O'Neills - New Kit Supplier (Confirmed)

[Wedontplayinblue]

8 hours ago, phantom said:

All of what you highlighted above 

One minute you’re saying I’m incorrect, then you’re saying all the above including blue is correct? 

[Wedontplayinblue]

8 hours ago, OddBallJim said:

Fine with a blue away kit. The FA cup final kit was blue, though arguably the ideal time to launch a blue away kit would’ve been the 100th anniversary of our one and only final… but that would’ve been back in either 08/09 or 09/10 season so we’ve well and truly missed the boat on that one. 
 

Worth also mentioning the club ran a blue away kit as an April fool’s joke in recent times! 
 

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-reveal-brave-new-2707162

I would have no problem with a 100 / 125 year anniversary blue FA cup final kit, that’s different. 

Trying to ingrain blue into the club, which I feel they are trying to do is completely different which historically it isn’t a colour of ours. 

[W-S-M Seagull]

5 hours ago, Spike said:

Not disagreeing, maybe I'm being a little pedantic but from my understanding, Hummel didn't fail, their British supplier did and whilst that isn't the best look Coventry, Everton and Kilmarnock found a solution. I think it'd be fair to say Hummel had really been delivering some of the best kits in the past 20 years and apparently the best we could do on short notice was get a shirt supplier who is better known for rugby jerseys. 
The club, in my personal opinion, failed to replace quality kits with quality kits and so it feels like a step backwards and whilst I give credit for O'Neills stepping in at short notice the fact that we've had two kits from them and both have had issues doesn't bode well for me and I'm looking forward to the day we get someone else.

I've bought a Bristol City shirt or jacket every season for the past 25 years, this is the first year where I'm yet to see something I want to spend my money on which is crazy when you think about it, fans willing to spend money and the club can't even supply something they'd like to buy.

With regards to a blue away kit, I've looked through our history and we've used it four times on goalkeeper kits and three times on an away kit (blue/green and yellow/blue x 2), I don't think blue has any place in our kits and the simple fact is if the fans are willing to buy black, white, purple, lime, yellow, gold, green, grey, orange etc then why would we use a colour that many associates with our rivals? There are so many great potential away kit colours they could have used, a traditional white, a usually very well-received black, hell, they even could have gone for something we've never had before but wasn't going to be associated with Rovers and it still would have got a better reception. To me that shows how out of touch the club is with what the fans want, they'd be far better off doing a poll on the main website of what the fans favourite away colour is or even browsing these forums they'd get a better idea.

I think with such a bad start with us O'Neills won't recover the fans favour and things will not sell well, eventually, we'll switch suppliers and you'll see some enthusiasm if it's a company that delivers good kits but until then it's just going to be a losing battle for the club.

Coventry found a solution which included signing up the the new Hummel UK distributor which has essentially just reformed as Pro Sports or something. Same staff etc. The same staff that messed us and all the other clubs around.

Their solution is that their fans can't buy kits until after the 3rd game of the season and their kits this season are not bespoke and are just templates. 

What JL and the guys at Hashtag said was when we spoke to Hummel direct they basically said "not our problem" 

As we played in blue in our FA Cup final, don't you think that's a significant part of our history? 

Why is black OK? When that's the colour Rovers started off with and continue to use but blue isn't? 

10 minutes ago, OddBallJim said:

People forget that we’ve had so called “big names” supply us in the past.

Puma under GJ - generally quite middle of the road bland kits.
Adidas under DMc - catalogue template rubbish and never any stock. 

For me, some of the best kits we have had in recent times were the “in-house” Bristol Sport ones. Wouldn’t be against us going back to this sort of arrangement tbh.
 

People having a moan because they/their kid doesn’t want to be seen in an O’Neills kit/tracksuit. Can’t get any street cred unless you’re in the latest overpriced releases from JD sports? Jesus wept, talk about first world problems.

 

Yep. I think people forget how many issues we actually had with Adidas. 

I don't think people really understand how the deals with suppliers work. I'm not going to pretend I do either but what I do know is that when you sign a deal with an Adidas etc, you only make a small tiny amount from commission and like you say you just get handed templates probably from the season before.

Edited August 1, 2023 by W-S-M Seagull

[Lack of Action Man]

1 minute ago, Wedontplayinblue said:

I would have no problem with a 100 / 125 year anniversary blue FA cup final kit, that’s different. 

Trying to ingrain blue into the club, which I feel they are trying to do is completely different which historically it isn’t a colour of ours. 

2034 would be the 125th anniversary, so that could work.

Not sure of any historical significance leading to a blue away kit this year… but maybe I’ve missed something.

[Bristol Rob]

9 hours ago, phantom said:

Apologies for being a bit ambiguous, but I'm just saying that the majority of what Wedontplayinblue said above is wrong 

I'm sure you'll all appreciate I am not the person to be giving any specific details as it is still commercially sensitive and I would cause an absolute shit storm if it was all made public 

By commercially sensitivity are you suggesting that the club are worried that if details are leaked, we'll all give up and support someone else, or thar if the price is known, we'll all buy the kits of a different club?

Not sure what about this is sensitive.

[42nite]

Maybe the new badge on our blue 2nd kit (which I wouldn't mind at all) will be an ostrich with it's head firmly buried in the sand?

[Henry]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Coventry found a solution which included signing up the the new Hummel UK distributor which has essentially just reformed as Pro Sports or something. Same staff etc. The same staff that messed us and all the other clubs around.

Their solution is that their fans can't buy kits until after the 3rd game of the season and their kits this season are not bespoke and are just templates. 

What JL and the guys at Hashtag said was when we spoke to Hummel direct they basically said "not our problem" 

As we played in blue in our FA Cup final, don't you think that's a significant part of our history? 

Why is black OK? When that's the colour Rovers started off with and continue to use but blue isn't? 

Yep. I think people forget how many issues we actually had with Adidas. 

I don't think people really understand how the deals with suppliers work. I'm not going to pretend I do either but what I do know is that when you sign a deal with an Adidas etc, you only make a small tiny amount from commission and like you say you just get handed templates probably from the season before.

It’s almost like the club is the common dominator.

[KegCity]

1 hour ago, OddBallJim said:

People forget that we’ve had so called “big names” supply us in the past.

Puma under GJ - generally quite middle of the road bland kits.
Adidas under DMc - catalogue template rubbish and never any stock. 

For me, some of the best kits we have had in recent times were the “in-house” Bristol Sport ones. Wouldn’t be against us going back to this sort of arrangement tbh.
 

People having a moan because they/their kid doesn’t want to be seen in an O’Neills kit/tracksuit. Can’t get any street cred unless you’re in the latest overpriced releases from JD sports? Jesus wept, talk about first world problems.

 

It might be nostalgia but I always liked the Puma kits. I think Adidas made ok kits as well but their supply issues were awful.

[Selred]

9 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Isnt the lead time about a year or so? I dunno they look fine to me. 

Maybe it's just the design of the collar rather than the manufacturing? 

This below picture is comical, not "fine". Also the manufacturing and the design are both O'Niells, they need to take the blame.

If you can't do it to good standard, you should be declining contracts as all you are doing are harming your brand.

In summary, you don't know what the lead times are then.

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by Selred

[exAtyeoMax]

On 27/07/2023 at 17:46, James54De said:

In reality, I quite like the round ‘city’ logo taken from the old match day programme. I think it could work well with our actual robin badge.

I do too. The round City logo looks cool. They could really create some interesting designs. Say, the city logo becomes the ball the robin is perched on or something…
The marketing team just need to get some expert help with their branding because at the moment it’s a mess.

[W-S-M Seagull]

8 minutes ago, Selred said:

This below picture is comical, not "fine". Also the manufacturing and the design are both O'Niells, they need to take the blame.

If you can't do it to good standard, you should be declining contracts as all you are doing are harming your brand.

In summary, you don't know what the lead times are then.

This below picture is comical, not "fine". Also the manufacturing and the design are both O'Niells, they need to take the blame.

If you can't do it to good standard, you should be declining contracts as all you are doing are harming your brand.

In summary, you don't know what the lead times are then.

I do know that kits usually have about a year lead time. 

It appears the issue is down to the design rather than the manufacturing. 

Man City have a very similar collar but have done it slightly different which avoids that happening. 

 

[1960maaan]

 

7 hours ago, Spike said:

Not disagreeing, maybe I'm being a little pedantic but from my understanding, Hummel didn't fail, their British supplier did and whilst that isn't the best look Coventry, Everton and Kilmarnock found a solution. I think it'd be fair to say Hummel had really been delivering some of the best kits in the past 20 years and apparently the best we could do on short notice was get a shirt supplier who is better known for rugby jerseys. 
The club, in my personal opinion, failed to replace quality kits with quality kits and so it feels like a step backwards and whilst I give credit for O'Neills stepping in at short notice the fact that we've had two kits from them and both have had issues doesn't bode well for me and I'm looking forward to the day we get someone else.

Elite Sports Group went into admin and they were the UK Distributors. @W-S-M Seagull has explained the Coventry situation, Everton weren't with ESG but a company called Fanatics based in the USA.

I posted a brilliant video from Hashtag United explaining how the problems affected them. I'll repost at the bottom in case anyone wants to watch it.

They say to organise a new kit, from design to supply , would usually take 18 months. Our first shirt was done in a couple of months.
In fact Elite went into Admin in December. We used the new shirt in February and the 3rd kit was launched in March. 
Allowing for the fact we want our own designs and not Template fodder, that is actually really good going , and probably one reason why we are with O'Neils.

I think we were in a weak position when doing the deal and only a few companies would be able to do that turnaround.

The away shirt should be the first one that has a reasonable time to get right.
I'll make no comment on design or quality. Design as that has little to do with O'Neils and quality as I haven't seen anything in the flesh . 

As for the Blue, if it was the same as the training tops I would have quite liked it, but because the training tops are that colour I'd guess it won't be. 
If they are trying to unite the Rugby & Football colours  and it's a dark blue it may not be so bad. 

Things they should absolutely stay clear of....
That shit insipid blue the squatters use.
Pirates
Quarters

Otherwise I don't think we have to worry. 
Hopefully either O'Neils really turn it around or we have started looking at another Company for when this deal ends.
The Away kit will be the game changer or the end I think.

 

That Video;

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by 1960maaan

[exAtyeoMax]

 

 

[Selred]

49 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

It appears the issue is down to the design rather than the manufacturing. 

 

Who designed it?

[W-S-M Seagull]

3 minutes ago, Selred said:

Who designed it?

The same person who thought it was a good idea to put the splat robin on the 3rd shirt probably. 

[Selred]

3 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The same person who thought it was a good idea to put the splat robin on the 3rd shirt probably. 

So O'Neills will make any design, whether they think it'll work or not, and put their logo on it?

[W-S-M Seagull]

4 minutes ago, Selred said:

So O'Neills will make any design, whether they think it'll work or not, and put their logo on it?

Most likely yes. I very much doubt O'Neills have designed the kit. 

You have to remember, for O'Neills we are a huge customer for them. 

[Selred]

7 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Most likely yes. I very much doubt O'Neills have designed the kit. 

You have to remember, for O'Neills we are a huge customer for them. 

Highly unlikely. And if any other football club were considering O'Neills they'd look at ours and decide against it.

[Bristol Rob]

11 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Most likely yes. I very much doubt O'Neills have designed the kit. 

You have to remember, for O'Neills we are a huge customer for them. 

We might be strategically important from a moving-to-pro-football perspective, but I would be amazed if we are a huge customer.

[Bris Red]

13 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Most likely yes. I very much doubt O'Neills have designed the kit. 

You have to remember, for O'Neills we are a huge customer for them. 

A shame we didn’t try and get Castore in, they seem to be making decent kits this season.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Bris Red

[W-S-M Seagull]

3 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

We might be strategically important from a moving-to-pro-football perspective, but I would be amazed if we are a huge customer.

Apart from possibly Dublin GAA we must be their biggest customers? 

[Dredd]

4 hours ago, OddBallJim said:

People forget that we’ve had so called “big names” supply us in the past.

Puma under GJ - generally quite middle of the road bland kits.
Adidas under DMc - catalogue template rubbish and never any stock. 

For me, some of the best kits we have had in recent times were the “in-house” Bristol Sport ones. Wouldn’t be against us going back to this sort of arrangement tbh.
 

People having a moan because they/their kid doesn’t want to be seen in an O’Neills kit/tracksuit. Can’t get any street cred unless you’re in the latest overpriced releases from JD sports? Jesus wept, talk about first world problems.

 

Quality wise though I still have Puma and Adidas tops/jackets in good condition that I use for training/exercise. I liked the Puma kits. The Adidas stuff was a bit template but you get everything else that goes with it in branded leisure ware, training tops, coats, jackets etc etc which fans will happily spend money on if it's good quality and a brand name. The margins might be lower but I bet you sell way more. 
It's down to creative control. JL wants something he can design himself or at least have input on. An Adidas or Nike will likely send you 5 designs and say pick one. 
 

Personally I think Umbro would have been the perfect supplier. Existing relationship with the Bears, clearly happy to do bespoke designs based on their stuff, viewed as a reasonable brand name, good quality stuff. Opportunity missed

[1960maaan]

Interesting all the suggestions of who we should have gone with, how do we know we didn't try all of them ?

As I said, the normal turnaround of a shirt is around 18 months , ours was done in about 2 for the home and 3 for the 3rd. 
When we started looking for a new supplier we wanted ;
Imediate start
Our own designs
Quick supplies of 2 different kits

That would limit the companies we could work with, all the main ones would be too busy. In fact I would think that a major part of O'Neils productivity would have been moved onto us for some time. 

I'm repeating myself, but the Away shirt will be our first collaboration `with O'Neils that has even been close to a normal shirt run. Let's see what it's like first, then slag it off.

[steviestevieneville]

12 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Interesting all the suggestions of who we should have gone with, how do we know we didn't try all of them ?

As I said, the normal turnaround of a shirt is around 18 months , ours was done in about 2 for the home and 3 for the 3rd. 
When we started looking for a new supplier we wanted ;
Imediate start
Our own designs
Quick supplies of 2 different kits

That would limit the companies we could work with, all the main ones would be too busy. In fact I would think that a major part of O'Neils productivity would have been moved onto us for some time. 

I'm repeating myself, but the Away shirt will be our first collaboration `with O'Neils that has even been close to a normal shirt run. Let's see what it's like first, then slag it off.

This is true . I don’t blame O’Neil’s for splat , I blame JL but that’s where all this discontent has started from . 

[1960maaan]

16 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

This is true . I don’t blame O’Neil’s for splat , I blame JL but that’s where all this discontent has started from . 

I don't mind it's on training wear , it would have been an ok 'different' item . I like a selection of stuff, it makes sense. Putting on the shirt was a massive error.

[Dredd]

2 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Interesting all the suggestions of who we should have gone with, how do we know we didn't try all of them ?

As I said, the normal turnaround of a shirt is around 18 months , ours was done in about 2 for the home and 3 for the 3rd. 
When we started looking for a new supplier we wanted ;
Imediate start
Our own designs
Quick supplies of 2 different kits

That would limit the companies we could work with, all the main ones would be too busy. In fact I would think that a major part of O'Neils productivity would have been moved onto us for some time

I'm repeating myself, but the Away shirt will be our first collaboration `with O'Neils that has even been close to a normal shirt run. Let's see what it's like first, then slag it off.

Being able to put a collar on a shirt shouldn't be impacted by how long it takes to get some out. As fans we accepted the short timescales with the kits that were produced quickly with printed badges and the like but there's no excuse for the poor quality items we've seen on players and fans. 
I'm not laying any design issues at O'Neills door. Some of this is basic though. 

[W-S-M Seagull]

3 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Interesting all the suggestions of who we should have gone with, how do we know we didn't try all of them ?

As I said, the normal turnaround of a shirt is around 18 months , ours was done in about 2 for the home and 3 for the 3rd. 
When we started looking for a new supplier we wanted ;
Imediate start
Our own designs
Quick supplies of 2 different kits

That would limit the companies we could work with, all the main ones would be too busy. In fact I would think that a major part of O'Neils productivity would have been moved onto us for some time. 

I'm repeating myself, but the Away shirt will be our first collaboration `with O'Neils that has even been close to a normal shirt run. Let's see what it's like first, then slag it off.

At the same time there was a number of other clubs also looking for a supplier. I suspect Coventry had no other choice but to continue with the new Hummel supplier because they had no other option, and look how that's worked out for them. 

We were actually quite lucky to end up with O'Neills. 

Bar the splat Robin there is absolutely no issues with the 3rd shirt apart from personal taste. 

[ollywhyte]

Judging by Phantoms react to my post I’m taking it that we have indeed decided against the splat robin on our away kits and now it’s being re-designed/printed with our usual badge.

Whether or not it’s just the badge changing or the entire strip/colour scheme - who knows!

Got a feeling it was a white shirt with a cyan blue robin originally, similar colour to the training wear we have seen. Our guesswork though.

 

[W-S-M Seagull]

15 minutes ago, ollywhyte said:

Judging by Phantoms react to my post I’m taking it that we have indeed decided against the splat robin on our away kits and now it’s being re-designed/printed with our usual badge.

Whether or not it’s just the badge changing or the entire strip/colour scheme - who knows!

Got a feeling it was a white shirt with a cyan blue robin originally, similar colour to the training wear we have seen. Our guesswork though.

 

Maybe because we are not in desperate need of an away kit as we have the third kit, we are taking our time getting it right?

You could be right or could be a combination of the both. 

[City1984]

This new away kit is going to be an absolute worldie.