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.
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
@@xsorpheus683 IIRC all the F1 merch is advertised as replicas. Basically garbage at extortionate prices. Yep, you pay 70 euro for a replica tshirt and become an advertisement banner. I fell for it. Got a team replica softshell jacket which is to no surprise, Made in China. No issues so far in my case, but I wear it very sparingly when I end up going out on race day.
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
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.
Couldn’t agree with you guys more! And yet, to get contracts with Villa, Leverkusen or RedBull, either they have powerful under the table connections, or this teams are really poor at verifying the state of the art of their partner.
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
@@Forestgravy90 umbro back in the day was the business.. some of the best design's ever... England 3rd 1990...ajax away.1990...brazil home and away 94...inter Milan 91... just to name a few
Lmao as a Schalke 04 fan and my dad being in the marketing / Textil of Schalke i can tell you there been a lot of issues with umbro too and they only got like 30 workers in the whole company lmao y’all brexit dudes
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 😅
It's the small details, like the logo, that make a big difference - Nike, Adidas, Umbro etc have simple but iconic logo designs. Castore's looks Sports Direct own brand naff.
It does because Ashley is involved. The website is almost identical to sports direct also. The way the infrastructure is ran can only be linked to Fat Mike.
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.
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
They were 2 brothers from the Wirral, over the water from Liverpool, and should used Liverpool as their base. Basically from my own view is that they had good intentions to start a sportswear company that sold good quality clothing. But investors quickly told them which way to market it. The tycoons who own Asda mainly. I’m sure they told them to relocate to Manchester because their business will grow massively. However, it looks like they’ve just sold the soul of the brand and no longer see it as their brand. I do think if they would have made better contacts that were for the good of the brand , then they might have better quality and be more respectable as a sportswear company. Good them though. They’ve obviously made millions of it.
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...
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.
In the nrl Sydney roosters and Melbourne storm are also partnered with castore. One of the most physical games and there hasn't been a problem with them. 🤷♀
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.
When company’s say our shirts are made with ( cutting edge technology) it’s bullshit…. That’s there impressive word for just punching some extra holes in the shirt and then say it’s (CET)
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.
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
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!
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.
They still have a deal the Roosters, and every Castore jersey for the Storm and Roosters seemed to have comically small NRL and team logo patches compared to everyone else - not to mention the quality issues, and just how little stock they actually delivered to retailers for both teams
I'm sorry, but in what world is a kit manufacturer that can't supply enough, puts on wrong names, sends the wrong amount of shirts, has shirts rip, puts badges on upside down and has badges fall off after a few washes, a Championship level kit manufacturer? They're well well WELL below that. Failing at this much for the one product you're meant to be selling isn't even worthy of amateur leagues.
As a rugby player and fan. Castore is the bane of the sport. You think they crumble and rip a lot in football, then times that by abt 10 as you’ve got two 100kg plus beasts running at each other trying to tear into each other. Harlequins and adidas were almost synonymous with each other having arguably the most iconic rugby kit of all time. Then castore come in and every jersey has been easily destructible dribble, I’ll never forgive them for what they did to the Quins kit
Ironically, the Ireland knockoff kit I got from a cheap soccer kit site, with the Castore brand and everything, holds up better than actual Castore shirts do.
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.
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. ⚫⚪
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
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)
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?
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
Well you’re the only Rangers fan I’ve ever heard say they actually liked their castore strip. I’m a Hearts supporter and I can assure u all the Rangers fans have been complaining about that cheap quality brand since they were first introduced. It’s was a topic in Scotland for a few years, not one supporter wanted the team to renew their contract with them. Newcastle were tied in still With Mike Ashley who has or had something to do with Castore at the beginning. There awful quality for over £80 a shirt if u want numbers and a name it took it to almost £115. Shocking 😳. Just so happens you’re a Rangers supporter who also buys Newcastle shirts and surprise surprise a McLaren fan also!!! Sure you don’t work with that crap brand or have shares with them. Otherwise why are you buying products for those 3 teams! 🤔. 🤷♂️
Heat applied silicon logos are commonly used by all the major sports brands. They can and will fall off. It's not as if Castore are using a different silicon or glue to apply them. Perhaps Nike and Adidas test them on their fabrics better and know the temperature to apply them better, who knows. But yes applique logos are the safer bet.
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.
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!)
Perfect example of how the economic system (and maybe society in general) is broken when a brand can continue to fail upwards and investors keep bailing them out. The branding should never be more important than the product itself.
Club Brugge signed with Castore this season, and as far as I know their official shop in the middle of Bruges doesn’t even have this season’s kit in stock as they were extremely undersupplied. The front window still shows the old macron kits from last season as it’s the only shirt they currently have in stock.
In Bilbao we are dealing with same issues with Castore. No stock the year Athletic Club wins the Cup, many mistakes in players naming logo and sponsor stickers falling down... The irony is that you can purchase a fake kit online cheaper, without misspellings, better perceived quality and arriving faster to your home. Even the club is doing most of the new spots with the club brand legacy clothes...
In 2022 Genoa signed a multi-year contract with Castore…and guess what? The deal was terminated after only one season, due to Castore completely lack of merchandise supply for the Genoa stores. Genoa went back to Kappa.
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
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.
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
Castore also had the West Coast Eagles in Australian Football. When Castore delivered the kits the Eagles rejected them because of the poor quality, so they had a local Australian brand Sekem manufacture the guernsey for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but still had to print the Castore logo on the guernseys
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 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
Not Quins. The year before we signed them we won the Premiership and then we got to the play offs in our first season with them before struggling to get back
You're correct. They were founded in a town called Bebington in the Merseyside of England. Even O'Neills, which is an Irish brand, seem to make better quality kits for GAA teams and League Of Ireland football teams.
australian footy team the west coast eagles were the only Aus team to give them a go, it had so many horrendous f ups that the club ended the affiliation early.
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 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
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.
As a Bath rugby fan im disgusted that the club took out a 4 year contract with these clowns. Quality is atrocious and no history with rugby. Cheaply made, ugly crap.
This year from Castore "We are thrilled to announce that today, we have completed a deal with Umbro licensee, GL Dameck to sign an exclusive Umbro Professional Team Sports sub-license. This sub-licence allows us to market the Umbro brand in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, and Denmark." - so in short, teams that are Umbro are actually now Castore, they deal with Castore. Castore has the kits manufactured. Essentially they realised their mistakes have no one signing deals. Similar to Castore Umbro now branches out, F1 too - Williams were Umbro. England rugby is Umbro, which a lot of rugby fans didn't like. So remarkably a brand that's considered worse than Macron, manages to continue growth.
As an American, I was super confused when Castore randomly came up as a suggested brand to shop on Instagram. I thought it was a scam until the 21/22 Premier League season started and saw Newcastle wearing those aforementioned kits. I didn't realize the material quality was actually so bad.
The US national rugby union team started a 6 year deal with Castore back in 2022. In Oct 2024, Macron became the new kit manufacturer. I don’t know what the reasons were for the deal to end, but seeing the video gives an idea of why it did.
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.
Feyenoord fan here, having bought and test fitted some shirts I feel like the sizing is really inconsistent across their shirts. The first season with them the home XL fit like the away L for example. The quality also leaves a lot to be desired with subpar stitching and fabric feel. Too bad because they have brought out some pretty nice designs. Hoping for a new sponsor soon but feyenoord doesn't have as strong of a position to make a deal compared to some of the mentioned clubs
As a forest fan I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of macron gear, when they made our stuff in the championship and that design for our first season in the prem was gorgeous one of the most unique designs ive seen and meaningful to the city, defo one of my fave kits ever. But yeah i feel like clubs and fans who were shafted by castore should be able to take legal action.
One thing I'll say about Sudu: even if the designs were underwhelming, it is the most comfortable football shirt I've ever owned. Very lightweight and breathable
Leverkusen fan here: As you might imagine, I am more than happy that the club will terminate the contract. Wanted to buy last seasons 3rd kid for my birthday in September (beginning of the season) but it was sold out for the entire season with few small restocks that were gone before I could react to the restock-message. But since the last season was unique and historic, I bought almost every single shirt, including special ones. The German cup final has the match details on a golden badge on both of the jerseys. I bought it, but it in the washing machine (with settings as careful as possible) and this golden badge almost fell off. After wearing it to the match and washing it again right after, I had to bring it to the store to let them fix it. So I absolutely hate them, but I can't say anything against the designs. More than happy with them, but you can't wear them since the washing machine will absolutely destroy them. So I have like 8 rare/special shirts from Castore, but I am too afraid to wear any of them.
As a Luton fan, Umbro has been absolutely horrid when it comes to supply. We get our supply of kits in batches and it doesn't arrive during the start of the season. We're still waiting on the new training kits to be sold.
The Canadian Premier League kits have been made by Macron since the league started, and they’ve been spectacular with the designs. No boring templates. And as far as I’m aware, the quality of the shirts has been great as well.
Bought my son (12) an entire Aston Villa kit (shirt, shorts, socks) for 12 quid on clearance. He’s hardly taken it off in 4-5 months. It’s fine. Not dropping apart or anything.
From the Southern Hemisphere, I remember in 2022 only a year in to their contract with AFL team West Coast Eagles that they broke contract with them due to the atrocious quality gear they supplied-like the jerseys they used for promo photos were even ridiculous. Its so crap that the NZ Cricket team only weeks ago have now gone to them after over a decade with Canterbury
I’m a wolves fan. I have adidas kits from years ago and every single letter of sponsoring or name on the back is still perfectly on the shirt, after multiple washes. Since we went with castore, pretty much all sponsoring rubs off after one season, even with minimal washing
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'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.
They supplied West Indies merchandise for three years and never actually released a short sleeved jersey on their website. Macron became the West Indies supplier and released more items than Castore in about a month. And the quality was way better.
Interesting. I didn't know. I think from a design perspective Castore is a 10/10. They have so many great shirts in football. Looks really like they have to work on their quality
COMPLETELY agree. They supply my beloved Bath Rugby - COMPLETE garbage. The shirts are so low quality they’re borderline a fire safety risk. Proper horrid flammable look
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.
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 pair of Castore Newcastle shorts. Liked how they felt and looked. Unfortunately after one wash the Badge was hanging off. After the second wash the badge was gone and there was a massive rip on the back. Genuinely bewildering how poor the quality is.
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
I bought the Ireland home kit on sale for like 35 bucks. I thought I couldn’t go wrong with that price… oh boy was I wrong. I own about 150 shirts from various suppliers and ages but I have never seen such bad quality. Honestly my Barca fake shirt from a beach vendor in Spain for 20 bucks has better quality. Most seams would just get loose, the seams themselves are not straight, the crest fell off after three washes.. Never. Again.
Here in Mexico, if you go to a market you can find some bootleg cheap jerseys with a particular logo replacing the original one, when I saw castore logo for the first time, I thought both of them were pretty similar, now I can see that even those cheap, basic and simple market kits have a better quality than castore's
The most confusing thing for me is castore is a “high performance sportswear” brand so why dip into the world of football kit manufcaturing with teams like rangers and everton
I’m a Charlton fan and I have hated every kit they have made for us. My favourite kit is this year’s third kit but guess what… the badge and logo is off centre. Another thing with these kits is everyone is scared to wash them on average they last 2-3 washes before all lettering falls off. Luckily we are on our last year with them and the fans are happy as I believe we are going back to Hummel who are miles above Castore Shame about them not improving but there is no excuse they have millions to increase production quality and capacity but for some reason never have
To correct you .. “ rangers “ have never worn Castore , as they died in 2012 ..a few years before Castore came on the scene .. glad to have been helpful.
You can tell a fake Castore shirt by it being better quality.
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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
It must be a front or something. No good reason for top flight teams to use them
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.
defo agree.
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......
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.
@@xsorpheus683 IIRC all the F1 merch is advertised as replicas. Basically garbage at extortionate prices. Yep, you pay 70 euro for a replica tshirt and become an advertisement banner. I fell for it. Got a team replica softshell jacket which is to no surprise, Made in China. No issues so far in my case, but I wear it very sparingly when I end up going out on race day.
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
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 😂
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 👊
Couldn’t agree with you guys more! And yet, to get contracts with Villa, Leverkusen or RedBull, either they have powerful under the table connections, or this teams are really poor at verifying the state of the art of their partner.
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
@shadowace104 Castore has bought sub licensing from Umbro and can work on Umbro kits now so anything made by Umbro in the UK could be a lottery
Are you/ were Umbro connected to Nike m least in the U.K. and Ireland market ?
@@Forestgravy90 umbro back in the day was the business.. some of the best design's ever... England 3rd 1990...ajax away.1990...brazil home and away 94...inter Milan 91... just to name a few
Lmao as a Schalke 04 fan and my dad being in the marketing / Textil of Schalke i can tell you there been a lot of issues with umbro too and they only got like 30 workers in the whole company lmao y’all brexit dudes
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 😂
That’s just Sports Direct for you 😂
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.
ive got a Umbro Man u shirt from the 90s, still looks brand new, heavily worn!
@@lu34lyf shame mine doesn't fit anymore
@@spacedoge6540 lad, maybe it shrunk in the wash 😂😂
@@lu34lyfgot dozens of England shirts from late 90’s through the 2000’s, they’re all still immaculate 😂😂
It's just crazy how absolutely shocking the quality is .. 😆
It's the small details, like the logo, that make a big difference - Nike, Adidas, Umbro etc have simple but iconic logo designs. Castore's looks Sports Direct own brand naff.
It does because Ashley is involved. The website is almost identical to sports direct also. The way the infrastructure is ran can only be linked to Fat Mike.
Nike,Adidas also have children and slaves making there clothing for less than a few pennies each to charge hundreds
their logo looks a bit like a tramp stamp
😂😂😂😂
I like tramp stamps❤
Bro no. You're wrong for this.
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.
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.
Leinster dropping adidas for them was mind boggling
Got a leverkusen away shirt. The logos on the arms are two different heights and ones on the piss 😂
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
Yep still better than forced labour camps that Nike and Adidas using slave labour or kids to make there clothing
They were 2 brothers from the Wirral, over the water from Liverpool, and should used Liverpool as their base. Basically from my own view is that they had good intentions to start a sportswear company that sold good quality clothing. But investors quickly told them which way to market it. The tycoons who own Asda mainly. I’m sure they told them to relocate to Manchester because their business will grow massively. However, it looks like they’ve just sold the soul of the brand and no longer see it as their brand. I do think if they would have made better contacts that were for the good of the brand , then they might have better quality and be more respectable as a sportswear company. Good them though. They’ve obviously made millions of it.
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...
@@rocketiain84 At least with the fake watches they actually look good and work !
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.
In the nrl Sydney roosters and Melbourne storm are also partnered with castore. One of the most physical games and there hasn't been a problem with them. 🤷♀
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.
To be fair, all the big names stick their logo on generic t-shirts/hoodies and charge a fortune for them.
When company’s say our shirts are made with ( cutting edge technology) it’s bullshit…. That’s there impressive word for just punching some extra holes in the shirt and then say it’s (CET)
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 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
I have shirts from the 90's which I used to wear to football training. They're still in better condition to recent Villa shirts
Yep I can’t stand all this sublimated crap these days. In rugby and football that is. It doesn’t even compare to the old school tops.
Bring back the niche kit makers like Diadora, Le coq sportive, Lotto
Fila 😍
@@flippindeadly Reebok
Bukta
Macron and Givova
Lotto. What a make. Their football boots were superb.
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!
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.
They still have a deal the Roosters, and every Castore jersey for the Storm and Roosters seemed to have comically small NRL and team logo patches compared to everyone else - not to mention the quality issues, and just how little stock they actually delivered to retailers for both teams
Oneills is a seriously underrated brand. Sportswear locally made in Ireland for the past 100 years.
Interesting, burnley went from Umbro to castore for the 24-25 season
Which is so sad
I'm sorry, but in what world is a kit manufacturer that can't supply enough, puts on wrong names, sends the wrong amount of shirts, has shirts rip, puts badges on upside down and has badges fall off after a few washes, a Championship level kit manufacturer? They're well well WELL below that. Failing at this much for the one product you're meant to be selling isn't even worthy of amateur leagues.
As a rugby player and fan. Castore is the bane of the sport. You think they crumble and rip a lot in football, then times that by abt 10 as you’ve got two 100kg plus beasts running at each other trying to tear into each other. Harlequins and adidas were almost synonymous with each other having arguably the most iconic rugby kit of all time. Then castore come in and every jersey has been easily destructible dribble, I’ll never forgive them for what they did to the Quins kit
I don’t think this seasons kit is that bad?
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
So you think it's okay for a 20$ shirt to disintegrate on its own?
Ironically, the Ireland knockoff kit I got from a cheap soccer kit site, with the Castore brand and everything, holds up better than actual Castore shirts do.
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.
Isn't Cinch a Sponsor of Tottenham??
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.
It was rumoured when Rangers first were sponsored by Castore that the owners were very dodgy and were manufacturing all the kits in sweatshops
Were they aye 🙄
Wonder what team you support Timmy ?
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
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)
Their factory is in Spain I think, but that's what I read a few years back.
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?
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!
Why would you have Newcastle and Rangers tops. That’s more weird.
Well you’re the only Rangers fan I’ve ever heard say they actually liked their castore strip. I’m a Hearts supporter and I can assure u all the Rangers fans have been complaining about that cheap quality brand since they were first introduced. It’s was a topic in Scotland for a few years, not one supporter wanted the team to renew their contract with them. Newcastle were tied in still With Mike Ashley who has or had something to do with Castore at the beginning. There awful quality for over £80 a shirt if u want numbers and a name it took it to almost £115. Shocking 😳. Just so happens you’re a Rangers supporter who also buys Newcastle shirts and surprise surprise a McLaren fan also!!! Sure you don’t work with that crap brand or have shares with them. Otherwise why are you buying products for those 3 teams! 🤔. 🤷♂️
Badges falling off shirts is pathetic...why not just stitch everything especially the shirts for the public....God knows where this company came from
Heat applied silicon logos are commonly used by all the major sports brands. They can and will fall off. It's not as if Castore are using a different silicon or glue to apply them. Perhaps Nike and Adidas test them on their fabrics better and know the temperature to apply them better, who knows. But yes applique logos are the safer bet.
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.
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!)
They get away with it the same way Nike and adidas can sell football shirts for £100+, because football fans will buy them, regardless.
I was surprised at how good the sudu wolves kit felt since it's a brand I never heard of the castore kit was abolsolute dreck
Perfect example of how the economic system (and maybe society in general) is broken when a brand can continue to fail upwards and investors keep bailing them out. The branding should never be more important than the product itself.
Do you think that's a new phenomenon?
Club Brugge signed with Castore this season, and as far as I know their official shop in the middle of Bruges doesn’t even have this season’s kit in stock as they were extremely undersupplied. The front window still shows the old macron kits from last season as it’s the only shirt they currently have in stock.
In Bilbao we are dealing with same issues with Castore. No stock the year Athletic Club wins the Cup, many mistakes in players naming logo and sponsor stickers falling down... The irony is that you can purchase a fake kit online cheaper, without misspellings, better perceived quality and arriving faster to your home. Even the club is doing most of the new spots with the club brand legacy clothes...
In 2022 Genoa signed a multi-year contract with Castore…and guess what? The deal was terminated after only one season, due to Castore completely lack of merchandise supply for the Genoa stores. Genoa went back to Kappa.
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
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.
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
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
Castore also had the West Coast Eagles in Australian Football. When Castore delivered the kits the Eagles rejected them because of the poor quality, so they had a local Australian brand Sekem manufacture the guernsey for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but still had to print the Castore logo on the guernseys
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 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
Not Quins. The year before we signed them we won the Premiership and then we got to the play offs in our first season with them before struggling to get back
You talk guff.
I think they’re a British company not Irish
You're correct. They were founded in a town called Bebington in the Merseyside of England. Even O'Neills, which is an Irish brand, seem to make better quality kits for GAA teams and League Of Ireland football teams.
It doesn't matter what league your team is in. Once you've purchased clothes they shouldn't fall apart!
This is one case that brings all football fanbases together as a newcastle fan I love seeing so many other fanbases also despise castore
Leinster rugby also had similar problems with logos falling off also
australian footy team the west coast eagles were the only Aus team to give them a go, it had so many horrendous f ups that the club ended the affiliation early.
Just look at this years Everton kit. Tells you everything
I wouldn't say it's ugly, but obvioulsy the quality is shite, like all of the tat they make.
The blue kit of Preston looks like a training kit 😂
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.
@@lordpembridge303 yes and no. It's the rights to use the name. Canterbury if NZ has been dead really for some time. Since LWR shut down
why would Umbro let Castore manufacture for them, makes no sense
They sponsor the rangers, says it all!
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 know there motto because It's played at least once at every international cricket game I been to
you can't escape it
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
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.
As a Bath rugby fan im disgusted that the club took out a 4 year contract with these clowns. Quality is atrocious and no history with rugby. Cheaply made, ugly crap.
This year from Castore "We are thrilled to announce that today, we have completed a deal with Umbro licensee, GL Dameck to sign an exclusive Umbro Professional Team Sports sub-license. This sub-licence allows us to market the Umbro brand in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, and Denmark." - so in short, teams that are Umbro are actually now Castore, they deal with Castore. Castore has the kits manufactured. Essentially they realised their mistakes have no one signing deals. Similar to Castore Umbro now branches out, F1 too - Williams were Umbro. England rugby is Umbro, which a lot of rugby fans didn't like.
So remarkably a brand that's considered worse than Macron, manages to continue growth.
As an American, I was super confused when Castore randomly came up as a suggested brand to shop on Instagram. I thought it was a scam until the 21/22 Premier League season started and saw Newcastle wearing those aforementioned kits. I didn't realize the material quality was actually so bad.
The US national rugby union team started a 6 year deal with Castore back in 2022. In Oct 2024, Macron became the new kit manufacturer. I don’t know what the reasons were for the deal to end, but seeing the video gives an idea of why it did.
The new Wolves kit is £55 and goes on sale constantly. Why are you looking at the pro one?
I bet the DHGate shirts are better quality than the real Castore stuff haha
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.
Feyenoord fan here, having bought and test fitted some shirts I feel like the sizing is really inconsistent across their shirts. The first season with them the home XL fit like the away L for example. The quality also leaves a lot to be desired with subpar stitching and fabric feel. Too bad because they have brought out some pretty nice designs. Hoping for a new sponsor soon but feyenoord doesn't have as strong of a position to make a deal compared to some of the mentioned clubs
As a forest fan I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of macron gear, when they made our stuff in the championship and that design for our first season in the prem was gorgeous one of the most unique designs ive seen and meaningful to the city, defo one of my fave kits ever. But yeah i feel like clubs and fans who were shafted by castore should be able to take legal action.
Everyone in Ireland wanted Adidas back but the FAI went with Castore.
Its the FAI so of course they did😄
They do the Leinster rugby shirt also and have had issues with the crest also, and the stars falling off
One thing I'll say about Sudu: even if the designs were underwhelming, it is the most comfortable football shirt I've ever owned. Very lightweight and breathable
Leverkusen fan here: As you might imagine, I am more than happy that the club will terminate the contract. Wanted to buy last seasons 3rd kid for my birthday in September (beginning of the season) but it was sold out for the entire season with few small restocks that were gone before I could react to the restock-message. But since the last season was unique and historic, I bought almost every single shirt, including special ones. The German cup final has the match details on a golden badge on both of the jerseys. I bought it, but it in the washing machine (with settings as careful as possible) and this golden badge almost fell off. After wearing it to the match and washing it again right after, I had to bring it to the store to let them fix it. So I absolutely hate them, but I can't say anything against the designs. More than happy with them, but you can't wear them since the washing machine will absolutely destroy them. So I have like 8 rare/special shirts from Castore, but I am too afraid to wear any of them.
As a Luton fan, Umbro has been absolutely horrid when it comes to supply. We get our supply of kits in batches and it doesn't arrive during the start of the season. We're still waiting on the new training kits to be sold.
The Canadian Premier League kits have been made by Macron since the league started, and they’ve been spectacular with the designs. No boring templates. And as far as I’m aware, the quality of the shirts has been great as well.
Bought my son (12) an entire Aston Villa kit (shirt, shorts, socks) for 12 quid on clearance. He’s hardly taken it off in 4-5 months. It’s fine. Not dropping apart or anything.
From the Southern Hemisphere, I remember in 2022 only a year in to their contract with AFL team West Coast Eagles that they broke contract with them due to the atrocious quality gear they supplied-like the jerseys they used for promo photos were even ridiculous. Its so crap that the NZ Cricket team only weeks ago have now gone to them after over a decade with Canterbury
I’m a wolves fan. I have adidas kits from years ago and every single letter of sponsoring or name on the back is still perfectly on the shirt, after multiple washes. Since we went with castore, pretty much all sponsoring rubs off after one season, even with minimal washing
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'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.
They supplied West Indies merchandise for three years and never actually released a short sleeved jersey on their website. Macron became the West Indies supplier and released more items than Castore in about a month. And the quality was way better.
Interesting. I didn't know. I think from a design perspective Castore is a 10/10. They have so many great shirts in football. Looks really like they have to work on their quality
COMPLETELY agree. They supply my beloved Bath Rugby - COMPLETE garbage. The shirts are so low quality they’re borderline a fire safety risk. Proper horrid flammable look
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.
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 pair of Castore Newcastle shorts. Liked how they felt and looked.
Unfortunately after one wash the Badge was hanging off. After the second wash the badge was gone and there was a massive rip on the back. Genuinely bewildering how poor the quality is.
They even made it to the AFL, and they bungled that too
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
I bought the Ireland home kit on sale for like 35 bucks. I thought I couldn’t go wrong with that price… oh boy was I wrong. I own about 150 shirts from various suppliers and ages but I have never seen such bad quality. Honestly my Barca fake shirt from a beach vendor in Spain for 20 bucks has better quality.
Most seams would just get loose, the seams themselves are not straight, the crest fell off after three washes..
Never. Again.
Here in Mexico, if you go to a market you can find some bootleg cheap jerseys with a particular logo replacing the original one, when I saw castore logo for the first time, I thought both of them were pretty similar, now I can see that even those cheap, basic and simple market kits have a better quality than castore's
The most confusing thing for me is castore is a “high performance sportswear” brand so why dip into the world of football kit manufcaturing with teams like rangers and everton
I’m a Charlton fan and I have hated every kit they have made for us.
My favourite kit is this year’s third kit but guess what… the badge and logo is off centre.
Another thing with these kits is everyone is scared to wash them on average they last 2-3 washes before all lettering falls off.
Luckily we are on our last year with them and the fans are happy as I believe we are going back to Hummel who are miles above Castore
Shame about them not improving but there is no excuse they have millions to increase production quality and capacity but for some reason never have
To correct you .. “ rangers “ have never worn Castore , as they died in 2012 ..a few years before Castore came on the scene .. glad to have been helpful.
Shut up ya sad dick
Yeah they can't seem to accept their club has no history.