Dulwich Hamlet 2024/25 Kits

[editor]

Not the first time it's happened.

Dulwich Hamlet lose 2-0 at home to table topping Dartford FC in front of a crowd of just under 2,000

Dulwich Hamlet lost 2-0 to table-topping Dartford FC at home on Saturday afternoon.

www.brixtonbuzz.com

We really should have a distinctly (partially) pink kit. Our colours are our club's unique characteristic in English football at our level and above.

There were times past when it may have been difficult to source a suitably coloured kit without paying over the odds, but not now. It feels like a deliberate decision has been taken to avoid playing in pink. I don't like it, and don't understand why.

I hate it. The home kit now is essentially all dark blue and it looks shit.

We're supposed to be the team in pink and blue - that's the club's heritage and distinctive colours - yet the away team now have far more pink in their strip.

 

[AveryDave]

And to top it all no sign of it being available to buy yet, even for those that like it. After a couple of years of nailing the whole kit design / availability thing, an unfortunate step backwards this season.

 

[gnar182]

And to top it all no sign of it being available to buy yet, even for those that like it. After a couple of years of nailing the whole kit design / availability thing, an unfortunate step backwards this season.

Don’t mind a delay if it means the quality is good. SK Kits always had them ready but the quality was awful.

 

[Roger D]

Back in the 90's either us or Corinthian Casuals often had problem with replica kits as there was so little pink kit material. I'm sure they once started a season in old kit as we'd nicked all the pink football kit material. The boom in pink second kits has some advantages...

 

[Don't Slow Down]

Did like Hendon's kit, nice to see a team indulging in beautiful colours. Sadly as has been said "we" have chosen not to.

The buttons were being pushed with a couple of those awful kits when Rose was manager, but never to this low level .........

 

[AveryDave]

Don’t mind a delay if it means the quality is good. SK Kits always had them ready but the quality was awful.

But it doesn’t need to be delayed. Hope & Glory have shown they can provide quality shirts in good time the last two seasons. And the club has chosen to have a new shirt for a new season, a decision they are in control of. Feels mad to me that they reduce the opportunity to maximise that decision by missing games when it could be available, including the Defected / festival aspect.

 

[liamdhfc]

But it doesn’t need to be delayed. Hope & Glory have shown they can provide quality shirts in good time the last two seasons. And the club has chosen to have a new shirt for a new season, a decision they are in control of. Feels mad to me that they reduce the opportunity to maximise that decision by missing games when it could be available, including the Defected / festival

The club does not order or sell the replica shirts. That is in the hands of DHST who may be able to give some update on order date and expected arrival

 

[scousedom]

The club does not order or sell the replica shirts. That is in the hands of DHST who may be able to give some update on order date and expected arrival

Is it still the case that DHST has no say in kit design or supplier though, as was always historically the case? From memory, often the decision on supplier and/or design would be made late by the Club, meaning delivery of shirts for sale was always going to be after the season started. Which isn’t the Trust’s fault.

 

[Paula_G]

Given that the Trust had representatives on the board it seems strange to point the finger at the Trust for any delays. Surely with this the case surely a timescale could be put in place once the decision on design has been made, one that can be conveyed to supporters who wish to buy those shirts?

 

[scousedom]

I’m not after blaming people. I’m just saying that maybe the decision on kit supplier is made with “kit available to buy on first day of season” not being the first priority. Which is absolutely fine. Because maybe the other things prioritised are more important.

What I am saying though is IF people are saying “ask the Trust”, there should be a bit of openness about when decisions were made (and how and who by) and when kits could therefore realistically be expected to be delivered.

Otherwise it just looks a bit like factional point scoring.

 

[AveryDave]

Interested to understand:

1 - who decides a new set of kits are needed for the next season?

2 - who decides the design for those kits?

3 - who decides the supplier for those kits?

4 - who sets the deadlines for making those decisions?

5 - who is responsible for making sure those decisions are made in time to make replicas available for the start of the new season (which must surely be a sensible commercial objective)?

Unless the answer to all of those is the Trust, feels a bit naughty to try and point fingers at them.

 

[scousedom]

Interested to understand:

1 - who decides a new set of kits are needed for the next season?

2 - who decides the design for those kits?

3 - who decides the supplier for those kits?

4 - who sets the deadlines for making those decisions?

5 - who is responsible for making sure those decisions are made in time to make replicas available for the start of the new season (which must surely be a sensible commercial objective)?

Unless the answer to all of those is the Trust, feels a bit naughty to try and point fingers at them.

As to 1, isn’t it just a sad fact of modern football that it’s the default to change every kit, home and away, annually…? Like, is it even a discussion point any more?

 

[tonysingh]

As to 1, isn’t it just a sad fact of modern football that it’s the default to change every kit, home and away, annually…? Like, is it even a discussion point any more?

For us it should be, given we say we do the right thing.

 

[scousedom]

For us it should be, given we say we do the right thing.

Well hopefully we’ll have a data point on that shortly.

 

[wphillips7]

Controversial opinion… I quite like the new home kit

 

[scousedom]

I really like the design. (Anything with contours on gets my Geography student vote!). And having decided on the design I can see that from that starting point you sort of have to do it the way it’s been done, and that’s going to look the way it does from a distance (ie, all blue). But I can totally understand why people are saying - nice design or not - that it’s not right for a club that’s traditionally been 50/50 pink/blue.

 

[Pink Panther]

I really like the design. (Anything with contours on gets my Geography student vote!). And having decided on the design I can see that from that starting point you sort of have to do it the way it’s been done, and that’s going to look the way it does from a distance (ie, all blue). But I can totally understand why people are saying - nice design or not - that it’s not right for a club that’s traditionally been 50/50 pink/blue.

Leaving aside the fact I'm a traditionalist who prefers simple bold blocks of colour to intricate lines and squiggles, we could have had the same design in blue on a pink shirt, with blue shorts and socks. Or we could have had the same diagonal split as the away kit, which would have looked really striking in blue/pink. I can agree to differ with people who prefer more modern variations, it's the almost total lack of pink that winds me up. It looks like one of those pointless Chelsea third kits. On a positive note, this season's socks look nice!

 

[scousedom]

we could have had the same design in blue on a pink shirt, with blue shorts and socks

Would that not have had people saying that it was more of an away kit? In the way that the last couple of seasons the away has flipped the home design with pink being dominant…?

 

[pompeydunc]

I really like the design. (Anything with contours on gets my Geography student vote!). And having decided on the design I can see that from that starting point you sort of have to do it the way it’s been done, and that’s going to look the way it does from a distance (ie, all blue). But I can totally understand why people are saying - nice design or not - that it’s not right for a club that’s traditionally been 50/50 pink/blue.

I like the design and the story behind it, but I guess my immediate reaction was, why is this not the other way around? (Thicker) blue lines would show up better on pink as well I would imagine?

 

[AveryDave]

Ignoring the heritage of our colours, the home kit looks decent on the pitch - but if it's available to buy, I'll likely go for the pink goalkeepers kit.

 

[Pink Panther]

Would that not have had people saying that it was more of an away kit? In the way that the last couple of seasons the away has flipped the home design with pink being dominant…?

Our colours are pink and blue, and we've never had an away kit with blue shorts and socks, so I don't see why anyone would specifically see my suggestion as an away kit.

 

[wphillips7]

Ignoring the heritage of our colours, the home kit looks decent on the pitch - but if it's available to buy, I'll likely go for the pink goalkeepers kit.

Agreed - the pink keepers kit is great

 

[liamdhfc]

Is it still the case that DHST has no say in kit design or supplier though, as was always historically the case? From memory, often the decision on supplier and/or design would be made late by the Club, meaning delivery of shirts for sale was always going to be after the season started. Which isn’t the Trust’s fault.

I’m not trying to blame any one, merely that the club has a deal with the supplier and orders what the team require. Therefore if there are questions about when replicas will be available then it is DHST who are most likely to know the target date.
I know the club uses smaller suppliers because the supply chains of the major brands are extremely unreliable and their deadlines never met.

 

[scousedom]

I’m not trying to blame any one, merely that the club has a deal with the supplier and orders what the team require. Therefore if there are questions about when replicas will be available then it is DHST who are most likely to know the target date.
I know the club uses smaller suppliers because the supply chains of the major brands are extremely unreliable and their deadlines never met.

You in the mood to answer the other questions?

Interested to understand:

1 - who decides a new set of kits are needed for the next season?

2 - who decides the design for those kits?

3 - who decides the supplier for those kits?

4 - who sets the deadlines for making those decisions?

5 - who is responsible for making sure those decisions are made in time to make replicas available for the start of the new season (which must surely be a sensible commercial objective)?

Unless the answer to all of those is the Trust, feels a bit naughty to try and point fingers at them.

 

[liamdhfc]

You in the mood to answer the other questions?

I’ll have a go but don’t promise it necessarily appliess consistently

New kit is always required as the sponsors will change.

Usually the club will ask the manufacturer for some mock ups of different potential shirts, suggest some designs for them or get Paul to do some designs to send to them. It could be all of those.

Supplier is put out to tender every few years and usually a multi year deal is signed. This will be decided on price, quality, delivery times.

Deadlines are usually soon after season ends but can move depending on when sponsors are agreed.

I don’t know who has final say but the above re sponsors can have a major impact on ordering times. The shirt is sublimated so sponsors are needed.before going to manufacture. Only the numbers are added by heat press.

I want to reiterate that I was not apportioning any blame on DHST for any delay in receiving replicas, merely that the order for those is made by them and as a result any question of when they will arrive is most likely to be known by them rather than the club.

 

[scousedom]

Thank you. Think it’s important to have clarified that (just like in every workplace) the Trust are a set of people doing their best with the hand they’ve been dealt, which may not necessarily be the one they’d have chosen. (I certainly don’t recall the Trust ever “sitting on” the chance to get shirts in - as soon as they could be ordered, in the order went.)

But also that the reasons for that hand not being ideal from the Trust point of view may well be perfectly good and proper - the club will make more profit from the sponsor than it will from shirt sales after all.

 

[AveryDave]

An update from the club and / or the Trust on when the shirts are estimated to arrive would be helpful. The question has been asked to both accounts on Twitter, but doesn’t look like either have responded.

 

[blueheaven]

I feel it's a shame the club didn't pair the shirt with pink shorts and possibly also pink socks. I think that would have looked much more striking, whilst significantly adding to the amount of pink in the overall kit and still allowing the preferred shirt design to be used.

 

[AveryDave]

 

[scousedom]

Tangentially. If five out of eight sizes are a variant on “XL” I think it shows the clothing industry needs to come up with a new naming convention.