Morecambe's kit supplier is doing things differently

The Terrace are in year one of a two-year deal as the club’s ‘technical kit partner’, having been involved with the Shrimps’ retail operations since 2022.

Morecambe are the first EFL club to wear a Terrace-made strip but, as company director Carl Sewell explained, it isn’t a leap into the unknown.

Asked what made the Oxfordshire-based company want to manufacture Morecambe’s kit, he said: “We’ve been doing the retail operations for two-and-a-half years and, while doing that, you’re heavily involved in the logistics of things like moving the kit around and seeing how things are selling.

“By doing that, you see where the problems and frustrations are, as well as where things can be done better.

“We have a partner factory overseas, where we produce a lot of grassroots kits, and we’ve been doing the kits for Banbury United, our hometown club.

“We put a tender together for Morecambe, saying we’ve got a good relationship, they have given us a lot of opportunities and we wanted them to be the first EFL club to wear a Terrace kit.

“Because we had seen what doesn’t work, it allowed us to mould how we work in terms of pricing and supply.

“For example, 99 per cent of clubs are signing off next season’s kit in October and November. Morecambe didn’t place their order until March but we had kits in store by June.”

Kits – and especially kit prices – are an increasingly contentious topic with clubs at the top end offering fans two kinds of shirts: the standard replica version and the authentic offering worn by players.

That choice comes at a cost with the standard version for adults around £80 and the authentic one in the region of £110 to £125.

March saw Nike release the new England home and away shirts, with much of the attention focused on their ‘playful update’ of the St George’s Cross.

That overshadowed the £119.99 price tag for a child’s authentic shirt, rising to £134.99 should they want a player’s name and number on the back, while it’s £5 extra for the men’s and women’s equivalent.

Other clubs can take it a step further. In recent years, Barcelona have released limited edition shirts for matches against Real Madrid with logos by bands or solo artists replacing their usual sponsor.

The most noteworthy was that featuring The Rolling Stones’ tongue and lips logo in October 2023. The price? A reported €400.

According to a recent report by ITV, an £80 adult shirt may only cost £8 to make before £26.40 goes to the retailer, £23.47 to the manufacturer and £4.80 to the club, as well as £13.33 in VAT and £4 UK distribution and marketing.

In contrast, Morecambe’s adult home and away shirts come in at £44, while the youth tops are £33.

A ‘mini-kit’ of shirt and shorts for fans up to three years old costs either £27 or £30, while the youth shirt, shorts and socks come in at a combined £57 – compared to the £97.98 for a child’s standard England shirt and shorts.

Sewell said: “Our point is we want to be the cheapest shirt, even if that’s only by £1.

“Fans are getting fed up of shirts going up £3, £4, whatever it might be, every year because we’re now seeing a shirt that was £40 10 years ago now costing £80.

“If that continues, EFL shirts are going to be £70 before you know it and that’s not affordable for many fans.

“I understand that (standard and authentic shirts) at elite level clubs, where the players wear a slightly different shirt.

“From a manufacturing side, that doesn’t warrant the extra £40. We have the ethos that what the players wear, that’s in the shop.

“If the kitman needs a new shirt, he can just go in the shop and find the same version there.”

Work on the 2025/26 kits, travel and training wear is already underway with the hope of building on the popularity of this season’s strips.

As the people who wear them, the players’ opinions were taken into account before the final versions were signed off.

Sewell explained: “We did a sample day at the stadium, where the players tried on one of everything, gave us feedback and we made changes based on what the players wanted.

“When we released the home shirt, the fans’ feedback was phenomenal. We thought there might be the odd negative comment but we haven’t had that, the fans seem happy.

“Arguably their favourite point is the price. We said we wanted every shirt to be cheaper than what they were paying before, to show that it is possible and we aren’t here to make a quick buck.

“The other day, a Morecambe fan said he’d just bought his child a full kit for £57 and that was cheaper than his partner’s adult shirt for a League Two club.

“They were mesmerised by that but we’re not doing it for praise. We want people to buy the kit, feel comfortable with it and feel that it’s great value for money.

“I’ve got this vision – and some people call me a dreamer – but, one day, I would love to get to a point where we can charge £38 or £39 for a shirt and bring it back down below that £40 mark.

“What we need from that is sales. I need to prove the point that, when you drop the price, you sell more.

“We aren’t going to change the world but we have a great thing going on and hope to make our mark in little areas of the UK – and continue doing that in Morecambe.”