From a chap called Dave Clark on twitter re kit.....

A kit thread Japanese symbol for beginner

Given the news on Joma becoming #ncfc kit supplier and the usual ‘why can’t we have Nike/Adidas/Under Armour’, I thought I’d put down in tweets some info on kit contracts and why distribution rights are key for the club when choosing suppliers.

The club deliberately chooses not to make its products available to the wider sports retail market. It is one of the reasons we use a kit supplier like Errea and Joma and not Nike, Adidas or any of the Sports Direct/JD Sports owned brands.

By restricting the availability to the club controlled channels the club not only keep a larger proportion of the revenue, but they are also able to control the price that the shirts are sold at.

As an assumption, given the quantities ordered the Norwich shirt probably costs the club around £10-£15 each, although this doesnt take into account any gift of kit for the playing/coaching/staff that Joma give the club FOC.

On the basis of £15 price, the club then sells through its own channels for £50 making £35 per shirt profit.

If Joma sold the shirts to retailers, at £25 each (£15 cost + £10 royalty to the club) and the retailer sold the shirts at £50 the club would make £10 per shirt and the retailer would pocket £25 pocket.

If the retailer decided that it could live with only making £10 per shirt and decided to sell them at £35 each the club would still make £10 royalty per shirt, but would also see sales through its own channels completely disappear - after all why would you buy from the club when Sports Direct (as an example) had it significantly cheaper.

The greatest demand for Norwich shirts comes from Norwich fans, and whilst the club maybe missing out on the odd sale through a retailer they are sales that a) don't make the club much money anyway, and b) aren't from the club''s traditional supporter base.

With Adidas, Nike, Puma through Genesis in the UK, or the likes of Cabrini, Mitre, Prostar or Sondico (and the other Pentland/JD Sports/Sports Direct owned brands) I would bet that their contracts are significantly geared towards the company making money by wider distribution - after all they sell the shirt at £15 whoever they sell it to.

Posted By: DrDublin, Jul 1, 13:31:27