Kappa kit concerns – the club’s response


It’s probably fair to say that this season’s new Kappa kit and training gear has brought mixed reactions among Villa fans. The classic design of the home kit (complete with a return to the much-favoured blue sleeves) and the 80s throwback away strip were met positively, and timing the home kit reveal with Tyrone Mings’ permanent transfer at Witton Station was a nice touch.

The away kit launch was less impressive and as for the recently announced monstrosity which passes for our third kit (due to be used away at Manchester City later this month), well the less said the better.

Design aside, the new Kappa gear has been beset by issues from day one. Supply levels in the Villa store and online, as well as numerous reports of poor quality and major issues around the sizing of the new stuff.

The club’s Head of Retail, Tim Perry, has addressed these concerns in a lengthy response following an exchange with the Aston Villa Trust.

Sizing:

“With any brand change you can always expect a level of impact regarding sizing; however, with Kappa and their Italian influence the kit this year does lend itself to a more tailored fit. This is part of the design of kit we opted for this year because of how strongly we felt about it.

The sizing chart online, and in-store, has been provided by Kappa. It is correct, but it would suggest that in an increase in size for most fans purchasing may be expected. We feel confident that once fans establish their size this season then all these issues will smooth out for our second term as if often the case with brand changes.

As with all these things that arise following a kit launch, we do conduct a full debrief and the issue of sizing communication, not the sizing of the shirts themselves, but the impact of how one technical brand may differ from another we will review.”

The “more tailored fit” has thrown most fans, with “an increase in size for most” often meaning two, sometimes three sizes bigger for a comfortable fit. That’s a huge pain in an age where fans often buy their kit and branded clothing online, meaning returns and frustrating delays for many.

Of course, the obvious answer to this is to buy the kit in store. Not always possible for fans living far from outlets, but even for those who are able to get to the store, there have been frustrating issues surrounding stock levels and availability.

Availability:

“To give you some background on this, Fanatics and Kappa placed an order for kit late 2018. Fanatics at that point took the bold stance of increasing their kit buys substantially following gaps in availability during the previous season, without knowing which competition the club would be competing in the following season.

They invested in a significantly increased number of kits. Then came the unbeaten run, the playoffs, and the promotion itself at Wembley. Following that victory, a logical ‘top-up’ order was placed, and as a result of lead times for manufacture, we can expect to see this stock mid-autumn in time for our peak trading period. Initial demand for the kit has been unprecedented.

Ultimately with the scale of demand experienced, inevitable gaps in availability have emerged and these gaps that your own group, and other fans, may be experiencing across our training ranges, more-so than the kit. Repeat orders have been placed for the strongest training lines, as well as some new product that is imminently due to launch.”

I’ve questioned elsewhere why we always seem to be kept waiting for new kits, and this season has been no exception. But as long as it’s out in time for Christmas eh?

The biggest gripe so far has been the quality of the new Kappa clothing, with many reporting badly stitched badges, peeling logos and numerous other problems, problems I don’t remember hearing with last season’s Luke Roper kit.

The club is aware of these concerns, but seem content that they are isolated cases which don’t merit a full-scale recall.

Quality control:

“We identified a small number of away shirts with a QC issue affecting the crest. A small number of these we believe were shipped out through online orders and a small number sold through the store. The number genuinely wasn’t significant enough to warrant any level of recall.

Any fan who has experienced an issue with a crest has had their shirt swapped or refunded whether purchased online or in-store. Nobody should be experiencing any issue with this process, and it certainly shouldn’t impact a fan’s experience of wearing the shirt or the warm-up t-shirt.

I encourage any faulty items to be returned as we want to remedy any issues. Our returns rate data does not show the need to recall any product, but should one emerge then we would take the appropriate action.

In the case of transfer heated crests potentially peeling off, I have to say that often this relates to the washing process, tumble drying, etc and deters the life of a heat transfer. We will look at any specific lines for any patterns emerging above average.”

It’s the final bit which irks me – I actually think it’s quite insulting to imply people don’t know how best to do their laundry, and the “life” of a heat transferred crest should not be ‘deterred’ so soon into the season – we’re only in October, for goodness sake!

And as for “a small number of away shirts” being affected? It’s home shirt logos, training top logos and more besides. Instead of a politician’s waffle, the club would be better off being transparent and honest.

The quality of the kit is far below that which we should expect from a club of our stature (or any stature, frankly), especially when fans are routinely expected to shell out north of £50 every year for the latest iterations.

Kappa should be given a rocket up their backsides if the club is to honour the deal for next season’s kit.

In terms of customer service, as mentioned above, Tim Perry feels the club have been pro-active in addressing the fans’ concerns, while always looking to improve the customer experience when they need to contact either the club or Fanatics.

Customer service:

“I’m very apologetic if any of our fans have had a bad customer experience through the examples you quote. Our retail outlet is mystery shopped several times a month, and it consistently scores 90%+. This was [by way of an] independent audit.

During the kit launch period, 65,000 visitors have visited the store and the store team are driven to deliver a great experience for every visitor. The issues… were fed back as part of ongoing customer service drive, and the examples used to highlight areas for closer scrutiny.

Regards our on-line store, and in particular Fanatics call centre processes, we were already aware of the waiting time issues for call answering. These seem to have improved since mid-July following our intervention, which was a result of action based on specific complaint tracking.

To reassure the point you make, all complaints are logged and tracked as part of our overall fan experience charter for improvement, and although it’s been an intense summer here at Villa Park, we do feel we’ve tried to resolve everything that has been brought to our attention.”

Not having bought a kit or training wear personally, I can’t really comment on the accuracy of Tim’s observations, but I’m happy to take him at his word.

As ever with customer service, people are far more patient and understanding when problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently, and the service provider learns from mistakes so they’re not persistently repeated.

I’m sure we will see at the season’s end what the final verdict is on the Kappa kits, but it’s certainly been a rocky start. A repeat of this year’s launch and teething problems will not be acceptable to most, particularly as it would be at odds with the ‘going places’ approach adopted by the owners and the CEO.

In the meantime, if you have any operational issues you’d like raised with the club at the next Fan Consultation Group meeting, head over to the forum to raise your questions.

It would remiss of me not to mention Fear’s book, Fear Conquers All! A fascinating look at his battles and victories. You can see all the details, how to buy and the reviews at: https://thefear.net/ and on Amazon (if you don’t have Prime, it is cheaper to buy directly and means he can donate more to the AVFC Foundation: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Conquers-All-mission-inspire/dp/1527244393 and reviews there: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Conquers-All-mission-inspire/product-reviews 

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