Judging by their quick rise this seems like a venture capital funded quick buck with cheap tat. Guarantee Catsore claimed they'd "disrupt" the sports wear market. Bonus points for being from the tech industry. But hay some guaranted 30 under 30 20 year olds get to walk off with a suitcase of cash for doing nothing of value.
@@aprilshowersstormtrooper sorry for the mistype, I have Dyspraxia so I can't type properly, but instead of my phone helping out it just saves the mistypes and changes what I wrote to some bizarre spelling I did a few months ago. Even when I type it correct (which doesn't happen much) it sometimes changes it to incorrect ones.
umbro aren't perfect either, had a Luton shirt where the embroidery on the badge was coming apart after a few months but seems to at least be better on the whole than castore
Feyenoord fan. I bought the away shirt last season, was really excited and first time I'd bought a shirt with name and number since being a kid. It came nearly a month late and didn't have the name or number on the back. When contacting them for support, they made it as difficult as possible to resolve anything, it took weeks to even get them refund the difference in price and the shirt quality was awful, not sure why teams are still signing to them as it almost feels like a scam. Disappointed Feyenoord haven't cut ties.
@@TristanSpow do you know what the deals were to back that? Surely as a club you'd rather the fans happier and able to actually access merch so they continue to buy it?
Teams will keep signing with them as they will offer them better terms than others. They will give teams a higher cut of shirt profits and will charge them less for each kit
I bought a fake McLaren's teamwear top. 10 washes in it is holding up better than the genuine top I had which lasted 3 washes. And yes, the washes were all cold cycles
I brought an official McLaren’s shirt back in 2022 I think and the name and logo on the back started peeling off after a couple of months. Washed it all on the right settings too. Ended up getting a new one and it’s fine so idk if I got a dodgy shirt or not
I got myself a pair of waterproof Castore overtrousers for getting to and from football training, they were on at Sports Direct reduced from £38 to £8. Now I know why 😅
I don’t agree that Castore should be supplying lower league teams. Even a local junior team is entitled to wear a kit that doesn’t fall apart the first time you look at it. I hate this brand so much.
It's all about money. Top team won't wear cheap brands like Legea or Givova, but local clubs would, because they can't afford to buy jerseys for 3-8x price from Puma or Nike. It doesn't matter what brand it is, i know pupil teams who wear expensive Puma or Under Armour, a lot of middle class or sunday league teams wearing Joma, Adidas or Nike and i also know about 2nd division team wearing Legea. And in 99 % decision what brand to wear was not made because of brand identity, but because of price and quality.
I think he's probably referring to the biting off more than you can chew scenario. Their quality control might not be so bad if they'd had a sort of organic growth. Look at like Montirex or something. They're not the best quality and I personally don't like the look of their shirts but they're feasible for the most part but if they suddenly took on Liverpool or Man United then they'd be toast because there's no way on earth they could deal with the sudden boom. Granted these haven't taken on a club anywhere near the size of Man United or Liverpool but prem clubs are still just a different animal manufacturing for that championship clubs
@@me5969 Yeah, I get you. This is one of the reasons I hate the brand so much. The founders try to paint a picture of being a David vs Goliath story, but it’s clearly not like that. Their entire strategy is based on immediately signing massive deals with huge sporting brands, which has obviously been backed by a vast amount of private capital. They didn’t start at the bottom - they went to the city, raised a shedload of capital and just bought their way into the market. I’m not sure how well it’s worked though - as far as I can see, nobody at all buys their stuff when it isn’t club merch. The idea of billion pound valuations are laughable. I wouldn’t put them in my top 50 sports brands.
This is just like Fanatics another garbage company pumping out garbage. Their crap falls apart and fades with 2 washes or logos upside down or wrong team name with wrong team logo. The cockups are plenty with them. All the major US leagues are supplied by them. The NHL directly have their jerseys now made and branded by them and the MLB NFL NBA all have Nike uniforms made by Fanatics. It’s all about pumping out as much pure crap to the consumer to buy, have it fall apart and spend more money buying a replacement. This is where the the consumer needs to stop spending money with them. Buy a fake, it’ll be made better now days. MLB fake uniforms have high quality stitching whereas the genuine jerseys are all heat pressed on and just waiting to peel off. It’s pathetic
The only US leagues whose jerseys aren't made by Fanatics are MLS, the WNBA & the NWSL (though Fanatics makes fan gear for both the MLS & WNBA). MLS even though Fanatics has a partnership with them won't allow them to make the jerseys mainly because of the quality issues that the leagues you mentioned have had & because Adidas (who make the jerseys for MLS) don't want to put their logo on a Fanatics made jersey.
@@chrisguardiano6143 correct. Good to see those leagues haven’t sold their souls… yet at least. No surprise Adidas want nothing to do with Fanatics. They’re the reason Adidas did not renew the NHL contract because Fanatics undercut them in price (and quality) with their breakaway jersey so why would Adidas stick around. The industry talks and other possible brands didn’t want to stump up the cash to be undercut by Fanatics hence why they were the only bid. So no way Adidas would let Fanatics profit off them or help ruin their brand like there have with Nike. Nike took all the heat for the MLB uniforms even though Fanatics as a stakeholder in making the uniforms had a say in the poorer quality. MLB are a major investor in Fanatics so Nike took the heat the save their investment. The corruption around this company and its horrible practices is disturbing.
@@Rayzajw exactly why quality has gone down. They also own Majestic and Mitchell & Ness and both of those are no longer what they were before Fanatics bought them. That’s their MO buy existing reputable brands and use the IP etc to boost Fanatics and create a monopoly over the consumer. Throw in some sport betting companies they also own for good measure because why not also exploit people’s addiction
Heard the NHL ones are decent (except the breakaways), but it isn't too shocking considering they are reusing the prior season's template. It's when they move to their new in-house designs that they dampen in quality.
Castore made some shocking jerseys for my Melbourne Storm. They absolutely ruined our jerseys with the ugliest designs I've seen, they were so incredibly thin yet every jersey I had with ISC was thick and comfortable. Good thing we switched to ONeills and immediately returned to the grand final which is something we couldn't do in a Castore jersey. Also they once printed the logo on a West Coast Eagles AFL Player's Jersey in inversed colour which ironically looked better than the actual logo the rest of the team was wearing anyway. The stitching on these jerseys also looks like a bali knockoff too. We certainly don't miss them.
It's the small details, like the logo, that make a big difference - Nike, Adidas etc have simple but iconic logo designs. Castore's looks Sports Direct own brand naff.
Same as the football team I had a 80 euro Jersey ripped in half during a 5 a side never again il be digging out the old new balance one or the old Umbro ones were great
Depends on how much Ulster were given in comparison to what Kukri offered. I was thinking of getting my dad another Leinster polo because years ago I got him one from Canterbury (which he still wears) but the money they're looking for a polo shirt is criminal so I just got him a bottle of whiskey instead. Don't ask me which would last longer though!
Was never a fan of Kukri's merch when they were making Belfast Giants gear but the player jerseys were, as you say, bombproof. Couldn't believe it when Ulster switched.
Really minor point but in cricket swapping the sponsor positions on sleeves is common; depending on if the player is a right or left-handed batter, the sponsor e.g. Cinch is placed on the leading arm to be more prominent on TV. So that's one issue not to blame Castore for 😄
The owners of Castore is all you need to know. Many high net worth individuals. Like the Puregym co-founders, the EG brothers, Andy Murray, a handful of current CEOs of major companies. Alongside many venture capital firms. It's a complete BS company that surely is unsustainable. They can use their clout to win contracts with sports brands in the beginning.... But the leadership team has no chance of cementing a place as a top sportswear manufacturer. Because time will tell. That they're just in it for a quick buck. And there is zero innovation going on inside this organisation. The kits (like you say in the video) are so so bad
The reason why the Cinch and Castore logos appear swapped on the England cricket shirts depends on what hand the player is when batting. If right handed then the cinch will be on the left and visa versa. It's so the cinch logo is seen on TV easier.
Praise the algorithm! This video was recommended and after checking your backlog, I now know what I'll be doing over the next few days. Subbed and all that. Cheers, mate!
They feel like a start up leveraged to the eyeballs in debt trying to build the brand quickly to flip for a £1bn+ 10 x deal. Usually happens in tech but I guess folks like these and under armour are trying now. I see this going tits up and Ashley buying for nothing and then using in Sports Direct as well as using as his licensing arm too. Keep this here and we can come back to it when it happens
Whatever happened to proper Premier league football tops? None of that shiny crap, the old felt numbers and names on the back of the shirts that never came off after hundreds of washes and the front sponsor logos never came off either. Now days everything is too tight fitting and shit logos. Bring back baggy shirts and better logos/numbers/names
I did enjoy a few of their Newcastle United designs over the years, including a couple away/third kits, and training gear...but the terrible quality control and the variations in sizing drove me crazy. I'm an XL in ever bit of football gear, yet their kits seemed 2 sizes too small when i put them on. So, size up when ordering the training gear/leisure wear...now i'm swimming in it. Not sad to see them gone. ⚫⚪
Weirdly I’ve never had any issues with Castore. I’ve got several items of there’s including Newcastle, Rangers and McLaren gear and it’s all of a good quality, fits well and was delivered on time
The West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (Aussie Rules) signed with them for 3 years in 2021. The retail kits were so poor quality that a local manufacturer had to produce the kits for the men's team and put Castore's logo over the top of it. They were so bad and even somehow had a printing error one game where they inverted the eagle's head on one player's away kit for no reason. Needless to say, the eagles backed out of the deal only 2 years in. Sorry to anyone whose team's kits are manufactured by them still.
Leinster Rugby also had a bit of situation with Castore. There should be 4 stars above the Leinster crest (1 for each European Cup win), but last season their promo material all had 5 stars on it.
Cheap Shirts are great when they are what they are meant to be - cheap. The problem with Castore is the shirt quality is so cheap/bad - garment printing and heat applied patches printing doesn’t stick to them… wouldn’t be so bad if the shirts were quality or cheap. Leads to the question about how ethically these are made, we don’t hear much about how the shirts are made and by who?
It was refreshing seeing some small brands becoming kit suppliers where 90% of kits are either Nike or Adidas. But i guess there is a reason why. Shame brands like Joma, Jako, Castore, Umbro, Underarmour didn't not take off.
Umbro was always a top brand. Being a Villa fan every time Umbro have been involved, style and quality of kits have been good. I always thought they got moved aside by just bigger firms such as Adidas and Nike. Recent experience of Joma, very poor
Not really they over promise on quality and over rock bottom prices with huge mark up potential, thats what the clubs see the profit not the user experience. A castore shirt is like buying a tag heur or a rolex of a fella on the beach on holiday...
I feel as if it was my club Rangers that made castore bigger than they should be. We won 55 in our 1st season with them and that made them a lot of money from it. Also side note I've noticed a theme, every club Castore has sponsored, ended up doing something special in their 1st season with them
I brought a McLaren top for each of the drivers after they got their first wins to fulfil bets I made at the start of the season when it looked like Verstappen was going to walk it like he did last year, and due to the fit issue, I haven’t had chance to hit the issue of logos. I’m glad that generally I’n a Williams fan, given that they moved from Umbro to Puma this year.
I bought the Castore line (in 2019) before they started their sponsorship deals and I must say their quality was fantastic and unlike anything on the market. They were far advanced than Nike, Adidas etc. Materials were outstanding ! I think as they grew and expanded they had to outsource rapidly and got stuck with really bad manufacturing companies. They don’t own their own factories and have to outsource. I feel bad for Castore because their original range was outstanding and I am still using them for gym on a daily basis; they are holding up really well.
The £80 Wolves shirt is the Pro version, the standard version is £58. And trust me when I tell you that the quality is brilliant, far, far better than Castore and even the Adidas shirts we had before Castore.
Castore is making its debut in the NZ market, having signed a deal with NZ Cricket to supply the apparel for their national teams, the Black Caps and White Ferns, replacing iconic NZ sportswear brand, Canterbury (who had kitted them out for 14 years). It'll be intriguing to see how they go here. I do applaud them for trying to grow in a duopoly between Nike and Adidas. It is a tough ask for any new aspiring brand.
The stuff on show is desperate - I don't think I've ever seen a duller collection from Castore and that might be saying something. I really think ditching Canterbury was a mistake but I understand NZC needs the money.
I live in Ireland and seldom see anyone wearing Ireland Castore replica shirts. People here have widely rejected anything Castore and folks tend to just buy Adidas Celtic FC attire instead.
One big reason is that their flagship store on Grafton Street doesn't sell any Leinster Rugby or Everton gear, and has an extremely limited number of Ireland shirts and 1/4 zip tops in adult sizes. What was the whole point of their flagship store?
I'm a Wolves fan, and normally like wearing club stuff at the gym - but I could never do that when we had Castore as I'd overheat and be drenched in sweat within ten minutes. We've now switched to a made-up brand started by our owners, and while I'm not a huge fan of the look the difference in quality is immense. I don't understand how these venture capital bros are getting away with this - surely the fact there are now millions of sports fans who know how dreadful their products are means they can't continue growing exponentially? (Great video, by the way!)
My local Irish league team glentoran have been supplied by them for a couple years. I haven't bought a kit for the last 2 years as it's always come across as cheap rubbish to me. The crest is a sticker as well for the price of the shirt I'd expect the badge at the very least to be embroidered
I got a fake Castore Rangers shirt bought for me from family on holiday in Turkey last year. I just wear it around the house mostly as its comfortable and kept me cool during the summer. Absolutely no complaints about its durability. Not a great fan of the design though. A friend spent the guts of 80 or 90 quid on the real thing of the same design. He didnt wear it nearly as much as i did and it was falling to pieces within 4 or 5 months. The same as mentioned here, logos and numbers coming away and seams opening up easily.
I remember when Castore first came out. They positioned themselves as luxury sports wear with cutting their edge technology, charging well over £100 for a plain t-shirt. Now, it sounds like they are the Shein of sports jerseys.
I'm a rangers fan and some castore rangers kits look good but quality is shite. They also keep pumping out loads of commemorative rubbish rip off shirts of old vintage shirts and to be honest it's getting boring. Hope rangers go to addidas or another soon.
It's important to note (at least as of a year or so ago) that castore likely do not have any manufacturing facilities or long standing manufacturing partners. They are not a clothing manufacturer they are just an instagram brand which used venture funds to pay to put their badge on sports kits. They would likely achieve this by accepting quotes from literally any factory on Alibaba etc and go with the lowest cost supplier to do a run for them. This would likely explain their inconsistency and lack of quality-control. In short, their business model for manufacturing is the same as an instagram model with 2000 followers who "owns" a clothing brand (she ordered a run of a few hundred generic items with a logo on from china)
Club Brugge have also had issues which on a couple of occasions has seen Simon Mignolet revive the old tradition of keepers wearing their national kit.
I bought a West Indies training hoodie online last summer while I was over in England in XL, and it was like a damn sausage casing. I returned it immediately. Bullet dodged.
I'm a Newcastle fan, I didn't mind the Castore shirts to be honest. They were a lot better than the puma ones. But the new Adidas ones are million times better.
A young company with teething problems. It's not unusual in any industry for a company to have issues when it comes to how they can expand operations without risking the company's future: if demand goes down at a later point, the company's overheads are too high, and then it is done for. This is an issue that Bloomsbury Publishing faced when they struck gold with the Harry Potter books. The company was just 11 years old when the first book came out, and experienced difficulty in meeting demand. But they had something which Castore lacks: a certain degree of future-proofing as JKR intended to write a 7-book series. I think Bloomsbury's strategy solution was to buy smaller publishing groups.
@@Cracker-p9q By the sound of the examples given in the video, they have figured it out for smaller orders. Scaling up a business operation is difficult.
Ireland kits and training gear are so expensive and of such poor quality that hardly anyone in Ireland wears or buys Castore crap. Please FAI ditch Castore like Villa, Leverkusen or Wolves have and get a decent kit supplier in
Bristol City have O'Neill's kit, their stuff is pretty good and it would be patriotic. They also made the Ireland kit until the mid 80s and sell GAA stuff globally no problem.
@@gwheregwhizz I saw O'Neills were making Bristol City kits. Glad you're liking them. Yeah obviously over in Ireland everyone wears their GAA colours proudly. We were all hoping O'Neills would make the Ireland kits before Castore sadly got the job. You can get O'Neills kits custom made for your own pub/Sunday league teams and the turnaround is like only 2 weeks. Great company so they are. Glad you're liking their stuff over at Bristol City. Be great to see The Robins in the Premier League in O'Neills gear
I remember hearing an interview with a Villa Women playing saying that they "dreaded" walking out and playing in a Castore shirt. And that was while the contract was still active. Seemed bizarre that Villa's new owner even chose them in the first place given that he owns 6% shares in Adidas.
Never had any issues with shirts or training wear (hoodies, coats) from Castore. It's obviously a problem for the pro teams, but have washed their fan stuff on numerous occasions, and never had any badges fall off.
Everton...next year in the championship in a brand new stadium and wearing castore. Mind blowing how one would change to castore AFTER becoming aware of its quality
I personally have some McLaren castore teamware and haven't notices any issues with it at all. It has been in the wash many times, separate pieces of clothing and don't have nay complaints. Clear though that I am one of a few fortunate bunch.
I hadnt watched football for years, got back into it and saw castore on so many jerseys and was extremely curious as to what it was and where it came from
You might want to do a little more research regarding Castore and Wolves before you start criticising our current kits. Castore only supplied our pro kits, everything else was produced by Wolves under a Castore license, which is why quality and pricing were good. That is also why our new kits by, SUDU, are in my opinion, better quality than if we had, like you suggested, Adidas or another more "well known" kit supplier.
I didn't know that! All the Castore Wolves stuff I had (including the fan versions of the home kits and training wear) would make me sweat buckets in the gym, in a similar way to the Villa kit probem - so I presumed they were direct from Castore. I have to agree with you about the Sudu kits though - as much as I loved the three stripes branding, the quality of the Adidas stuff I had was nowhere near as good as Sudu.
Had my kits from last season and this season by Castore and not had any issues whatsoever. A friend of mine buys some of their sports gear and says it's some of the best he's ever bought.
I've bought there kits a couple times and there fit is terrible for bulky people, i'm an xl in most football shirts, but this season's especially its so tight, i had to get a size up and tuck in the excess length, terrible brand.
As a garment manufacturer and embroidery/print supplier these mistakes do make me laugh. S*** happens and mistakes get made, but on this level and size it's crazy to see.
I went to school with the guys who are joint CEO, I was really impressed at their success. Makes me sad that it just seems to be a sports apparel Primark
Probably the worst thing about castors is that they don’t let independent retailers stock their shirts without previously having massive accounts and lots of orders from a brand that was essentially none existent 2 years ago
Castore made me re-evulate how much i think making a good wear piece trully takes , even outside of football shirts my style is closer to the 90s for example , tracksuits jackets etc and i got some old adidas/kappa/champion/NB ones that are straight dogs had them at work ( Tv prod. in football/basketball funny enough) through rain and the worst conditions you can imagine and they didnt budge , ofc i thrifted them all and when i went to an actuall Adidas shop to check out what they have i saw the prices and i was startstruck , the supposed "working class" wear was 70+ euros but then i remember that brands like Castore exist with numerous quality control issues and thought again " am i just ungratefull " , sometimes you get what you pay for and sometimes its just better to stick with the mainstream option cause again sometimes the reason why something is mainstream is because its good in the first place. Edit - Forgot to write this , my mate who is half Greek (am Greek) and half English returned back to Greece with a Castore hoodie and wouldnt you know some sweat was all it took to have it tear apart the moment he stretched his arm , honest to god we were just walking he had sweaty armpits and stretched his arm to give a hug to a friend and the whole arm collar/shoulder ripped
Now that I've learned that Castore and Umbro have a deal, I'm scared to get another Luton kit(s) for these reasons. $100-$125 after exchange and shipping to Canada just to have it rip / tear or my badge to fall off after a month.
I actually bought a Reiss x Castore training top from the Reiss store. Never thought I'd see that collaboration! It was actually a really nice top, but after a wash or two, it shrunk and just didn't fit the same. Shame really, but yeah, Reiss and Castore. Who'd have thought!
Castore also has a deal with golfer Matt Fitzpatrick. Fortunately golf is an extremely low-contact sport so I doubt he's in danger of having one of his polos or quarter-zips getting torn
I've got a rangers black out TRAINING KIT from 2020; the castore logo and the club badge has been falling off after literally 3 wears and I constantly have to apply fabric glue & heat press. Such a shame because their design is decent.
I noticed some poor reviews of Castore kits so chose an out of date New Balance England cricket shirt instead. Much cheaper and hasnt fallen apart, despite me playing football in it.
Here's a 3 way misery pile, Mclaren went Castore, Aston Villa then went with them, & finally the Republic of Ireland (after 30 years of miserable Umbro Ireland crap!!🤬) Thankfully Villa fled, & Mclaren have others(Levis, Hollister) so I don't need to worry there, Can't stand this crappy brand!! Hope they GO away soon!! Gr8 Video!👊
![Gunna - HIM ALL ALONG [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HiCxoDeo0hc/mqdefault.jpg)
Castore basically thrives from contract breakups.
@SantiHRod - not a bad gig if you can get it 😂😂😂 Jose Mourinho has got rich from contract breakups (i.e., sackings)!!!
They are basically drop shipping
"Better never stops"
Better never started.
You can tell a fake Castore shirt by it being better quality.
😂
Top comment 😂
Bring back Kappa, the sexiest of all
Bring back ? They haven’t gone anywhere
Im wearing Kappa shoes mate. They havemt gone anywhere.
I’m wearing a kappa sweat band rn mate.
I'm wearing a Kappa jockstrap mate
I'm currently brushing my teeth with a......
Just to add to the list, McLaren are dropping Castore for 2025 too, but they haven't announced who the replacement is yet
I didn't see that anywhere, do you have a link? But they did renew the contract as recently as 2023
Probably adidas
Reckon its alpinestar
@@PidarBlyad it's George Asda's brand pal
Puma
Judging by their quick rise this seems like a venture capital funded quick buck with cheap tat. Guarantee Catsore claimed they'd "disrupt" the sports wear market. Bonus points for being from the tech industry. But hay some guaranted 30 under 30 20 year olds get to walk off with a suitcase of cash for doing nothing of value.
yeah, no 'David vs Goliath' here, just Goliath funding Goliath dressed like David. In a shirt that tears easily.
Your spelling of “guarantee” made me double-take.
@@aprilshowersstormtrooper sorry for the mistype, I have Dyspraxia so I can't type properly, but instead of my phone helping out it just saves the mistypes and changes what I wrote to some bizarre spelling I did a few months ago. Even when I type it correct (which doesn't happen much) it sometimes changes it to incorrect ones.
@@Alex-cw3rz It’s all love, brother 👊
It's a shame because they're a UK company but Umbro should be supported more as they don't seem to have these issues
umbro aren't perfect either, had a Luton shirt where the embroidery on the badge was coming apart after a few months but seems to at least be better on the whole than castore
Feyenoord fan. I bought the away shirt last season, was really excited and first time I'd bought a shirt with name and number since being a kid. It came nearly a month late and didn't have the name or number on the back. When contacting them for support, they made it as difficult as possible to resolve anything, it took weeks to even get them refund the difference in price and the shirt quality was awful, not sure why teams are still signing to them as it almost feels like a scam. Disappointed Feyenoord haven't cut ties.
Dat komt omdat ze heel veel geld van ze krijgen, terwijl ze vroeger van Adidas en Puma helemaal niks kregen
@@TristanSpow do you know what the deals were to back that? Surely as a club you'd rather the fans happier and able to actually access merch so they continue to buy it?
Teams will keep signing with them as they will offer them better terms than others. They will give teams a higher cut of shirt profits and will charge them less for each kit
Tja, kleine club dat Feyenoord, grote spelers hebben puma 😂😂😂
Fitting that the MK dons has them. They're made for each other 😂
I bought a fake McLaren's teamwear top. 10 washes in it is holding up better than the genuine top I had which lasted 3 washes. And yes, the washes were all cold cycles
I have read the shirts from DH gate are better quality than the real thing
You love to see it. I'm going to buy one lmao
I brought an official McLaren’s shirt back in 2022 I think and the name and logo on the back started peeling off after a couple of months. Washed it all on the right settings too. Ended up getting a new one and it’s fine so idk if I got a dodgy shirt or not
@@onwardsandupwards547 I can vouch for that and they cost me £13.
It's just crazy how absolutely shocking the quality is .. 😆
I got myself a pair of waterproof Castore overtrousers for getting to and from football training, they were on at Sports Direct reduced from £38 to £8. Now I know why 😅
Enjoy wet legs 😂
I don’t agree that Castore should be supplying lower league teams. Even a local junior team is entitled to wear a kit that doesn’t fall apart the first time you look at it. I hate this brand so much.
It's all about money. Top team won't wear cheap brands like Legea or Givova, but local clubs would, because they can't afford to buy jerseys for 3-8x price from Puma or Nike. It doesn't matter what brand it is, i know pupil teams who wear expensive Puma or Under Armour, a lot of middle class or sunday league teams wearing Joma, Adidas or Nike and i also know about 2nd division team wearing Legea. And in 99 % decision what brand to wear was not made because of brand identity, but because of price and quality.
I think he's probably referring to the biting off more than you can chew scenario. Their quality control might not be so bad if they'd had a sort of organic growth. Look at like Montirex or something. They're not the best quality and I personally don't like the look of their shirts but they're feasible for the most part but if they suddenly took on Liverpool or Man United then they'd be toast because there's no way on earth they could deal with the sudden boom. Granted these haven't taken on a club anywhere near the size of Man United or Liverpool but prem clubs are still just a different animal manufacturing for that championship clubs
@@me5969 Yeah, I get you. This is one of the reasons I hate the brand so much. The founders try to paint a picture of being a David vs Goliath story, but it’s clearly not like that. Their entire strategy is based on immediately signing massive deals with huge sporting brands, which has obviously been backed by a vast amount of private capital. They didn’t start at the bottom - they went to the city, raised a shedload of capital and just bought their way into the market. I’m not sure how well it’s worked though - as far as I can see, nobody at all buys their stuff when it isn’t club merch. The idea of billion pound valuations are laughable. I wouldn’t put them in my top 50 sports brands.
This is just like Fanatics another garbage company pumping out garbage. Their crap falls apart and fades with 2 washes or logos upside down or wrong team name with wrong team logo. The cockups are plenty with them. All the major US leagues are supplied by them. The NHL directly have their jerseys now made and branded by them and the MLB NFL NBA all have Nike uniforms made by Fanatics. It’s all about pumping out as much pure crap to the consumer to buy, have it fall apart and spend more money buying a replacement. This is where the the consumer needs to stop spending money with them. Buy a fake, it’ll be made better now days. MLB fake uniforms have high quality stitching whereas the genuine jerseys are all heat pressed on and just waiting to peel off. It’s pathetic
The only US leagues whose jerseys aren't made by Fanatics are MLS, the WNBA & the NWSL (though Fanatics makes fan gear for both the MLS & WNBA). MLS even though Fanatics has a partnership with them won't allow them to make the jerseys mainly because of the quality issues that the leagues you mentioned have had & because Adidas (who make the jerseys for MLS) don't want to put their logo on a Fanatics made jersey.
@@chrisguardiano6143 correct. Good to see those leagues haven’t sold their souls… yet at least. No surprise Adidas want nothing to do with Fanatics. They’re the reason Adidas did not renew the NHL contract because Fanatics undercut them in price (and quality) with their breakaway jersey so why would Adidas stick around. The industry talks and other possible brands didn’t want to stump up the cash to be undercut by Fanatics hence why they were the only bid. So no way Adidas would let Fanatics profit off them or help ruin their brand like there have with Nike. Nike took all the heat for the MLB uniforms even though Fanatics as a stakeholder in making the uniforms had a say in the poorer quality. MLB are a major investor in Fanatics so Nike took the heat the save their investment. The corruption around this company and its horrible practices is disturbing.
Ohh i didn't know Fanatics were making the "Nike" jerseys but it makes sense. The quality control is horrible
@@Rayzajw exactly why quality has gone down. They also own Majestic and Mitchell & Ness and both of those are no longer what they were before Fanatics bought them. That’s their MO buy existing reputable brands and use the IP etc to boost Fanatics and create a monopoly over the consumer. Throw in some sport betting companies they also own for good measure because why not also exploit people’s addiction
Heard the NHL ones are decent (except the breakaways), but it isn't too shocking considering they are reusing the prior season's template. It's when they move to their new in-house designs that they dampen in quality.
Castore made some shocking jerseys for my Melbourne Storm. They absolutely ruined our jerseys with the ugliest designs I've seen, they were so incredibly thin yet every jersey I had with ISC was thick and comfortable. Good thing we switched to ONeills and immediately returned to the grand final which is something we couldn't do in a Castore jersey. Also they once printed the logo on a West Coast Eagles AFL Player's Jersey in inversed colour which ironically looked better than the actual logo the rest of the team was wearing anyway. The stitching on these jerseys also looks like a bali knockoff too. We certainly don't miss them.
It's the small details, like the logo, that make a big difference - Nike, Adidas etc have simple but iconic logo designs. Castore's looks Sports Direct own brand naff.
Ulster Rugby going from the absolutely bombproof Kukri to Castore was the most baffling in recent years.
Same as the football team I had a 80 euro Jersey ripped in half during a 5 a side never again il be digging out the old new balance one or the old Umbro ones were great
Depends on how much Ulster were given in comparison to what Kukri offered. I was thinking of getting my dad another Leinster polo because years ago I got him one from Canterbury (which he still wears) but the money they're looking for a polo shirt is criminal so I just got him a bottle of whiskey instead. Don't ask me which would last longer though!
@@heliumtrophyCanterbury and Kukri are both durable rugby specific brands. You'll be fine
Was never a fan of Kukri's merch when they were making Belfast Giants gear but the player jerseys were, as you say, bombproof. Couldn't believe it when Ulster switched.
Really minor point but in cricket swapping the sponsor positions on sleeves is common; depending on if the player is a right or left-handed batter, the sponsor e.g. Cinch is placed on the leading arm to be more prominent on TV. So that's one issue not to blame Castore for 😄
Ahh, I didn't know that. The article I read made it sound like it was a mistake
The owners of Castore is all you need to know. Many high net worth individuals. Like the Puregym co-founders, the EG brothers, Andy Murray, a handful of current CEOs of major companies. Alongside many venture capital firms. It's a complete BS company that surely is unsustainable. They can use their clout to win contracts with sports brands in the beginning.... But the leadership team has no chance of cementing a place as a top sportswear manufacturer. Because time will tell. That they're just in it for a quick buck. And there is zero innovation going on inside this organisation.
The kits (like you say in the video) are so so bad
There like a get rich quick scam that actually made a product for their investors
their logo looks a bit like a tramp stamp
😂😂😂😂
I have a Man City shirt i bought in 2008 from Umbro, washed it maybe over 200 times and it's still in top shape
Same with my 1995 Ajax shirt. Umbro is, or was, top quality.
Got a leverkusen away shirt. The logos on the arms are two different heights and ones on the piss 😂
The reason why the Cinch and Castore logos appear swapped on the England cricket shirts depends on what hand the player is when batting. If right handed then the cinch will be on the left and visa versa. It's so the cinch logo is seen on TV easier.
Praise the algorithm! This video was recommended and after checking your backlog, I now know what I'll be doing over the next few days. Subbed and all that. Cheers, mate!
Interesting, burnley went from Umbro to castore for the 24-25 season
They feel like a start up leveraged to the eyeballs in debt trying to build the brand quickly to flip for a £1bn+ 10 x deal. Usually happens in tech but I guess folks like these and under armour are trying now. I see this going tits up and Ashley buying for nothing and then using in Sports Direct as well as using as his licensing arm too. Keep this here and we can come back to it when it happens
I bought a Castore McLaren T-shirt. Followed the wash instructions and the lettering came off after 2 washes…
I’m not surprised by this video
Whatever happened to proper Premier league football tops? None of that shiny crap, the old felt numbers and names on the back of the shirts that never came off after hundreds of washes and the front sponsor logos never came off either. Now days everything is too tight fitting and shit logos. Bring back baggy shirts and better logos/numbers/names
Got a few Castore Newcastle shirts on like 70% clearance and for like 15-20$ I'm pretty satisfied. The retail prices are a complete scam though
Badges falling off shirts is pathetic...why not just stitch everything especially the shirts for the public....God knows where this company came from
I think they’re a British company not Irish
I did enjoy a few of their Newcastle United designs over the years, including a couple away/third kits, and training gear...but the terrible quality control and the variations in sizing drove me crazy. I'm an XL in ever bit of football gear, yet their kits seemed 2 sizes too small when i put them on. So, size up when ordering the training gear/leisure wear...now i'm swimming in it. Not sad to see them gone. ⚫⚪
Their player version shirts were notorious for being awful for sizing.
Weirdly I’ve never had any issues with Castore. I’ve got several items of there’s including Newcastle, Rangers and McLaren gear and it’s all of a good quality, fits well and was delivered on time
Never had a problem with any of my tops either!
Just look at this years Everton kit. Tells you everything
The West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (Aussie Rules) signed with them for 3 years in 2021. The retail kits were so poor quality that a local manufacturer had to produce the kits for the men's team and put Castore's logo over the top of it.
They were so bad and even somehow had a printing error one game where they inverted the eagle's head on one player's away kit for no reason.
Needless to say, the eagles backed out of the deal only 2 years in.
Sorry to anyone whose team's kits are manufactured by them still.
Bring back the niche kit makers like Diadora, Le coq sportive, Lotta
Leinster Rugby also had a bit of situation with Castore. There should be 4 stars above the Leinster crest (1 for each European Cup win), but last season their promo material all had 5 stars on it.
Very optimistic.
They even made it to the AFL, and they bungled that too
Cheap Shirts are great when they are what they are meant to be - cheap. The problem with Castore is the shirt quality is so cheap/bad - garment printing and heat applied patches printing doesn’t stick to them… wouldn’t be so bad if the shirts were quality or cheap. Leads to the question about how ethically these are made, we don’t hear much about how the shirts are made and by who?
It was refreshing seeing some small brands becoming kit suppliers where 90% of kits are either Nike or Adidas. But i guess there is a reason why. Shame brands like Joma, Jako, Castore, Umbro, Underarmour didn't not take off.
Umbro was always a top brand. Being a Villa fan every time Umbro have been involved, style and quality of kits have been good. I always thought they got moved aside by just bigger firms such as Adidas and Nike.
Recent experience of Joma, very poor
Umbro kits are quality...don't dare put that legendary company with that crap
Umbro was decent during the mid 2000s
@@nikobellic2086 umbro was at it's best 86-96
The rise of Castore is deeply suspicious to me.
Not really they over promise on quality and over rock bottom prices with huge mark up potential, thats what the clubs see the profit not the user experience. A castore shirt is like buying a tag heur or a rolex of a fella on the beach on holiday...
I feel as if it was my club Rangers that made castore bigger than they should be. We won 55 in our 1st season with them and that made them a lot of money from it. Also side note I've noticed a theme, every club Castore has sponsored, ended up doing something special in their 1st season with them
Apart from mine (Wolves) 😢
You won your 1 and only sevco, your old club died on its arse
I know there motto because It's played at least once at every international cricket game I been to
you can't escape it
6:00 Bonjour!!😂😂
I brought a McLaren top for each of the drivers after they got their first wins to fulfil bets I made at the start of the season when it looked like Verstappen was going to walk it like he did last year, and due to the fit issue, I haven’t had chance to hit the issue of logos.
I’m glad that generally I’n a Williams fan, given that they moved from Umbro to Puma this year.
I bought the Castore line (in 2019) before they started their sponsorship deals and I must say their quality was fantastic and unlike anything on the market. They were far advanced than Nike, Adidas etc. Materials were outstanding ! I think as they grew and expanded they had to outsource rapidly and got stuck with really bad manufacturing companies. They don’t own their own factories and have to outsource. I feel bad for Castore because their original range was outstanding and I am still using them for gym on a daily basis; they are holding up really well.
The new Wolves kit is £55 and goes on sale constantly. Why are you looking at the pro one?
The £80 Wolves shirt is the Pro version, the standard version is £58.
And trust me when I tell you that the quality is brilliant, far, far better than Castore and even the Adidas shirts we had before Castore.
Totally agree - I am well impressed with mine!
I'm a Coventry fan, luckily we have Hummel who are the best in the business.
Castore is making its debut in the NZ market, having signed a deal with NZ Cricket to supply the apparel for their national teams, the Black Caps and White Ferns, replacing iconic NZ sportswear brand, Canterbury (who had kitted them out for 14 years). It'll be intriguing to see how they go here.
I do applaud them for trying to grow in a duopoly between Nike and Adidas. It is a tough ask for any new aspiring brand.
The stuff on show is desperate - I don't think I've ever seen a duller collection from Castore and that might be saying something. I really think ditching Canterbury was a mistake but I understand NZC needs the money.
Doesn't excuse their awful quality of material and design
Isn't Canterbury basically a British brand now?
The new Blackcaps gear absolutely sucks.
Can Add F1 merchandise from Castore also - print coming away way too easily after normal washing - shocking quality
I always wondered where this brand came from.. thanks for posting
why would Umbro let Castore manufacture for them, makes no sense
I live in Ireland and seldom see anyone wearing Ireland Castore replica shirts. People here have widely rejected anything Castore and folks tend to just buy Adidas Celtic FC attire instead.
One big reason is that their flagship store on Grafton Street doesn't sell any Leinster Rugby or Everton gear, and has an extremely limited number of Ireland shirts and 1/4 zip tops in adult sizes. What was the whole point of their flagship store?
Nothing to do with Castore making Rangers kits of course 😂😂😂
@@WeAreThePeople1690 Oh there were a few who kicked up over that.
@@heliumtrophy i bet the numbers who said what you claim was miniscule or non existent.
@@WeAreThePeople1690 no one cares about rangers. be under no illusions we don't but castore cos its not good not cos your little team has them.
I'm a Wolves fan, and normally like wearing club stuff at the gym - but I could never do that when we had Castore as I'd overheat and be drenched in sweat within ten minutes. We've now switched to a made-up brand started by our owners, and while I'm not a huge fan of the look the difference in quality is immense.
I don't understand how these venture capital bros are getting away with this - surely the fact there are now millions of sports fans who know how dreadful their products are means they can't continue growing exponentially?
(Great video, by the way!)
My local Irish league team glentoran have been supplied by them for a couple years. I haven't bought a kit for the last 2 years as it's always come across as cheap rubbish to me. The crest is a sticker as well for the price of the shirt I'd expect the badge at the very least to be embroidered
Everton are now with Castore because they're paying £20m a season. That's more than double what Hummel paid.
Hummel is much much worse than Castore so a good deal all round
I got a fake Castore Rangers shirt bought for me from family on holiday in Turkey last year. I just wear it around the house mostly as its comfortable and kept me cool during the summer. Absolutely no complaints about its durability. Not a great fan of the design though.
A friend spent the guts of 80 or 90 quid on the real thing of the same design. He didnt wear it nearly as much as i did and it was falling to pieces within 4 or 5 months. The same as mentioned here, logos and numbers coming away and seams opening up easily.
I remember when Castore first came out. They positioned themselves as luxury sports wear with cutting their edge technology, charging well over £100 for a plain t-shirt. Now, it sounds like they are the Shein of sports jerseys.
I'm a rangers fan and some castore rangers kits look good but quality is shite. They also keep pumping out loads of commemorative rubbish rip off shirts of old vintage shirts and to be honest it's getting boring. Hope rangers go to addidas or another soon.
Who????
It's important to note (at least as of a year or so ago) that castore likely do not have any manufacturing facilities or long standing manufacturing partners. They are not a clothing manufacturer they are just an instagram brand which used venture funds to pay to put their badge on sports kits. They would likely achieve this by accepting quotes from literally any factory on Alibaba etc and go with the lowest cost supplier to do a run for them. This would likely explain their inconsistency and lack of quality-control. In short, their business model for manufacturing is the same as an instagram model with 2000 followers who "owns" a clothing brand (she ordered a run of a few hundred generic items with a logo on from china)
Everyone in Ireland wanted Adidas back but the FAI went with Castore.
Its the FAI so of course they did😄
I bought an Aston villa jersey, loved the look. I was so sweaty when I went for a run. Shocker!
Club Brugge have also had issues which on a couple of occasions has seen Simon Mignolet revive the old tradition of keepers wearing their national kit.
Stop lying
I bought a West Indies training hoodie online last summer while I was over in England in XL, and it was like a damn sausage casing. I returned it immediately. Bullet dodged.
I'm a Newcastle fan, I didn't mind the Castore shirts to be honest. They were a lot better than the puma ones. But the new Adidas ones are million times better.
The rise seems to be a lot from just how the logo looks. They plaster that logo on everything that it dominates a lot of the shirts
A young company with teething problems. It's not unusual in any industry for a company to have issues when it comes to how they can expand operations without risking the company's future: if demand goes down at a later point, the company's overheads are too high, and then it is done for.
This is an issue that Bloomsbury Publishing faced when they struck gold with the Harry Potter books. The company was just 11 years old when the first book came out, and experienced difficulty in meeting demand. But they had something which Castore lacks: a certain degree of future-proofing as JKR intended to write a 7-book series.
I think Bloomsbury's strategy solution was to buy smaller publishing groups.
After 9 years they can't figure out quality?
@@Cracker-p9q By the sound of the examples given in the video, they have figured it out for smaller orders.
Scaling up a business operation is difficult.
Teething problems doesn’t cut it when you are paying top-whack for your clubs shirt.
@@dylanparker130You just said 11 years. That's enough time to figure it out.
@@dylanparker130 Terrible excuse.
Ireland kits and training gear are so expensive and of such poor quality that hardly anyone in Ireland wears or buys Castore crap. Please FAI ditch Castore like Villa, Leverkusen or Wolves have and get a decent kit supplier in
Bristol City have O'Neill's kit, their stuff is pretty good and it would be patriotic. They also made the Ireland kit until the mid 80s and sell GAA stuff globally no problem.
@@gwheregwhizz I saw O'Neills were making Bristol City kits. Glad you're liking them. Yeah obviously over in Ireland everyone wears their GAA colours proudly. We were all hoping O'Neills would make the Ireland kits before Castore sadly got the job. You can get O'Neills kits custom made for your own pub/Sunday league teams and the turnaround is like only 2 weeks. Great company so they are. Glad you're liking their stuff over at Bristol City. Be great to see The Robins in the Premier League in O'Neills gear
I remember hearing an interview with a Villa Women playing saying that they "dreaded" walking out and playing in a Castore shirt. And that was while the contract was still active.
Seemed bizarre that Villa's new owner even chose them in the first place given that he owns 6% shares in Adidas.
The wolves badge was the highlight 😂😂
It doesn't matter what league your team is in. Once you've purchased clothes they shouldn't fall apart!
Leinster rugby also had similar problems with logos falling off also
Never had any issues with shirts or training wear (hoodies, coats) from Castore.
It's obviously a problem for the pro teams, but have washed their fan stuff on numerous occasions, and never had any badges fall off.
Not yet.
Everton...next year in the championship in a brand new stadium and wearing castore. Mind blowing how one would change to castore AFTER becoming aware of its quality
We aren't going down...
🤡
Everton get 20M a year from them you joke and I’ve told you snowflakes before big clubs don’t go down 😂
Everton won't go down. They'll survive last day .. just
@@Sutty0151 big clubs dont go down? okay mate.
I personally have some McLaren castore teamware and haven't notices any issues with it at all. It has been in the wash many times, separate pieces of clothing and don't have nay complaints. Clear though that I am one of a few fortunate bunch.
I hadnt watched football for years, got back into it and saw castore on so many jerseys and was extremely curious as to what it was and where it came from
You might want to do a little more research regarding Castore and Wolves before you start criticising our current kits.
Castore only supplied our pro kits, everything else was produced by Wolves under a Castore license, which is why quality and pricing were good. That is also why our new kits by, SUDU, are in my opinion, better quality than if we had, like you suggested, Adidas or another more "well known" kit supplier.
I didn't know that! All the Castore Wolves stuff I had (including the fan versions of the home kits and training wear) would make me sweat buckets in the gym, in a similar way to the Villa kit probem - so I presumed they were direct from Castore.
I have to agree with you about the Sudu kits though - as much as I loved the three stripes branding, the quality of the Adidas stuff I had was nowhere near as good as Sudu.
I have to say Preston North End’s kit is very high quality can’t speak for other kits but castors good for us
Had my kits from last season and this season by Castore and not had any issues whatsoever.
A friend of mine buys some of their sports gear and says it's some of the best he's ever bought.
Never heard of them until this video was recommended.
They do the Leinster rugby shirt also and have had issues with the crest also, and the stars falling off
I've bought there kits a couple times and there fit is terrible for bulky people, i'm an xl in most football shirts, but this season's especially its so tight, i had to get a size up and tuck in the excess length, terrible brand.
Castore use European sizing which runs small compared to UK/USA sizing. Appropriate brand though for MK.
Ye, I had that problem, very wide shirts but not long
I'm glad Newcastle have switched to Adidas coz their shirts are good for bigger folk 😂
As a garment manufacturer and embroidery/print supplier these mistakes do make me laugh.
S*** happens and mistakes get made, but on this level and size it's crazy to see.
I went to school with the guys who are joint CEO, I was really impressed at their success. Makes me sad that it just seems to be a sports apparel Primark
Probably the worst thing about castors is that they don’t let independent retailers stock their shirts without previously having massive accounts and lots of orders from a brand that was essentially none existent 2 years ago
Castore made me re-evulate how much i think making a good wear piece trully takes , even outside of football shirts my style is closer to the 90s for example , tracksuits jackets etc and i got some old adidas/kappa/champion/NB ones that are straight dogs had them at work ( Tv prod. in football/basketball funny enough) through rain and the worst conditions you can imagine and they didnt budge , ofc i thrifted them all and when i went to an actuall Adidas shop to check out what they have i saw the prices and i was startstruck , the supposed "working class" wear was 70+ euros but then i remember that brands like Castore exist with numerous quality control issues and thought again " am i just ungratefull " , sometimes you get what you pay for and sometimes its just better to stick with the mainstream option cause again sometimes the reason why something is mainstream is because its good in the first place.
Edit - Forgot to write this , my mate who is half Greek (am Greek) and half English returned back to Greece with a Castore hoodie and wouldnt you know some sweat was all it took to have it tear apart the moment he stretched his arm , honest to god we were just walking he had sweaty armpits and stretched his arm to give a hug to a friend and the whole arm collar/shoulder ripped
In Scotland we say, Strip, Top, Jersey.
Castore is a British company not Irish.
Now that I've learned that Castore and Umbro have a deal, I'm scared to get another Luton kit(s) for these reasons. $100-$125 after exchange and shipping to Canada just to have it rip / tear or my badge to fall off after a month.
I’ve a number of castore items and I love the quality
Their Reiss collab was actually v nice
I don’t doubt this, but my son and I have had Castore hoodies, tracksuits, shorts and a cap, and had no issues with any of it.
I actually bought a Reiss x Castore training top from the Reiss store. Never thought I'd see that collaboration! It was actually a really nice top, but after a wash or two, it shrunk and just didn't fit the same. Shame really, but yeah, Reiss and Castore. Who'd have thought!
The stripes are pretty boring too for my team in Scotland. And its usually 4 strips a season.
I saw they have a shop at the Merry Hill shopping centre. Never felt like going in there
I got an Everton shirt and I’m happy with it.
Castore also has a deal with golfer Matt Fitzpatrick. Fortunately golf is an extremely low-contact sport so I doubt he's in danger of having one of his polos or quarter-zips getting torn
Can confirm. Their XXL is more like a 3XL
I've got a rangers black out TRAINING KIT from 2020; the castore logo and the club badge has been falling off after literally 3 wears and I constantly have to apply fabric glue & heat press. Such a shame because their design is decent.
I noticed some poor reviews of Castore kits so chose an out of date New Balance England cricket shirt instead. Much cheaper and hasnt fallen apart, despite me playing football in it.
Here's a 3 way misery pile, Mclaren went Castore, Aston Villa then went with them, & finally the Republic of Ireland (after 30 years of miserable Umbro Ireland crap!!🤬) Thankfully Villa fled, & Mclaren have others(Levis, Hollister) so I don't need to worry there, Can't stand this crappy brand!! Hope they GO away soon!! Gr8 Video!👊