Manufacturing & Distributing our own Kits as an option

CupidStunt

Well-Known Member
Had actually forgotten all about this - posted in the Megastore thread and thought getting wider opinions would be good.

We actually did this before.

We bought ourselves out of the Nike contract to bring it all in house.

Diadora were a second sponsor that paid to have their Logo on those strips, they didn't make them.

Same with the first Umbro strips (that had the word umbro instead of the Umbro logo)

We outsourced the player kits to Mitre and the replica manufacturing to China and the distribution to JJB iirc.

The figures were them used to sell JJB the 48m 10 year contract on that model.

It was JJB that brought Umbro back on board as manufacturer.

It can be done. The quality suffers though.

I'd definitely take the lower quality if it meant higher profits going to the club to bridge the gap - as long as the designs were good.

What thinks FF?
 
I think sales would suffer. The quality of those tops with Diadora we woeful. That being said, if we had the market research to say we'd sell less but end up with a more money because of profit margins, then I could live with it.
 
I think sales would suffer. The quality of those tops with Diadora we woeful. That being said, if we had the market research to say we'd sell less but end up with a more money because of profit margins, then I could live with it.

Yeah, that's the thing aint it.

Fabric quality has improved much since then though - we do see a lot of thai and turkish jerseys nowadays that look and feel almost identical to replicas that we didn't see back then.

Maybe in 2017 the quality can be much better than it was 15 years ago.
 
Did we not own admiral at one point? I think that if we produce our own strips and we can produce polo shirts etc too then it would make us a tidy profit.
 
Making our own strips etc would require a cash injection that we just don't have
 
I think sales would suffer. The quality of those tops with Diadora we woeful. That being said, if we had the market research to say we'd sell less but end up with a more money because of profit margins, then I could live with it.

Times have changed now so we do not need the expense of shops and all products can be bought online.
Would be a great way to get real money into the Club rather than to the pockets of various distributors and sports outlets.
 
Times have changed now so we do not need the expense of shops and all products can be bought online.
Would be a great way to get real money into the Club rather than to the pockets of various distributors and sports outlets.

So why don't Manchester Utd and Arsenal go down this road?
 
The quality suffered? This kit was great quality. The infamous orange kit was our own too.
s-l225.jpg
 
I don't think this would be the best idea right now for us, I think we would need to be on a better footing to embark on this model again.

What is more crucial is attracting the right partners and building the right retail model that offers the variety and accessibility that we crave.

Say we go with Adidas, we really need to be selling non club branded Adidas gear , like football boots, clothing, whatever. No reason we can't make money from selling this stuff like any other retailer would.
 
King has already stated this is not viable, the main reason being the cost of production and lack of retail outlets.

We will make more money with a deal with a kit supplier and a company with a high presence on high street with a web based delivery service
 
Strike a deal with Adidas/Nike/ Under Armour to produce quality kits. Market stadium tours as a "must see" Glasgow/Scotland experience and utilise the Megastore. Open a Glasgow Airport store. Maximise online opportunities. Negotiate best deals with worldwide distributors. Promote, promote, promote :cool:
 
King has already stated this is not viable, the main reason being the cost of production and lack of retail outlets.

We will make more money with a deal with a kit supplier and a company with a high presence on high street with a web based delivery service

But we still pay for all that anyway including using retail outlets(sports direct) to me it seems we give too much of our money away that could be invested in the Club.
 
As a temporary measure and possibly a more permanent one in future,why not let lionbrand (Fernando ) produce the strips with percentage of proceeds going to the charities as happens now?.
Fans would buy them in their droves and the charities get a windfall.
 
Personally I wasn’t a fan of the Diadora / Umbro in-house kits.

I thought they looked cheap and the quality markedly improved once Umbro took over production again.

As others have said, a good deal with a reputable manufacturer would be the best course of action at this point in time.
 
As a temporary measure and possibly a more permanent one in future,why not let lionbrand (Fernando ) produce the strips with percentage of proceeds going to the charities as happens now?.
Fans would buy them in their droves and the charities get a windfall.
Because that's not really any different from the:

Producer--->Distributor--->Retailer (club)

relationship that exists now.
 
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yGrFCA


The othe diadora one with the carling sponsor was very poor

I agree, that shirt was rotten although the one in that photo looks like a Turkish market schneider. Definitely a fake.

The Nike one with ntl on it was rotten as well. Blue with red at the sides. Think we were wearing it in the Lovenkrands cup final.
 
I agree, that shirt was rotten although the one in that photo looks like a Turkish market schneider. Definitely a fake.

The Nike one with ntl on it was rotten as well. Blue with red at the sides. Think we were wearing it in the Lovenkrands cup final.

That Nike top is my favourite of all time. Probably because I have about 57 autographs on it right enough :)
 
Rightly or wrongly i always associate leaving Nike and doing it ourselves as the era of the downsizing really kicked off.

Late 90s i remember going in the Niketown store in New York, it was their global flagship store at the time and in the football section they only had a handful of kits for sale and a display featuring team/country badges and history - Barcelona, Brazil, Italy, USA, Arsenal and Rangers. (wish i'd got a photo of it, i just assumed this was our rightful place and the way it would always be :( ) On a smaller scale you'd go in sports shops around the world and they'd be selling Rangers jerseys, never been the same since.
 
I understand the idea of maybe producing our own kits again, but I feel it's almost just as important for us to start strengthening the rangers brand again. To go with a major label such as Adidas or Nike will give us a better opportunity to have a bigger reach in the market.
 
The other issue with it might be distribution to the wider c
I still have it. The quality was first class. some on here just talk shite for the sake of it!

This is not the kit I was referring to. Snoopprodiedogg has posted a picture of the one I was meaning. The quality was very poor.
 
I'd jizz ma pants if we had Adidas again. Our old 90s adidas kits are absolute belters and retro Adidas stuff is quite fashionable at the moment.
 
Needs to be branded for WW appeal.
Under Armour seem to be a brand on the rise.
Adidas alway a good shout.
 
The cost of setting up a facility, buying th n holding stock, additional employees etc would be huge.
 
If I can buy top quality football strips with anything I want printed on them for 6 quid each in Thailand, surely the Club can control their own merchandise and profit from the sales even more
 
Orange top aside, the tops were probably some of our worst in our history when we had Diadora on them.
 
IIRC, every one of the first Diadora tops was "unique", which was code for "we can't be fucked lining up the patterns" and they tried to use it as a selling point.

I quite liked that top though, to be fair.
 
Had actually forgotten all about this - posted in the Megastore thread and thought getting wider opinions would be good.

We actually did this before.

We bought ourselves out of the Nike contract to bring it all in house.

Diadora were a second sponsor that paid to have their Logo on those strips, they didn't make them.

Same with the first Umbro strips (that had the word umbro instead of the Umbro logo)

We outsourced the player kits to Mitre and the replica manufacturing to China and the distribution to JJB iirc.

The figures were them used to sell JJB the 48m 10 year contract on that model.

It was JJB that brought Umbro back on board as manufacturer.

It can be done. The quality suffers though.

I'd definitely take the lower quality if it meant higher profits going to the club to bridge the gap - as long as the designs were good.

What thinks FF?


I'm not convinced it works, however, I would like the club to explore all avenues, and balance shirt margins versus possible sales and exposure before making decisions.

If it could work, then why not, however, I think that original deal was short sighted in terms of marketing.

Personally I would prefer a conventional deal with a Nike or Adidas, who are more likely to market our merchandise better outside of Scotland, and would probably sell more associated Merchandise, as people are more inclined to buy these brands. The club need to be thinking long term now in my view and perhaps an association to a major brand who commit to partnering may be a better long term solution.

A part of me feels that Rangers may well feel a sense of loyalty to Puma and we may sign up again, which I can understand, but they will need to improve their quality significantly if they want to get the kind of sales a Rangers kit is capable of.
 
Adidas are around £13 per jersey iirc
Nike £14.

Buying and manufacturing in China will be pennies. This is the avenue we MUST go down.
 
The cost of setting up a facility, buying th n holding stock, additional employees etc would be huge.
Maybe not in this day and age though? With the improvements in manufacturing quality in China and more efficient methods of distribution it's definitely worth looking at.
 
Adidas are around £13 per jersey iirc
Nike £14.

Buying and manufacturing in China will be pennies. This is the avenue we MUST go down.

Not convinced the margin per shirt should be the only consideration. I would hope that we talk to all parties, and understand what they all bring to the table before making a decision.
 
Not convinced the margin per shirt should be the only consideration. I would hope that we talk to all parties, and understand what they all bring to the table before making a decision.

Agreed that the club should have a supplier who is world renowned however we simply can't afford it at this time. Getting a jersey/strip manufactured at a fraction of the cost of a reputable supplier will be badly needed funds. I get where you are coming from though.
 
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