In January 2021, sports performance clothing company Castore announced that it had signed a multi-year partnership deal to become the official kit supplier for the English football team Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The deal marked a significant milestone for Castore, which has quickly risen to become one of the leading jersey manufacturers in the world since its founding in 2015.
For those unaware of Castore, here’s a brief introduction.
Castore is a sports performance clothing company that was founded in 2015 by brothers Tom and Phil Beahon. The company is based in Liverpool, England and has gained a reputation for producing high-quality sports jerseys and apparel for some of the top professional sports teams around the world.
Since its founding, Castore has grown rapidly and now supplies jerseys for a number of high-profile sports teams, including Newcastle United, Glasgow Rangers Football Club, the Glasgow Warriors Rugby Club, and the Scottish National Rugby Team.
The company has also signed partnerships with individual athletes, such as tennis player Andy Murray, who wore Castore clothing during the 2020 Wimbledon tournament.
Under the terms of the new partnership with Wolves, the firm will design and manufacture all of the team’s on-field and training kit for the next three seasons. The company’s kits thus far have been well-received by fans and players alike.
However, the experience people have had with Castore has been mixed. There are regular complaints about receiving the wrong order, a defective piece, or of customer service or exorbitant pricing.
In fact, there is a whole Twitter account dedicated to their misdemeanours, called Castore Failings (@shoddy_castore). It describes itself as a “Page for people to post about all things wrong with Castore.”
Turns out, the company is in dire need of some good quality control chaps there at the manufacturing centre.
Case in point, look at the latest gaffe that the English company has made.
Castore-dressed Wolves faced Aston Villa in their last Premier League match, ending with a credible 1-1 draw. Castore, however, lost all credibility when eagle-eyed fans spotted something on defender Nelson Semedo’s shirt.
A brand so notorious for being poor to its customers should at least pay some attention to the club they are paying money to dress. That is just basic sense.
Agreed, a lot of the blame also goes to the kitman for not noticing this and even the player for that matter. But this piece of clothing should never have reached the club offices in the first place.
And turns out, this is not the first time Wolves have faced this kind of issue.
Back in 2014, when Wolves had a different kit manufacturer, a defective piece ended up at a customer’s house. He wrote to the club and got a funny letter back, with the reply printed upside down as well, to make light of the situation.
But that was 2014, and that was a customer’s piece. This is 2023, and this was a player wearing it on the pitch.
Of course, social media laid into Castore, and rightly so.
We hope an error as high profile as this induces some change back in the factory, for this cannot go on.
Not only does Castore risk losing the Wolves rights, the risk of not getting anyone else’s in the future either. And for a kit manufacturer that isn’t manufacturing kits, that is a death sentence.
