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

I agree that the fact you currently can't buy a home top of any kind on the website is a shocker.
Agreed, mid August and I have money to spend on home tops for kids and a neighbour with no wifi. He asks me every day and I have to say no, still coming up as sold out! I knew this would happen with a company formed 5 years ago that nobody has heard off!
 
The online store is my only way of buying the merch, I have ordered some gear for my kids, but would like to have got something for myself, but nothing online that I would like as I'm too old for an away jersey or the like. I was hoping to see some casual wear with some discreet Rangers identification from Castore, nothing there yet.

BTW, the gear for the kids was ordered last weekend and I have been informed it will arrive by Monday week, which given the current climate and us being in Oz is pretty good, if it turns up!
 
Things they need to take from this:

Why did they cap it to 50,000 preorders for the home kit if they were not going to be able to fulfil that? (my order has finally been dispatched today thankfully)

Some fans who preordered on the 1st July have still not received their home kits due to damage or whatever is not good enough as you could go to the opening of the new club shop and pick up a home top there.

The customer service, or lack of it, it seems that there are a very small team as all emails were redirected to the Rangers Concierge email which took over a week to receive a response about the situation going on with my order.

Why were fans who preordered their kit on the 1st July now only receiving emails saying that their order is to be refunded? This is further evidence backing up the theory that they aren’t big enough operations wise. This is in sharp contrast to Tom Beahon telling us multiple times that they were extremely ready to cope with the demand as if it were Adidas or Nike being our kit supplier.

The packaging of orders/Use of Hermes

Castore’s brand identity is a “premium sports brand” which gave fans a shock when it was only after purchase that Hermes would be the chosen courier to ship the orders. This is probably an economical decision as it’s the cheapest to do so but you would think a “premium brand” would be using Royal Mail signed for or DPD to ensure kits were delivered safely.

The packaging is nice but it doesn’t help when a large Rangers crest is on the outer of the packaging which gives Celtic fans free reign to damage/vandalise people’s orders. They seem to have learned from this and new orders are being shipped with discreet packaging and with Royal Mail.

The strip launches

I know the club and Castore wanted fans to be able to purchase the away kit as well as the third kit as soo as possible but releasing them whilst they still had thousands of preorders of the home kit still not delivered isn’t good enough.

Lack of communication

Fans would’ve probably been less critical if Castore released a public statement with their hands up and apologised for what had went on with preorders but they still haven’t did this through their social media as they don’t want future partnerships to be in jeopardy it seems. Tom Beahon touched on this and apologised personally on Mark’s interview with him which was nice to see but majority of fans will not have seen the interview. I still think a public statement should’ve been released and I’m glad Club1872 contacted Castore about the whole fiasco.

“Rangers Store” exclusives

Why are they shooting theirselves in the foot by making these casual wear items being “limited edition” for example the “Hagi” hoodie which is only available in the Rangers Store. Thousands of fans live abroad and are unable to purchase these items. My hazard of guess would be that they simply haven’t made enough of them so they’ve just put them in the store and are a first come first served basis. These items could make Castore/Rangers a lot of money as fans also want casual wear.

Conclusion

My overall summary and personal experience has been very poor as my home kit is still not delivered although it will be here soon it’s inexcusable for them to start to cancel fans orders 2 months after they preordered. The whole basis of a preorder is still ensure that you are one of the first to have the strip and Castore have failed to achieve this. This needs be greatly improved for next season.
 
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To be totally frank I think the vast majority of the complaints are out of line. Those whose preorders didn’t arrive, yeah, I’d not be happy but I’m not sure you can predict 3000 orders being damaged by tramps working for courier companies.

Everyone complaining about availability of product and store exclusives without online as well? IMO can only be people with no/limited understanding of how to get products like this to market. I’m not touting myself as an expert but to source and deliver what has already been delivered so far is nothing short of excellent in the timeframe. Especially in a pandemic.

Castore were ambitious yes but if they weren’t - say limiting initial supplies to 50k max across all ranges like Hummel - the same people would be complaining about lack of choice and stock availability. We want it all, we want it in our size and we want it hassle free.

Castore get a lot of credit in the bank for me for breaking SD off from us. Take what you can get this season and next year is a different ballgame.
 
To be totally frank I think the vast majority of the complaints are out of line. Those whose preorders didn’t arrive, yeah, I’d not be happy but I’m not sure you can predict 3000 orders being damaged by tramps working for courier companies.

Everyone complaining about availability of product and store exclusives without online as well? IMO can only be people with no/limited understanding of how to get products like this to market. I’m not touting myself as an expert but to source and deliver what has already been delivered so far is nothing short of excellent in the timeframe. Especially in a pandemic.

Castore were ambitious yes but if they weren’t - say limiting initial supplies to 50k max across all ranges like Hummel - the same people would be complaining about lack of choice and stock availability. We want it all, we want it in our size and we want it hassle free.

Castore get a lot of credit in the bank for me for breaking SD off from us. Take what you can get this season and next year is a different ballgame.

Not all have been damaged. I don't know where mine is because they haven't communicated a single thing since the initial order and don't respond to emails and messages.

If they limited it to 50,000 because that's what they could handle, then they should be able to handle it, not end up in this situation.

Their customer service is shockingly bad.

They get a lot of credit for me too. As I've said before, the consolation is Rangers have my money.

But this has to be a) resolved ASAP; and b) not repeated next year.
 
Took the trip through to the store and apart from long sleeve and gk tops there were no 2XL tops or training gear.

Thats really disappointing.
 
I’m willing to give them a bit of leeway for this summer only.

They have a full year to prepare for the start of next season.

Hopefully they have the several stores they’ve promised fully open in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Stock them out to the max and it will alleviate the initial online demand.

Better courier service and plain packaging to stop sabotage is an absolute must.

I really want this to work out. Our fans are willing to put in hundreds of pounds each for merchandise. Castore and Rangers could make an absolute killing if they get things right.
 
As I've written on here a few times I was willing to give them benefit of the doubt that we're during a pandemic but the fact it took them over a week to email me to say the product was out of stock and the order was cancelled really annoyed me. I could have got what I wanted in store last Thursday as they had it then.

If they couldn't keep up with demand, be transparent with us and stagger the release of the training gear.
 
Not all have been damaged. I don't know where mine is because they haven't communicated a single thing since the initial order and don't respond to emails and messages.

If they limited it to 50,000 because that's what they could handle, then they should be able to handle it, not end up in this situation.

Their customer service is shockingly bad.

They get a lot of credit for me too. As I've said before, the consolation is Rangers have my money.

But this has to be a) resolved ASAP; and b) not repeated next year.
The only defence (to a limited extent) on comms is just this year and the clusterfuck recruiting new staff.

Next year is a different ballgame IMO.

Let’s all just do our best to be patient.
 
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
This is the thing, one of the zip tops we picked up in store is faulty on closer inspection once home.

Out of the 6 people I go to games with on a regular basis, 3 of us have had issues with quality. One of my pals finally received their ladies top today and it has a major pull in it.

Can't say I'm overly impressed considering that a lot of people on here had said that their stuff was top notch, from golf or whatever.
 
The only defence (to a limited extent) on comms is just this year and the clusterfuck recruiting new staff.

Next year is a different ballgame IMO.

Let’s all just do our best to be patient.
We keep hearing this though year on year though. This is what frustrates me the most.
 
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.
Happens to nearly every big club in the world. Footy Headlines get most of this stuff from sources well in advance.
 
Good OP.

The in store element is ridiculous. A global fan base and a pandemic asking people to stay at home, not sure why we continue to do these little shop based launches?

The online stock levels are embarrassing, tbh.

A data driven, online store experience - that’s the type of rhetoric they emptied a plenty.

Their stuff is good.

As a company, they need serious investment. They’re acting like two brothers and some pals. They’ve gone global and need to double down on their own overheads.
 
Aye it’s been a pain in the arse. I am in Aus and my top didn't leave the UK for about a week but
apparently it is out for delivery today though so hopefully it arrives. I want to order myself the 3rd kit and a few bits and pieces for my nieces and nephews and there is no stock online. I have not really bought much in the way of tops and training gear the last few years due to all of the legal stuff so was looking forward to getting some. I am sure it will sort itself out in the next couple of months but it isn't a great start. The in store only thing is really annoying, either Castore have underestimated our fanbase or they do not have the infrastructure to meet demand.
 
The online stock has been garbage tbh.

I'm not going to be down in Glasgow any time soon so can't get to the Rangers store.

Can't get the top for my four year old daughter plus various training gear I would buy.

Also returned an item via Hermes almost two weeks ago and still no refund.
Try being overseas and reading about Store Exclusives every two days, while not being able to even get a damn Home Top.

I have to say, it's panned out exactly as I expected. Unable to cope, no matter how good the gear is. Real shame - they seem a good company and a good bunch of lads but all the talk of knowing all the challenges facing them etc etc seems pretty flat now.
 
Just got my two away tops delivered in Melbourne today, the home tops were preordered before them and they are supposed to be arriving on Monday. :))
 
Live down south and very rarely make it up for games so my aim is to try and put the equivalent monies into the club of a Season Ticket.
Now I'm not the slimmest of guys so need big sizes of items.So far I've spent circa £300 on Castore club items(5) and have had no problems at all but I'm baffled at the selling strategy of them as a company.

Having people waiting an hour to get into the store and then not getting what they want is ridiculous.
I believe that they have bitten off more than they can chew and underestimated just how a big a club and fanbase who want to spend money we are.
Having the most important item(home shirt) not available in any sizes online is a disgrace.
According to many on here their Customer Service just doesn't cope with a volume of enquiries/complaints.

Someone should be asking the tough questions about what has gone wrong and putting it out there for all to see and not just Twitter statements.
As a company Castore better learn fast and not just for next season.Christmas will all too quickly be upon us and not getting the Christmas gifts you want especially for the young bears will be nothing like the shitstorm some are having now.

Get the online business stocked to the max or the goodwill they have by getting us away from the fat bassa will go quickly.
 
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.
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.
Live or die by next season! Didn’t Castore sign a four year deal with Rangers guaranteeing Rangers around £15M plus a percentage of sales no one can argue that mistakes have been made particularly with their choice of courier they were warned about the sheer volume of demand from sales James Bisgrove needs to sit down with Castore and get these problems ironed out,regarding the shop their promise of a world class shop I think they were referring to the permanent store which will be built in the next year or so the current one is just temporary
 
Like the fans of all the wee diddy club's down in the English prem the castore brothers far underestimated the size of our club and the demand that comes with it.

How shocked they must have been when the orders poured in, in record numbers ,would have been quite a funny sight to see, their jaw must have hit the floor.
 
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.

Utter bullshit. No doubt there have been significant issues regarding kit etc. The contact was signed 3 months before the strip launch, most kit manufacturers would want at least a year to design and make enough strips for a club like ours. Signing up with Castore has helped us get rid of Ashley too. Anything for a moan.
 
Yes poor start if you ask me. We (Rangers ) are losing money if people can spend their money online. Feeble excuse to say it’s a Rangers store exclusive
 
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 euphemism 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...
Can’t comment about the quality just yet, haven’t ordered anything.

Really not a fan of all of this “exclusive in the store stuff” might be ok if you have as many outlets as McDonald’s but while some people still can’t travel, and you only have one store it’s pretty poor tbh.

I want kits for my kids but can’t get them online. I’d love some good of the stuff in the store, but can’t access it. It’s saving me money, so that’s ok. But I want to get hold of decent Rangers merch for the first time in nearly a decade. And I’d like to put money into the club in the only way I can.

I only live in southern England, can’t imagine how the NARSA and ORSA bears feel with the repeated delivery costs on top!
 
Covid surely had an effect on production you'd think but apart from that they should have focus more on strip availability there is a lot of selection for a company who this is their first football contract.

Also possibly using a pre order system with a 2 month lead up could have been useful to fulfil orders even if they capped numbers at some point.
 
Was in the shop Wednesday and bought the 3rd kit for a change. I thought the merchandise was real high quality. I also thought it was expensive for what it is. Now I like GANT and Ralph Lauren clothing etc. I’m happy to pay the price for quality but at the end of the day a football hoodie T-shirt polo shirt is that and given clubs change kit maker you end up not wearing last years clothes. So much as I was very impressed with the quality unless I knew Rangers would definitely stick with Castore for the 5 Years or longer I’ll just stick with the top I’ve a few Hummel (and Puma) items that I’ll end up putting in a charity bag (I keep all the football shirts).
I guess it’s all about opinions. So just my tuppence worth.
 
They've randomly cancelled my mates order, he's in Oz and had got the top pre ordered then got the email yesterday saying that he'd cancelled it himself.
 
The sports direct shop in Livingston is sold out of Rangers gear, and this is probably down to lack of availability from castore.

People buying from the fat slug out of desperation.
It's scandalous the fat slug had shirt's for sale and I was still waiting for mine ordered six weeks ago from Castore at £16 delivery.
 
In the midst of a pandemic when unnecessary travel is advised against and Restrictions in place for some, you would Think the focus would be online and less so for in store exclusives?

I know there was always gonna be teething problems with demand etc but they were warned well in advance what to expect.
 
For those of us outwith Glasgow the increasing amount of store only exclusives is a bit of a p**s take & more to the point must be costing the Club money.

I've not ordered anything yet, as I knew the stuff would be expensive I wanted to see the full range before I bought something as I knew I wouldn't be able to afford 3 or 4 things.

Reading some of the stories on here I really can't be bothered with the potential hassle which is a shame.
 
Thousands of fans all over the world signed up to mygers where they can “show their loyalty to Rangers, like never before.”
Except those members who don’t live close to Ibrox can’t buy Rangers merchandise as hardly anything is available online , and if they do live close enough to go and que for over an hour at the shop, chances are they won’t get what they are after in it anyway and will come out empty handed unless they want a goalkeeper top or an overpriced castore rucksack.
 
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.

The away top is made in China? Mine actually has a design flaw as the red piping on the shoulder blade to the collar is about 4mm lower on one side v the other. Never noticed it to begin with but once I did it annoys the fkn brain out me how shoddy it is.

The Hagi hoodie on the other hand, is superb quality, I suppose greater care may be taken on QC with higher value items. Not sure if it too is made in China, will check later.
 
Anyone know what the stock levels of the 3rd Kit (in large)are like in store at the moment ? Was going to take a run in after work but don't fancy waiting in that queue if they don't have it
 
The sports direct shop in Livingston is sold out of Rangers gear, and this is probably down to lack of availability from castore.

People buying from the fat slug out of desperation.

Desperation for what?

Can they not wait a week or have they just not gave a %^*& what’s happened?
 
A lot of people backing them why? They were happy enough to jump on every podcast and fan media going telling people how good they were and premium they are.

The worst thing to do is stick your head in the sand which they are now doing. To offer no communication or say they will get back to you after 48 business hours is disgraceful.

The least they can do is get back on the fan media and apologise.
 
A lot of people backing them why? They were happy enough to jump on every podcast and fan media going telling people how good they were and premium they are.

The worst thing to do is stick your head in the sand which they are now doing. To offer no communication or say they will get back to you after 48 business hours is disgraceful.

The least they can do is get back on the fan media and apologise.

There giving out £25 vouchers ffs
Do you want the top for free?
 
If they had just communicated better then I would have been more understanding, it's this I have the issue with.

Exactly this, I got my email last week and £25 voucher (no idea when this will be sent digitally) however my mate who ordered the same time as me on 01/07 has had nothing.

They have really messed up from a communication perspective.
 
There's a number of factors involved.

The deal only being signed with Castore 3 months ago and not having proper preparations in place.
Having to workaround the covid situation.
Underestimating the demand from Rangers fans.

The quality of the products appears to be excellent. I think Castore will have learned a lot in the last few weeks about preparing correctly to deal with Rangers product launches in future.

Castore are a growing company and will add additional personnel to improve things like customer service. That doesn't help frustrated customers currently, but should benefit us in future kit launches.

They should have made more of a point that the 3 months turnaround could be an issue then.

Beahon told us they'd been gearing up for a year to do football and expected to ship 500k strips in the first 12 months.

They've come up short.

We do have to thank them for helping break the SD deal.

They promised the World on top of that though and are coming up way short.

I've been lucky getting my top when it was expected and then the online training gear I ordered coming in good time too. The plain Castore hoodie I bought, when the deal was announced, is also good quality.

However, I can't get my 6 year old a strip and that is an absolute nonsense.

I'm not buying a thing more until they iron all the problems out and get the kids strips sorted.
 
Exactly this, I got my email last week and £25 voucher (no idea when this will be sent digitally) however my mate who ordered the same time as me on 01/07 has had nothing.

They have really messed up from a communication perspective.

Do you not think there very busy and you’ll eventually get your £25 or are you in a desperate need for it?
 
In my opinion the 3rd kit has been a rushed job. Detailing on the jersey and the 3rd GK Jersey and the socks are minimal compared to was on the leak. I don’t believe it’s been changed for any other reason than to speed it up. I also don’t believe it was to stop fakes or because it was similar to last seasons home shirt.

The leaked version looked very classy and the Orange was a different shade also. Even the socks had detailing which going by what McLaughlin was wearing with his full orange kit, they are very plain now. The black part had a white stripe across them (GK 3rd kit has same socks) - McLaughlin‘s vs St Mirren didn't.

The fact it’s been rushed out also explains why it’s only available in store and not online and why you can’t get the shorts or socks.



In fairness to Castore, this Season was always going to be a learning curve for them. They took us on with not much time to prepare. Will give them a chance next season and see what happens.

However I wouldn’t be surprised to see another major kit provider (probably really only Nike) look at us shifting over 100k shirts in a few weeks and want in on that action now we are free from SD and buy out the contract. Happens loads these days.
 
Exactly this, I got my email last week and £25 voucher (no idea when this will be sent digitally) however my mate who ordered the same time as me on 01/07 has had nothing.

They have really messed up from a communication perspective.

They must be reading this thread as I just literally received it
 
Store exclusives under normal circumstances is a good idea, but incentivising people to leave home, travel to the store and go into a store with others while we are trying to exit a global pandemic seems like an unnecessary risk.
 
MY pre ordered top is out for delivery from the local depot, no communication from Castore to tell me it was on the way but just happy to get it (2 weeks late).
 
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