Looks like City will be departing from Umbro and using the French kit manufacturers for the next few seasons. Which is nice.
Acun supposedly bought the rights to Kappa in Turkey a year ago: "SPECIAL | Acun Ilıcalı bought the rights of Kappa in Turkey." The Umbro kits over the last few years have been mostly brilliant so it would be a shame, but I guess the club might make a few more pennies going with Kappa if the above is true.
Kappa is horrendous fitting and depending on how the deal is structured could be gash quality. Direct with Italy you will have good gear, via the UK distributor the off-field will likely be catalogue product with badges and print added in the UK, usually a company called 'Wild Thang' in Liverpool. I'm not sure how Acun could get round the UK distributor unless he has agreed to pay them something. The factory I own part of in Sialkot makes for Kappa Australia and the gear is fantastic, the fabrics even for the replica are Z ribbed polyester which is what the match shirts are made form. I've nothing to do with that, it is the other side of the factory which is nothing to do with us but I poke my nose into what they're doing when I visit and use the same fabrics for some products. I know the french factory making for the UK would not generally use the same top grade fabric for replica shirts. Found this out first hand when I was doing Bury FC in Kappa. If Acun is producing in Turkey under license I would suspect it will be very good gear.
Wild Thang are just a print promo company, they're nothing to do with Kappa, nor will Kappa UK be making anything in France. Not that it really matters, as this story's probably just been made up by someone who knows he's got the rights in Turkey and assumes he can sell them here.
This bloke's just nicked this story from a speculative article from mid November last year... https://www.footyheadlines.com/2022/11/hull-city-to-sign-kappa-deal.html
Kappa UK use Wild Thang to print their stuff in the UK, trust me I went there many times to sort stuff out for clubs I had wearing Kappa at the time including Bury FC and Toroto Wolfpack. They did Wigan Athletic in there and although Salford Red Devils signed with Kappa UK direct and not me it was Wild Thang who did their gear and ran their online and stadium stores. Wild Thang is very much in bed with Kappa UK doing all of their stuff. I worked with both extensivley around 2017/2018 and 2019 and was easily Kappa UK's biggest customer outside of direct deals at the time. I know their business better than most. They also used a French factory for all replicas, I had to deal with it for sorting all all clubs shirts and the French had to deliver kits and replicas to stadiums for me in a van which had driven overnight several times as they were always late. Its in Saint-Herblaine and called SBD or something similar. Kappa Italy use the same place for certain products but not much.
They're a promo print company, we'll use someone similar to print Corendon Airlines on our kits, but they don't actually make the kits. I don't believe anyone makes football kits in France nowadays, it would be no more viable than making them in England, all football kits are made in Asia, whatever the badge.
I didnt say they make the kits, they print and embroider everything for Kappa UK. I have literally just given you the address of the factory Kappa UK, France and occasionally Italy use to make Rugby shirts and Replica Football Shirts in, you can find it on google and see it. A huge amount of football shirts are made in Europe including Portugal, Lithuania and Turkey. Metspoor in Turkey make for Diadora, Joma and I think Puma as well as smaller brands. Oneills manufacturer match and replica kits for soccer and rugby clubs in Lithuania. Joma make some stuff in Portugal. Castore use Turkey and Portugal for smaller runs. Errea produce all replica and match kits in Romania in their own factory which I have been to. Hummel make stuff with us for Australia and Scandinavia but are somewhere in Europe for the UK and Ireland. Have a feel of a Hull FC shirt in their shop, they are rotten, terrible fabric quality. Brands cannot get stuff out of China now like they used to, Lionstar is losing its grip and the big boys such as Nike and Adidas are using so much production space in Pakistan meaning the second tier brands such as those mentioned are all in Europe now.
Welcome to the internet, where even though you are literally an expert on the subject, someone else always thinks they know better
