Twitter user John Westwood shared a photo of a badgeless Castore Aston Villa shirt on sale in the official club shop.
Castore Quality Problems: Missing Aston Villa Badge
Ever since they started making football kits in 2020, there have been question marks over the quality of Castore's products. Rangers were the first team they signed up and the brand almost immediately had to issue an apology to fans after receiving many complaints about their first line of club merchandise. Since then, they've also received criticism for the aesthetic of their shirts, while there have been several cases of jerseys ripping and logos falling off, being printed on upside down, or not being present at all.
Examples of issues with Castore's first batch of Rangers shirts in 2020.
Castore 22-23 Kits Apparently Have Quality Problems
Yet another example of their seemingly lax quality control has been flagged by John Westwood on Twitter. His photo shows a brand new Aston Villa goalkeeper shirt on sale without a club badge. The photo was taken in the official club shop, while another twitter user responded that he had encountered badgeless versions of Villa's home shirt on previous visits to the same shop.
Castore's Quality Problems Continue in 2023
While these kinds of defects can occur in manufacturing every so often, there have been a disproportionate number of problems with Castore gear. The English brand has grown rapidly, expanding into mainland Europe last summer with the addition of several new teams to their portfolio. If they hope to continue growing and signing more clubs, they will need to take some kind of action soon to improve the quality of their products, or at least stop so many faulty shirts slipping through the cracks.
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