[Albion] Albion endorsed "casual" clothing as flogged in the shop

[Jam The Man]

I bought one of the long sleeved Nike away training tops last season. £45.
Overpriced but I really liked it, and I'd used birthday vouchers, so saw it as a freebie anyway... but it didn't retain it's quality for very long, despite following the cleaning and care instructions, so wont be buying anything like that again sadly.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Absolutely. Aren't you a bit odd to be wandering around Hollister though? [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

Bit harsh. If you'd said 'a bit old', fair enough, but I'm largely NORMAL.


(But anyway - my lads are 20 and 18, so I can just go in with them!)

 

[oneillco]

Someone FROM Brighton, even asked me last week in a pub, whether the t-shirt I was wearing was a club one or a Hollister one. I cannot for the life of me understand why any Albion fan looking for something understated to show their allegiance, doesn't just pop in there. The stuff is cheaper, massively better quality, is actually fitted, and there is a much bigger range of stuff

(Sorry Paul)

Hmmm...the issues I see with this are:

1) Hollister is a youth lifestyle brand targetted at the under 20s. If you are north of that you might look daft.
2) the Hollister seagull is not the BHAFC seagull (if you wear a Lyle & Scott shirt are you a Palace fan?)
3) I want my cash to support BHAFC not corporate American Abercrombie & Fitch (Hollister is their kids brand).

 

[Wozza]

Hmmm...the issues I see with this are:

1) Hollister is a youth lifestyle brand targetted at the under 20s. If you are north of that you might look daft.

One of the great things about getting older is that you don't give a shit what others think about your attire.

 

[oneillco]

One of the great things about getting older is that you don't give a shit what others think about your attire.

Ha! Fair enough, but one of the great tragic sights of the 1980s was grandads (and grandmums) in shell-suits...

 

[Another Berkshire Seagull]

Given what happened with Teegulls and the existence of other albion related tees (TSLR, NSK, Cult Zeros etc...) I would think a better model for the club would be to embrace rather than ignore (or apply legal pressure).

The club always talks about connecting better with the fans. Why not have a fans designed tee rail at the club shop embracing designs of our talented support, voted via social media and then produced and sold in small limited edition runs inside the club shop. Do it every so often and get a fresh wave of designs that might embrace a moment from a game (e.g. last season maybe something around Knockaerts winner vs. Palace), an event (e.g. Glenn Murrays 100, which the club embraced but they weren't great designs) or just general support (e.g. club, stadium, logo, city, county etc...) Obviously it would need some boundaries i.e. suitable for kids to see in the club shop, no logo infringements outside the Albion. What would they have to lose?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Hmmm...the issues I see with this are:

1) Hollister is a youth lifestyle brand targetted at the under 20s. If you are north of that you might look daft.
2) the Hollister seagull is not the BHAFC seagull (if you wear a Lyle & Scott shirt are you a Palace fan?)
3) I want my cash to support BHAFC not corporate American Abercrombie & Fitch (Hollister is their kids brand).

1. I'm not suggesting that anybody in their 40s opt for board-shorts and a back to front baseball cap. I'm pretty comfortable that I don't look too ridiculous in a plain, well-fitted navy polo shirt, with a tiny seagull logo.

2. It is incredibly similar. And means I can go to an away game, 'covertly' displaying my allegiance, without wearing actual colours. It means I can display that allegiance in a corporate lounge, etc, without flouting any 'no club colours' rules.



3. The club get PLENTY of my cash, for tickets, food, beer, and actual kit. If they lose out on a bit of non-football clothing to an alternative that is better designed, better fitted, better quality and better priced, so be it.

 

[TheJasperCo]

The Albion casual clothing range has almost always been crap. Churned out very cheaply in a Far East factory, yet sold the by club at at astonishing mark up, playing on fans loyalty.

Was just about to comment on this. Likely made for peanuts in a sweatshop somewhere, sold with a high margin. Now that we're in the PL, we have a more international following, who will pay for the branding and the clothing/accessories, regardless of style and quality.

 

[Bozza]

Given what happened with Teegulls and the existence of other albion related tees (TSLR, NSK, Cult Zeros etc...) I would think a better model for the club would be to embrace rather than ignore (or apply legal pressure).

The club always talks about connecting better with the fans. Why not have a fans designed tee rail at the club shop embracing designs of our talented support, voted via social media and then produced and sold in small limited edition runs inside the club shop. Do it every so often and get a fresh wave of designs that might embrace a moment from a game (e.g. last season maybe something around Knockaerts winner vs. Palace), an event (e.g. Glenn Murrays 100, which the club embraced but they weren't great designs) or just general support (e.g. club, stadium, logo, city, county etc...) Obviously it would need some boundaries i.e. suitable for kids to see in the club shop, no logo infringements outside the Albion. What would they have to lose?

I've been trying to find an article I read, at a guess, a couple of years ago.

A club in the states (and I can't recall which sport) did something very similar to what you are describing. They had a very active fan organisation that turned out a lot of imaginative merchandise. Rather than go down the same old cease-and-desist approach, the club worked with the fans involved to make their stuff fully legit and available via the club themselves. All in all, a wonderfully progressive approach where everyone wins.

Common sense, eh?

In unrelated news, I've just noticed that Copa90 have a Glenn Murray t-shirt - https://store.copa90.com/clothing/a-point-to-prove-men-s-t-shirt-white/12242531.html

 

[oneillco]

1. I'm not suggesting that anybody in their 40s opt for board-shorts and a back to front baseball cap. I'm pretty comfortable that I don't look too ridiculous in a plain, well-fitted navy polo shirt, with a tiny seagull logo.

2. It is incredibly similar. And means I can go to an away game, 'covertly' displaying my allegiance, without wearing actual colours. It means I can display that allegiance in a corporate lounge, etc, without flouting any 'no club colours' rules.

View attachment 114347

3. The club get PLENTY of my cash, for tickets, food, beer, and actual kit. If they lose out on a bit of non-football clothing to an alternative that is better designed, better fitted, better quality and better priced, so be it.

Eloquently argued and fair enough. I wonder how well Hollister branded gear sells in Croydon?.

 

[The Tactician]

New Copa 90 T-Shirts are out. I may buy one. [MENTION=435]Stat Brother[/MENTION] shall I save you one?

 

[dazzer6666]

Bit harsh. If you'd said 'a bit old', fair enough, but I'm largely NORMAL.


(But anyway - my lads are 20 and 18, so I can just go in with them!)

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] fat phonefingers.......

I quite often go in to try to find tee shirts for my 21 year old [emoji106][emoji6]

 

[Knocky's Nose]

The Seagull Love Review do the best Albion tee shirts:

https://tslr.bigcartel.com/

Agree with the official club stuff, usually it is pretty crap. The latest Nike ttee shirts with the club logo on seem better than their usual offerings.

Absolutely everything in there is 'SOLD OUT'.... I'm ready to spend my money, too!

 

[BNthree]

Absolutely everything in there is 'SOLD OUT'.... I'm ready to spend my money, too!

You were too slow!

 

[BNthree]

Forget the club shop and pop down a charity shop:

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/17850232.brighton-hove-albon-donate-sussex-beacon-stores/

"ALBION fans can snap up merchandise at cut prices – and help a good cause at the same time.

The football club has donated a pile of surplus Seagulls stock to the Sussex Beacon to sell in its charity shops in London Road and St James’s Street, Brighton.

Sussex Beacon provides care and support for people living with HIV.

Albion fans can snap up items such as T-shirts and children’s clothing from just £4 while the most expensive items are winter coats which cost up to £30. They are last season’s stock but similar items are usually about £60."

 

[house your seagull]

Yes agreed that The Seagull Love Review do cracking T-shirt designs. I would love to buy more of their stuff but it is either a) out of stock or b) not printed on a blue T-shirt, and c) they don't add new designs. If someone from TSLR is reading this it would be great to get your comments on these observations as I want to give you my money...

Hi mate - thanks for kind words. It was always great to see people wearing the tees and we were very proud.

We sold tons but it gets hard work and we haven't ordered any new stock for a while now. Christmas orders were mental and I'd just be at home packing parcels or at the post office all the time. Very stressful!

I always wanted to do a collaboration with the club and get our designs in the club shop - we started making merch because the club shop is so bad - but the club never got in touch so presume they're not interested. We never used copyrighted stuff and I think that made it hard for them to shut us down (like Teegulls) so in the end we were just a pain in the bum for them.

I also think they'd struggle with the margins ... our tshirts were bog standard sweatshop stuff (which we wanted to change) but the prints were always screen printed rather than cheapo heat pressed or nasty sublimation.

I might ask Stef if he wants to fire it up again. I'd hate to see someone ripping our designs off and this thread gives me some nice feels.

 

[One Love]

Cleptomanicx use a seagull as a logo, came across them in Germany.

Went to dinner and a guy I was introduced to had one exactly the right Brighton blue colour. So I searched around and found one which I've been wearing to death ever since.

Looks like they've changed the colour slightly now. This is the new one

 

[BBassic]

I always like merch based around player songs or iconic moments.

Like, for Dunk, you could have this, on a blue tee shirt:



Except the little man is a little bloke with a ball at his feet.

Or a plain white tee with Wembley at the top, Withdean down the bottom and a blue and white striped navigation line between the two.

 

[One Love]

This is the colour I've got

 

[Stat Brother]

I always like merch based around player songs or iconic moments.

Like, for Dunk, you could have this, on a blue tee shirt:

View attachment 114553

Except the little man is a little bloke with a ball at his feet.

Or a plain white tee with Wembley at the top, Withdean down the bottom and a blue and white striped navigation line between the two.

If I were the ideas man id be very proud of this one.