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Hi everyone on FootballShirtCulture,
I am Struan, some will have seen my profile on the site, some will no me personally. I am a massive football fan, but I feel football fans are often getting a very rough deal at the moment.
Essentially, I have an idea. One I have been toying with it for about a year and a bit, but now that I have researched it, I am pretty set on at least trying it out, as I feel it would be a great thing to do. -
I am looking to set up my own sportswear firm lead by real football fans, who will provide clubs with the kits for match day and other extras (t-shirts and polos etc.) for sale by the club and local shops.
However the company shall not aim to fleece the fans who loyally buy the shirts and support the club like some brands do, but will help benefit the clubs who use my proposed company. As the sell on rates will be minuscule compared to the rates that Adidas and Nike and other teamwear suppliers charge the clubs per unit.
Naturally, I am not looking to jump in the deep end and I will initially set up marketing the company at low league sides, as here there are often no 'kit deals' so to speak. For example may clubs go through team-wear suppliers rather than the manufacturers themselves... definitely true for my local team Ross County. Witch means they buy in the shirts for sale already paying a manufacturers cost and margin, and the kit wear suppliers mark up as well... And then make little as a result from the sale of the shirts, despite the cost to the fan being very high.
I have already located several manufacturers in the Far-East initially as they are the most cost effective way of sourcing a quality product. With many offering bespoke designs for order (something witch we all appreciate as templates are becoming an almost bog standard occurence now a days)
Many of the manufacturers I have looked at also manufacture shirts for some of the better known sports brands and even some of the real big ones for some items, and therefore quality assurance is guaranteed, so the fans buying the kits from my proposed venture shall most certainly not receive in anyway an inferior product.... Witch I feel is key.
The money made by the like of Nike/Umbro , Adidas and Puma always infinitesimally out ways the cost of producing something in bulk... (for a 3/4/5dollars a piece in some cases) so this really shows how much of a cut these manufacturers are taking from the 40 odd pound fans are paying... Obviously some 20% of that is VAT, but still the cut is massive.
Under my plans I will run a fan led company that is operated just above cost price (roughly 5/10%) above... and the cut that otherwise would have been made by the manufacturer can now be given to fans who buy the shirt, and will as a result see the price of a replica fall, yet maintain the level of money a football club receives. And hopefully if a reduced price does come from a lower cut from the manufacturer, surely a lower price may stimulate more sales, increasing revenue for the club.
We also,unlike the bigger sports brands, wont spend huge amounts on advertising, initially getting word of mouth would be the most important form of publicity, and through great mediums like FSC, thats how we would generate further interest.
This will also save fans money as their kits wont be helping to pay for expensive TV adds etc. Which although small clubs may not think actually affects them, if they are wearing any of the big brand kits, along the line a mark up will have been made to fund the expenditure of advertising and sponsorship
I am looking at completely forming the company within the year, with the company being limited based, so liability is limited amongst those involved. With a mission statement and formation of a website happening again within the year... I really am looking to make this a bit of a football supporters thing as well so I would be more than willing for anybody with suitable skills to get involved, whether through initially help with locating suitable organisations to start the ball rolling or though helping to come up with the initially capital, in return for a share in the company, to get prototypes produced and then pitch them to the clubs.... (although the capital needed for a venture like this is not by any means substantial, having cash flow will help greatly in ensuring we get it done properly the first time around)
Now really is your chance to help, if you are at all interested just give me a shout.
Or if you have any suggestions or questions again just post them bellow I will be happy to hear anything you have to say, as ultimately with out the support from fellow fans a fan-lead company just cannot be viable.
Cheers,
Struan
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