[Archived] Would You Buy Retro Kit Numbers?

[Driftpeasant]

Okay, so I recently bought a 1994-1995 Rovers home kit. And it has no name. And I wanted to put a Hendry 6 on the back. But I can't find a single vendor that actually sells numbers from that vintage.

So after some legwork, I've got a supplier lined up, a conference call with the Premier League's licensing division lined up for tomorrow, and have sourced the appropriate designs. I have, however, neglected to do anything resembling market research (this idea occurred to me Monday - cut me some slack).

So would any of you be interested in this sort of thing? Do you have older kits you'd like numbers for?

Thanks in advance!

[LeChuck]

I don't own any retro shirts that still fit, so I can't answer your question, but I can offer a bit of advice (I hope) for your 'sales pitch'. Might take a little more leg work, but luckily it would be of the metaphorical kind as you could probably do it all from your computer with the aid of a phone.

If you want to present them with a nice figure of how many people might be interested in it, try to find out roughly how many retro shirts are sold per year (I assume for this to be profitable it would have to be more than just Rovers), I guess online retailers and the clubs themselves will make up the vast majority of sales. Then, try asking JJB (or another large company who print names/numbers) if they have figures for the number of football shirts sold with names/numbers and the figures for those sold without. From that you can get the percentage of people who buy a shirt and get a name/number printed on it, apply that percentage to the retro shirt sales and you have a pretty decent estimate of the number of people that would be interested in it.

I'm not sure whether you'll be able to get all that information though, I've only ever to had ask local companies for info, national companies/clubs might not be as easy to get details from.

Edit: Just read your post again, I had the initial impression that you were going to be making money from this somehow, on the second read it sounds like you just want a company to put Henry on your title-winning shirt...you might want to ignore all that advice above! I watched Dragon's Den a few hours earlier, guess it must have stuck in my head...

[Driftpeasant]

I don't own any retro shirts that still fit, so I can't answer your question, but I can offer a bit of advice (I hope) for your 'sales pitch'. Might take a little more leg work, but luckily it would be of the metaphorical kind as you could probably do it all from your computer with the aid of a phone.

If you want to present them with a nice figure of how many people might be interested in it, try to find out roughly how many retro shirts are sold per year (I assume for this to be profitable it would have to be more than just Rovers), I guess online retailers and the clubs themselves will make up the vast majority of sales. Then, try asking JJB (or another large company who print names/numbers) if they have figures for the number of football shirts sold with names/numbers and the figures for those sold without. From that you can get the percentage of people who buy a shirt and get a name/number printed on it, apply that percentage to the retro shirt sales and you have a pretty decent estimate of the number of people that would be interested in it.

I'm not sure whether you'll be able to get all that information though, I've only ever to had ask local companies for info, national companies/clubs might not be as easy to get details from.

Edit: Just read your post again, I had the initial impression that you were going to be making money from this somehow, on the second read it sounds like you just want a company to put Henry on your title-winning shirt...you might want to ignore all that advice above! I watched Dragon's Den a few hours earlier, guess it must have stuck in my head...

Little of column A, little of column B.

I want it to be self sustaining. That is to say I hope I'm not losing money on it. If I MAKE money on it, I'll be happy. It can fund the Season Tickets For Charity fund, or at least make it less painful for ME to fund the Season Tickets for Charity fund.

Subside, JJB Sports, Kitbag, and the like sell a fair number of retro kits. Of those, they number what they can, but often run out of numbers fairly soon after the season in question. So I think there may be a market in selling to those companies. In addition there are a large number of kits sold on eBay and the like which folks might like numbers on. I think that market is likely the largest, quite honestly. This will likely never been more than a cottage industry, but I do want to make this sort of thing available for the fans who want it.

I've already been in contact with Subside regarding their number policies. Most clubs don't really sell their own retro kit (and by retro I include both the last few years and the older stuff, such as sold by TOFFS) unless it's clearance from the previous season. TOFFS sell numbers, but that's largely because from 1939 - 1980s they had essentially the same font the whole time (basically Bauhaus 93 for those who care).

[Hughesy]

I got an old shirt yesterday for free, still with the tags, its the red and black one (mainly red, with black sleeves), it has premier league badge with champions embedded into the shirt, which year was this one from? The title winning season or 95-96?

[Ray-Von]

I could have sworn that Hendry was number 5 and Le Saux was 6, but I could be wrong.

[LeftWinger]

I could have sworn that Hendry was number 5 and Le Saux was 6, but I would be wrong.

I thought the same.

[Sparky Marky]

Sounds like a fanciful notion. I don't expect you to get rich quick with this one mate....

[T4E]

I got an old shirt yesterday for free, still with the tags, its the red and black one (mainly red, with black sleeves), it has premier league badge with champions embedded into the shirt, which year was this one from? The title winning season or 95-96?

How could a shirt from the title winning season have "Premier League Champions" embedded in to it? Were Asics run by Mystic Meg at the time? Rather obviously, it's the away shirt from 95-96.

[Darth Paul]

I was going to say don't put Hendry 6 on it you will ruin a good shirt!

Retro kits are they way forward, I keep picking up little gems on ebay now and again but the numbers would be great if you could get them! I have thought about this numbers thing quite a bit lately, although obviously not to the level you have but I think you could be on to a winner here if you can pick good condition older kits up at the right money!

In fact I toyed with the idea of trying to make a few quid on ebay this way recently...want a business partner?

[b12_simon]

How could a shirt from the title winning season have "Premier League Champions" embedded in to it? Were Asics run by Mystic Meg at the time? Rather obviously, it's the away shirt from 95-96.

94-95 home shirts with the "Champions" embroidery (it's yellow, below the club badge) were sold. You see a lot around Ewood Park.

I dig mine out a couple of times a season.

[T4E]

94-95 home shirts with the "Champions" embroidery (it's yellow, below the club badge) were sold. You see a lot around Ewood Park.

I dig mine out a couple of times a season.

Hughesy is talking about the shirt that actually had the Champions badge in the design as part of the kit, much like the Man United shirt that had the picture of Old Trafford on it. It wasn't something that was stitched on.

[doctorryan]

You're going to want to talk to Asics about this. It was their shirts, their font for the numbers and their logo font inside the numbers. They will need to be involved somehow and they will certainly be receiving money from this endeavor one way or another, if it goes forward.

[b12_simon]

Hughesy is talking about the shirt that actually had the Champions badge in the design as part of the kit, much like the Man United shirt that had the picture of Old Trafford on it. It wasn't something that was stitched on.

You're right. My apologies T4E.

[Driftpeasant]

I got an old shirt yesterday for free, still with the tags, its the red and black one (mainly red, with black sleeves), it has premier league badge with champions embedded into the shirt, which year was this one from? The title winning season or 95-96?

1995-1996. I have 2.

[Driftpeasant]

I could have sworn that Hendry was number 5 and Le Saux was 6, but I could be wrong.

You could well be right... I don't honestly remember, and that's what Zanziball (http://www.zanziball.it/en/28/ccb.html) told me...

[Driftpeasant]

You're going to want to talk to Asics about this. It was their shirts, their font for the numbers and their logo font inside the numbers. They will need to be involved somehow and they will certainly be receiving money from this endeavor one way or another, if it goes forward.

Actually, as far as I can tell, since the Prem was started, the Prem has standardized the numbers and had new ones issued each year. The font is standardized, rather than by kit manufacturer.

I'm trying to determine what the case was in the 80s, whether it was by manufacturer or mandated by the league.

[Gumbi]

The standardized font didn't come in until the 1996/97 season. Before that it was the kit manufacturer that provided them.

This is the type of numbering we had for the 94/95 season.

[Driftpeasant]

The standardized font didn't come in until the 1996/97 season. Before that it was the kit manufacturer that provided them.

This is the type of numbering we had for the 94/95 season.

See, you learn something new, slightly disheartening for determining rights holders, and useful every day.

Thanks Gumbi!

[mickygray316]

those numbers on that shearer shirt are actually fakes from hong kong, albeit very good ones.

the numbers the players wore for those season were only available on player shirts (which had a fully embroidered badge on them)

you could get asics numbers from the club shop, however they did look different and were made from a cheaper material

[Lee]

The numbers on the shirt that Gumbi posted look pretty bang on to me. Just looked at some old photographs for comparison and they are the same.

The standardised 'optima' lettering actually came into being in the 97/98 season.

The season before we had a rather curly typeface.

[doctorryan]

See, you learn something new, slightly disheartening for determining rights holders, and useful every day.

Thanks Gumbi!

I guess I should accept that as an apology.

[Driftpeasant]

I guess I should accept that as an apology.

It is indeed.

I had a telecon with the gent at the Premier League who handles the rights for lettering this morning. Wow that's more complex than I ever would have imagined.

I think I'm going to end up with a serious headache over this one...