EKANA
Slide 18 of 34

The analysis

What is different now

Today

EKANA today is essentially the cheaper version of the custom-specialist proposition. Its line sits on top of theirs on nearly every factor, only cheaper and without a shop. The two rows where it scores highest, fully custom design and flexible terms, it shares with the specialists. It is not meaningfully differentiated, and price is the only argument it has, which is why the cheapest supplier wins the year and the next cheapest wins the next. That is the red ocean, and it is where this exercise started.

The future

  • The club's town becomes part of what is being sold, not just the club's players. hypothesis
  • Local businesses get something to participate in rather than a logo to buy. hypothesis
  • Match, training, off-pitch and community wear arrive as one identity from one relationship, to a club that had only ever bought the first of the four. hypothesis
  • The coordination work comes off the club, through a system rather than through someone absorbing it. hypothesis
  • Families order and pay for themselves against a deadline, and the club receives one packed delivery. hypothesis
  • A defined local spare pool answers the urgent common cases the whole market handles badly for custom kit. hypothesis
  • Funding comes in a few named shapes instead of a negotiation the club has to win. hypothesis
  • Full customisation stays at the top of the scale and gets cheaper to deliver, rather than being traded away for speed. hypothesis
  • A layer of professional care sits around the club, which is the thing a president can actually show people. hypothesis

What is not being claimed

Not one of those nine is unprecedented on its own. Clubs have shops. Towns have shirts. Businesses sponsor teams. Suppliers hold stock. Some small clubs do have a decent page or a shop, usually built as a favour by someone who knows them; what is described here is what is normal at this level and what a club believes it can afford, not a claim that nothing exists. The claim is about the shape of the whole line, not the novelty of any point on it: the combination, and the fact that the moves pay for each other. EKANA also stays recognisable through all of it, a custom sportswear business run by three people, which is what makes the shape deliverable rather than aspirational.