Elstone addresses merchandise supply issues

Surely the sweatshops in Taiwan can knock up a few more thousand XXXXL shirts

(That’s probably why the club weren’t able to do a u-turn on the last badge – the merchandise orders were in and there was no going back.)

This has been doomed to fail since day one. I donÂ’t even think Everton would have the commercial nouse to add a clause to cut the contact if they canÂ’t fulfil orders...

Tony J, I live in Taiwan and you would actually be very surprised. Puts Blighty to shame in so many ways. Them, there sweatshops are maybe in China, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia.

Probably not... I guess we get paid £3M a year – regardless if they make 1 shirt or 100,000.

With the new badge there is huge demand as some portion of the support has not purchased a shirt in 2 years.

Between Elstone and Kenwright, we have the supreme double act. Mike and Bernie Winters of the Premier League... WhereÂ’s Snorbitz???

Could buy a fucking Leicester City top at Lillywhites yet we have some deal which disallows all of the, you know, easy retailers for us fans to buy something. Go online and it takes a month or more.

It's the acceptance of 2nd rate which makes me so damned pissed at the other Everton fans. On the field or off. No-one cares enough to do anything.

I'm not sure bringing it back in-house is the answer, didn't they lose money doing that before? That's why £3m a season looked good for a while at the start.

Issue appears to centre around home shirts for fatties, home shirts for size 10 women, boys shorts and infant kits yet again. So not the whole product line, in fact just a fraction of it.

But they underestimated based on last year's poor sales, which were down to the Fisher Price badge.

Personally, I blame it on having a new kit EVERY season (since 2002). We are the only Club to have done this, you will see the likes of Arsenal, Manure, LFC often go for two years. This gives a bigger sales window to sell all stock so the Club can order big at the outset and know they have two years to sell it.

Also, when a new kit comes out as it's two years since the last one, the demand is big and a much higher percentage of fans will buy one. I tend to buy one every two years with an away one maybe in between.

I refuse to buy one every season, firstly due to cost and secondly because a lot of the designs are crap. I didn't touch any of the Fisher Price stuff last season, but bought the Umbro home shirt this year for me and my daughter in August as it was a great design.... and we were ready to buy again.

Two rules of retail: first know your customer and his/her demands. Second, know the competition. There is no competition so they only need to understand their customers better and they could crack it.

Kitbag are shite, a bunch of Mancs who couldn't care less. Find a new provider who does.

Woeful performance by them but not a huge surprise judging by our past experiences in merchandising! The club really has no idea when it comes to selling stock and even themselves.

I've only ever ordered tee-shirts and a fleece (dark blue and hot pink... what season was that again!?!?) thru the home site and had no issue. Not sure if that is the same as Kitbag...

In a normal business you forecast demand, so whose job in EFC was that Mr Commercial? Who is responsible for that then?

Try getting an Everton kit ANYWHERE in the world? Can you name me ONE country!!?? Can anyone?

There isn't an excuse for this and issuing an apology merely tries to deflect the anger, won't wash. Enough is enough, drag them in if it's Kitbags fault if it's yours put your hand up.

The club's own finances just a few years ago had its credit rating at cash sales only with suppliers so we probably went direct from supplier on demand only at that point.

The business is ran like a joke from the Chairman and his yes-men like Elstone. The Kitbag deal is a shining example of a piss-poor deal with little or no commercial value when it was signed and one with diminishing returns every day since. Is it really that difficult when comparative minnows in football terms can sell their merchandise in far more outlets than the very few Everton do? Another shambles to add to the hall of shame you've built, Mr Kenwright, under your stewardship.

You can now buy the kit in Ireland where you couldn't before and also online via World Soccer Shop in the US. The proposal to get the strip into shops like Dick's Sporting Goods in the latter market didn't come to fruition, perhaps because of the supply difficulties.

Move on a few years and at college down South. Go in to sports shops and we competed with... well, anyone you care to mention.

Move a few years on and working abroad... well, all over the world and we still competed with anyone you care to mention.

Now ...............

$20 vs. $125

no one can tell the difference

went online and it was $125...

$125 for a jersey that used to cost $70... Everton your 'aving a lafff. sort it

Now here's a thought, wouldn't you think at that price they are going to fly out the door so we need to make loads, thousands maybe. These kids are our future and parents like me want our kids to be Evertonians. Is that too much trouble for anyone in our marketing dept to think? If so, you should all hang your heads in shame and Mr Elstone the buck stops with you.....apology not accepted.

Detail such as the badge can be decided later, but I'm guessing what you're after is securing, in advance, the capacity to produce 40,000 shirts, for example. It's probably not the sort of thing you try to arrange a few weeks ahead of when you need them delivered.

It's a vast store, and had kit from all the major teams; Barca, Real, Inter, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool; but nothing from Everton.

The assistant said 5 or 6 people that day had asked her for Everton kits. How are we going to grow, when the public can't buy our stuff, in the biggest sports shop in the country?

The girl did point out, that 'Everlast' is one of their brands, and they had a football shirt in Royal Blue, with white cuffs, with 'EV 1' on the front in white. It was £10. I bought it, and loads of people on the Eurostar asked me where I got it.

So, forget Kitbag, and go to SD!

Kitbag deal is a joke, more than anything it is strangling the brand worldwide, and surprise, surprise no other major club has a deal anything like it.

As ordering on line and even over the phone didn't help, I was hoping I might be able to buy one while I'm home for Christmas, looks like Santa will be tearing his hair out on this one trying to find it....

I didn't believe how crap the service was... surely there must be something in the contract about being able to fulfil the orders and either penalties or a termination clause if they fail to deliver?

Yet, we have been here before and many times as well. Sort it out Everton!