lot of money off me on July 1st. They’ve blanked me ever since. They’ve absolutely no customer service, no phone number but they have four different email addresses but reply to none of them. I just want my cash back now but they don’t even have a procedure for that.
 
Being forced to work with a small manufacturer was almost guaranteed to bring supply line issues. The most important things are being rid of cashley and getting a fair deal. But that doesn’t help with the frustration of just wanting to wear the new gear.
 
CaptainCourageous said:
I bought Castore golf apparel prior to our kit launch, it came next day with DHL. Not sure why they decided to go with Hermes?

The local Hermes driver was binned, he would store his parcels in a roof rack and come to the door with a rollie in his mouth. The parcels also stunk of of cigarettes and oil. That's how amateurish Hermes are.

That's one problem in a list of them.
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Hermes - Cheap.

Hence the stank slurpers that work for them.
 
Hussar said:
I can only go by my experience of them so far. They took a lot of money off me on July 1st. They’ve blanked me ever since. They’ve absolutely no customer service, no phone number but they have four different email addresses but reply to none of them. I just want my cash back now but they don’t even have a procedure for that.
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If you go to View My Order on the original confirmation email you might find it got dispatched today (without being told obviously), but look there and it will tell you.
 
I do like the training gear etc, but kinda wish they would do some in Rangers blue.
My favourite track top of recent years is the minimal style Umbro one which I still wear quite a lot.
 
As good as the quality is, if they don't get on top of the problems quickly, there will be a lot of people less willing to part with their cash this time next year
 
It kills me seeing the issues as I so wanted them to do well after hearing their ambitions and plans for the club.

My background is in merchandising and I've dealt with manufacture and logistics so I completely understand what will be going on in the background. It's so hard as I would love to work with them and get it right! Lol! Have emailed them but I imagine they'll think I'm a weirdo! Lol!

My son bought a few things in store and the quality is far superior to Hummel and it looks good on. Hopefully his home top is arriving tomorrow and he'll be all set for now. But the range was so good in store he could have spent the same again.

My gripe too is the lack of ladies items and the fact they only go to a size 14, as us bigger girls would like to wear stuff too, which Hummel did do.
 
Ibroxkev said:
I think after the debacle which was the pre release of the home kit they’ve proven themselves too small for a club our size. The “In Store Exclusives” is also a lot of shi te as there are plenty of us who cannot get to the store.
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I get the impression that the "In store Exclusive" stuff is just what I would call padding to buy themselves a little more time to produce more shirts.
 
ICM said:
Foolish to fire ahead with further product launches when there are missing/cancelled orders from the home top.

A half arsed store only 3rd kit launch is terrible for a club like ours.

Altogether, 3 kits in 8 days or so given all that is going on seems a bit gung-ho.

The priority should be resolving outstanding orders asap and getting the online shop fit for purpose, given that it is the number 1 source of income, merch wise.

There will be teething problems, but honesty, clarity and action from Castore will go a long way.
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Doesn't help when arseholes decide to leak the images before the club and castore can launch it properly. Still, some will do anything for a retweet or a like.
 
Alex said:
Doesn't help when arseholes decide to leak the images before the club and castore can launch it properly. Still, some will do anything for a retweet or a like.
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don’t think that has anything to do with it. they clearly had to pivot to avoid empty rails and decided to strike while iron was hot with footfall at Ibrox

as others have said though, it’s a bad look when the online offering is so poor
 
We went with a company like the because they could offer more than the big boys would ever sign up to.
A young ambitious start up company biting off more than they could chew is what broke that sports direct shackle.

So yes, disappointing.
But it was still the right thing to do despite many a disappointment.
 
Willing to give them a bit of leeway but lessons certainly need to be learnt for next year. When will the Home stop be back online?
 
I think they've done pretty well considering the timescales, they could have been a bit more reserved when promising that they would be able to match the demand though.
 
Maybe someone at the club should let the owners of Castore know that in Scotland there are many thousands of Rangers fans who don't live in Glasgow or anywhere near the rangers store?

As per OP, this is just a front for me due to the fact they can't supply the goods online due to lack of stuff available.

Elite / Hummel failed on this front. Castore don't seem to have taken any advice on board on this front. Unless nobody at the club told them we have fans who would throw all sorts of cash at them from day 1.
 
I’m old school and can’t be bothered with all the marketing ploys and jargon, but IMO they should have their full line ready for sale and fully stocked, both in-store and online, before doing the launch. ALL products should be available from both sources.

Choose your target sales number and make that amount of kits, training gear, etc, and any left over can go on sale before the next kit comes out.
 
Earl of Leven said:
I think they genuinely thought "Right, demand will be like Tranmere Rovers but a bit higher..."
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This.

I think they thought tinpot Scottish club and genuinely had no idea of the magnitude of it all.

I know they said all the right things but let's face it, who wouldn't.

They can talk the talk and charm us but people have seen through it.
 
Albertz_Was_King said:
This.

I think they thought tinpot Scottish club and genuinely had no idea of the magnitude of it all.

I know they said all the right things but let's face it, who wouldn't.

They can talk the talk and charm us but people have seen through it.
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I very much doubt they thought we were a tinpot Scottish club tbh.
 
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