EKANA
Slide 30 of 32

Appendix

All the ideas

Every idea that came up during the work, in plain words, grouped by theme. No idea has been thrown away: where one did not make it into a direction, it says so and why. What is not here is our own working method, the rules we set ourselves for running this process, which were never ideas about the business. The family decides the cuts together, at the meeting where we choose.

How the club looks online16 ideas

The club's own website, its badge, its sign-up form and the shop that runs on the website.
  • The rebuilt websiteLands in A

    A new website for the club, built once as a reusable template and delivered inside the kit deal, the reason a club says yes.

    How realistic Realistic as a template built once and reused; the open question is whether a president reads a rebuilt website as something that makes his club look serious, rather than as a favour he can ignore.

  • The club's own online shopLands in A, also B

    An online shop for the club's own merchandise, built on the new website, run by the club's own people.

    How realistic Not realistic as EKANA running the shop for several clubs at once; realistic only as a template the club's own people operate.

  • Running the club's sign-upNot used yet

    EKANA builds and runs the club's registration and enrolment flow, replacing the bare form most clubs use today.

    How realistic Not realistic to promise now: running enrolment is an ongoing service, not a template, and it is hard to unplug once EKANA is running it.

  • A simple assistant on the club's siteNot used yet

    A simple assistant on the club's new website that answers members' questions from the club's own information.

    How realistic Realistic only if it stays genuinely simple; keeping it simple across several different clubs' own information at once is an unsized amount of upkeep.

  • The one-package ideaLands in A

    The idea that a club needs one package, covering the website, the shop and sign-up around the kit, rather than separate offers.

    How realistic Still an idea, not a conclusion. It is the shape the whole package took, and it has still not been tested on a real club.

  • The club image companyLands in A

    EKANA becomes the company that makes a small club look and run like a professional one: the website, sign-up, an assistant, free kit for the coaches and the full professional package, bundled.

    How realistic Realistic as a way of making a club look serious, but a services story wrapped around a clothing company puts delivery on the critical path, and the funding behind EKANA is for sportswear, not an agency.

  • Give a small outfit one thing only big ones getLands in A

    EKANA and Subitamente, Karim's other business, which builds websites for small firms, were both started on the same idea: give a small organisation one thing normally out of its reach, and take the work of running it away.

    How realistic Two businesses built on the same idea do not prove each other right, and the combined version has no paid evidence yet; what actually carries over is the habit of showing the finished thing before asking for a commitment.

  • Designing the packageLands in A

    A task already open: define exactly what an EKANA club deal contains beyond the kit, so a club buys a solution to several problems, not a shirt.

    How realistic Realistic as a task in progress; its own component list is now wider than what actually made it into the direction.

  • Looking like a real club, at no cost to the clubLands in A

    A proper website, a clean badge and a live social feed do for a president what a big brand's name does: they make the club look serious, and families and sponsors pay for them rather than the club's budget.

    How realistic Realistic as the founding insight for this direction; its main open flank is how fast EKANA can actually deliver it.

  • Own design plus brand-level convenienceLands in A

    The combination nobody currently sells: a club's own design, flexible terms, and a way to look like a real club, without needing a big brand's name on the shirt.

    How realistic Names a real gap; the weak flank is that EKANA's perceived quality still trails the specialists, and identity alone does not fix a shirt that pills.

  • Show them the finished website firstLands in A

    Use AI to redo a club's website before asking for anything, and open the conversation with the finished result.

    How realistic Realistic and cheap; the idea that became showing a club the finished thing before it pays.

  • The quiet bonus redesignLands in A

    Build the club a proper online store, and quietly redo the rest of its website and brand guidelines as a bonus, without selling it as a separate service first.

    How realistic Realistic because it is simply done rather than pitched, which avoids the one-person-doing-everything risk the other website ideas carry.

  • A website its people are proud ofLands in A

    Part of building a community around a club is giving it a professional website.

    How realistic Realistic: it is the same website build, so a club gets it once, not twice.

  • Show the finished mockup before signingLands in B, also A

    Build the club's community page and shirt designs before the first meeting, and open by showing the club what it could look like.

    How realistic The most realistic idea here. It has already worked once, with a paying customer, and it costs design time rather than anything we would have to learn.

  • How to show the vision before signingLands in B

    The open question of how to show a club its own future look, on social media and on the website, before it signs anything.

    How realistic Already answered in effect by the mockup idea above; this is the question, not a separate idea.

  • Finish the shop, or close itNot used yet

    EKANA's own website carries an unfinished online shop; either complete it, with real product photos, or take it offline.

    How realistic Realistic and overdue: it needs no new capability, only a decision.

Belonging and community32 ideas

The people around the club, not just the president: fans, families, former players and the neighbourhood's own kids.
  • Clothing the town would actually wearLands in B

    Local clubs are the town's own club, yet almost nobody wears them off the pitch; clothing cut and styled for the street, carrying the town's name, sold to fans and townspeople.

    How realistic The core of this direction; a rival supplier already sells a town shirt in one town, so the idea is validated and shown to be unprotected in the same fact. It needs one fact, real pre-orders from one club's own community.

  • Customisation for the community, not just the kitLands in B

    Customisation beyond the football kit, for parents and the community, even on just one side of the shirt, sold as part of the club package.

    How realistic Realistic in principle, the same production line doing double duty, but still an elaboration with no fact behind it yet.

  • Keeping the community onlineNot used yet

    Some semi-automated way to keep the community interested online; the mechanism itself is not yet known.

    How realistic Probably not realistic as stated: the missing mechanism is doing all the work, and who would run it for several clubs at once is unanswered.

  • A shirt for every season-ticket holderLands in B

    Every season ticket comes with a shirt, as a way to help a club sell more of them.

    How realistic Realistic in the narrow form this direction actually uses, one shirt per design, and the count that used to be missing is in: these clubs sell very few season tickets or none at all, so a handful of shirts covers a club, and the shirt is there to give somebody a first reason to buy a ticket rather than to be paid for out of tickets already sold.

  • The community engineLands in B

    The shift from selling shirts to building the community around the club; the pride of the community is the product, and the clothing is how it shows.

    How realistic Honest as a direction, but still needs the same three unproven things as everywhere else here: whether single-order production works, whether people actually buy, and who runs it.

  • The pride of the community as the productLands in B

    Restates the community-engine idea: EKANA as the builder of a community, not just a seller of shirts.

    How realistic The same open risk as the row above, not yet its own test.

  • Every season ticket comes with a shirtLands in B

    Every season ticket comes with a free shirt.

    How realistic The count came back: these clubs sell almost no season tickets, which is the reason to do it rather than the objection to it. The shirts are made inside the collection's own production run, so a free shirt on a ticket does not have to be paid for separately.

  • The pitch at the doorLands in B

    "We want to dress your team and gather your community around your club": the opening line for this direction.

    How realistic Realistic as words, and the first of the two questions under it now has an answer: one named person at the club, one post a week, all season, agreed at the first meeting, and a club that cannot name one is not signed. Whether people actually pay is still open.

  • The shirt you earn by turning upLands in B

    A fan who has been to a set number of matches in a season is given a shirt that says so, and it cannot be bought.

    How realistic Realistic for a genuinely earned, known group of people; not realistic as a general rule. What makes a small number work is that these shirts are made inside the collection's own production run rather than as a run of their own, so a handful can exist without needing a hundred takers.

  • Beyond one club: the whole neighbourhoodNot used yet

    Not only football: other clubs in the same neighbourhood, in similar-styled shirts.

    How realistic Self-flagged as reaching for now; realistic only once one club's version is proven out, and then it is the cheapest possible second sale, on the same templates.

  • The four parts of the community ideaLands in B

    A way of reading the whole community idea as four parts: the club's page and its posts; the campaign that reaches the town; the shirts that have to be earned; and the place people buy from, where the club holds no stock.

    How realistic A genuinely useful way to sort the other ideas here, but a way of reading them, not itself a thing to build.

  • A second club, once the first worksNot used yet

    Once one club's community engine works, the basketball club three streets away is the cheapest second sale ever made, on the same templates.

    How realistic Correctly parked for now: two clubs sharing a look, in one neighbourhood, is untried; realistic only after the first club proves the idea.

  • A former-players dayNot used yet

    A former-players day once a season, with its own shirt, for the people most likely to come back and bring family.

    How realistic Realistic as a low-cost annual event; needs a fact about whether any club actually has an active former-players network worth dressing.

  • The event shirtLands in B

    An event shirt produced only for people who signed up in advance and paid before it was made.

    How realistic Realistic: no stock risk, because it is paid for before it is produced; needs a real group of people signed up in time.

  • The club sticker albumNot used yet

    A World Cup-style sticker album for a lower-level club, sold like a card collector's packs, filled over a season with stickers of the kids on each team.

    How realistic Left out for good reason: photos of children need every parent's written consent, and a club of two hundred kids needs two hundred stickers designed; it is a paper product from a sportswear company, so it can only ride on a club deal, never stand alone.

  • Clothing made only for the people who earned itLands in B

    Clothing made only for a known group of people, tied to something real they did or a role they hold, and paid for before it is made. Not merchandise: a way of showing you belong.

    How realistic Started with no evidence behind it at all; the community idea above finally gives it a real group of people to be made for, in the narrow, one-off form this direction actually uses.

  • The fan as a buyerLands in B

    The community idea pitches to people the industry never pitches to: the season-ticket holder, the fan, the neighbourhood kid who does not yet play or come.

    How realistic Realistic as a description of who this direction actually reaches; whether these people have money to spend at this level is exactly what a real pre-order test would answer.

  • Turning an obligation into prideLands in B

    Buying a small club's kit today is a functional obligation; turning it into an emotional, wanted purchase flips how the industry already sells.

    How realistic The right instinct, revised from an earlier, wrong one; still needs the same fact as everywhere else here, real pre-orders, not stated pride.

  • Selling an emotion nobody else pricesLands in B

    The season-ticket shirt, the earned shirt and the "I was there" shirt sell an emotion the industry does not even price today.

    How realistic A fair description of what makes this direction different; whether the industry truly prices none of this is worth testing with real fans, not assuming.

  • The people around the club, as the option itselfLands in B

    The option built around fixing "nobody wears the local club off the pitch" and "nobody has ever offered these people anything."

    How realistic Honest about its own weakness: no proof yet that a small club's community will pay, and no fast, small-quantity production yet either.

  • Why this option was picked to explore firstLands in B

    The biggest unserved pain and the biggest unexplored group of people turned out to be the same people.

    How realistic A lean, not a decision. It is why the people around a club were looked at first.

  • Direction B, as a wholeLands in B

    Dresses the team and gathers the club's community, bundling the town-pride line, a season of films and posts made in one batch, the club's own store page, and the season-ticket and earned shirts.

    How realistic Hinges on two unproven things: whether small-batch production really works, and whether people actually pay for belonging. The third question, who runs the community at the club, is now answered as a condition rather than hoped for: one named person, one post a week, named before anyone signs.

  • Direction B, in plain wordsLands in B

    Every neighbourhood has its own club, yet almost nobody wears it; EKANA arrives with the club's own page and shirt designs already made, then keeps the community running with season-ticket shirts, earned shirts, films and posts, and a shop it does not have to hold stock for.

    How realistic The clearest single statement of this direction's real risk: whether a neighbourhood will actually pay for its small club's clothing, and whether small quantities can be made fast enough. Who keeps the community running is now a term of the deal rather than a question.

  • Clothing first, kit secondLands in B

    To beat wearing a big brand's shirt, the local item has to be clothing first, in cut and look, available one at a time without waiting.

    How realistic The founding idea behind this direction; its honest caveat is that family funding for any of this is an assumption, and fan demand is stated, not yet purchased.

  • Keep the kit, sell the emotion around itLands in B

    Keep the kit's functional standard (price, delivery, the shop) and add the emotion the industry never sells: the street clothing, the earned shirts, the shirt with the season ticket.

    How realistic The founding idea, bluntly limited by its own logic: fashion is a hits business and a small club has no advertising budget; the fix is the same cheap test named throughout this section.

  • From something you have to buy to something you wantLands in B

    Four changes this direction is built on: from one order a year to something that runs all year; from a catalogue to the club's own design; from kit families have to buy to clothing they want; from something never seen off the pitch to something worn in the street.

    How realistic A clean way of describing the shift; still to be tested with real fans, not yet evidence.

  • The cheapest way to test itLands in B

    A cheap test: three shirt designs, shown to one club's own community, counting who actually pre-orders.

    How realistic The right test, because it measures money changing hands, not opinions.

  • What a university doesNot used yet

    A university's campus store sells the badge, the alumni office keeps graduates as a community, and the institution looks like it matters; the clothing is the visible part.

    How realistic A comparison, not evidence. Universities do this at a scale no local club has.

  • What a big club doesNot used yet

    A big club runs the whole loop itself; smaller clubs buy the pieces from agencies; large firms dress whole leagues under licence.

    How realistic It works at every size above ours, which is either the opening or the warning.

  • What a streetwear brand doesNot used yet

    A streetwear brand's drops create a community that waits for them and takes pride in wearing them.

    How realistic The belonging mechanism transfers, but a streetwear brand has design and marketing skill the family has said it does not have beyond one person's unpaid time.

  • Nobody does this for a small clubNot used yet

    That absence is either an opening nobody has taken, or a warning that the money involved is too small to bother with.

    How realistic The question to settle before anyone commits, and it is still open.

  • The community option, put another wayLands in B

    Fixes "nobody wears the local club off the pitch" and "nobody has ever offered these people anything"; EKANA can reach them through the clubs it already works with.

    How realistic Honest about its own two open risks: whether a small club's community will actually pay, and whether EKANA can yet produce small quantities fast.

Kit and production17 ideas

The garments themselves: customisation, quality, the pro package, the gym line, and how they actually get made.
  • Fast, cheap customisationLands in A

    Ease and speed of customising a design matters once, at the point of purchase, but it does not by itself win a deal against price and delivery.

    How realistic Probably not realistic as a standalone selling point; it earns its place bundled with making the club look serious and with showing the finished thing before payment, not alone.

  • Bespoke design as a genuine edgeLands in A

    EKANA is one of very few suppliers at this level offering a fully bespoke design rather than a badge stuck on a catalogue item.

    How realistic Promising, because EKANA already scores well here without extra effort, but building a whole idea on an unverified preference is premature until presidents confirm they actually value it.

  • AI-assisted design, fastLands in A

    Fast mockups using AI, with in-house design help, make customisation visible and cheap for EKANA to offer.

    How realistic Realistic for three people: this is already a working method, not a new hire; it only closes a deal when paired with something that seals it, like proof before payment.

  • Dressing the whole club, professionallyNot used yet

    Extending the professional-kit treatment down to the youngest teams, the way big-city academies already do for their own kids.

    How realistic Realistic only as far as EKANA already goes, because every added garment type is more product variety, which works against three people running several clubs at once.

  • A narrower catalogueLands in C, also A, D

    Fewer styles and colours on the standard templates.

    How realistic Realistic and cheap to decide; it directly funds the case for keeping blank stock, but needs a real check on factory minimums before it can be sized. Where the point of the narrowing is a design meant to be repeated for years rather than one printed on demand, it stands on its own and waits on nothing.

  • Fewer styles, more standard templatesLands in C, also A, D

    Narrower catalogue breadth, tied to the case for holding blank stock.

    How realistic Realistic as a design-and-documentation decision, not new capability. Tied to blank stock it waits on that costing; tied to a catalogue small enough that one design can be repeated for years, it does not.

  • Blank stock, printed per orderNot used yet

    Hold blank garments in a few styles and colours, then print each club's design on as orders come in, the way larger brands already work.

    How realistic Rejected once on an estimate, never on a real number; every operational idea in this direction depends on this actually being costed properly.

  • The production idea underneath everythingLands in C

    Producing from blank stock kept locally, printed per order, removes over-ordering, the wait for replacements and the boxes of unsold kit all at once.

    How realistic New for EKANA, not new for the industry; blank stock plus local printing is what several rivals already run, and the per-unit cost has never been worked out.

  • The club's cloth, bought once and heldLands in D

    EKANA buys a club's fabric in the quantity the factory wants, in one go, and holds it, so every later order comes off the same cloth and the design never has to end.

    How realistic Not new capability, and not a new cost: it is already how EKANA supplies the academies that rarely change their design, and the minimum on a fabric is already bigger than one club's order. What is untried is selling it as a stated term of the deal instead of doing it quietly where a repeat happened to look likely.

  • Kids' sizes of the fan gearLands in B

    Every piece of fan clothing made in a kids' size too, because the child is often the reason a parent buys.

    How realistic Realistic and cheap: a sizing decision, not a new product; still needs a parent to actually buy the smaller size.

  • One numbered drop a seasonLands in B

    One dated, numbered release of designs per season, so old designs become the archive rather than staying in stock forever.

    How realistic Realistic: a naming and inventory discipline that also funds the one-run production model for the earned and season-ticket shirts.

  • A hundred, made onceLands in B

    Special shirts that cannot simply be bought are made once, a hundred of a design, in a single ordinary production run.

    How realistic The one production answer that makes a small, earned item viable without needing the blank-stock model to carry it too; still needs a hundred real buyers of a genuinely popular design, or stock is left over.

  • Fast, small runs already exist nearbyLands in B

    A social club or a local celebration committee already gathers a group and dresses it, from a print shop, in days.

    How realistic Real evidence that fast, small-quantity production for a group with a shared identity is not a new invention; it already happens near EKANA, just not for a football club.

  • Kit that knows the playerNot used yet

    Instead of sensors in the clothing, a code on the kit ties match footage and stats from an outside camera platform to the player wearing it.

    How realistic Probably not realistic for three people with no extra staff: it hands the actual difference to an outside platform nobody has approached, and to families paying for youth-level data, which is unproven.

  • A season-by-season player archiveNot used yet

    A player profile that follows a kid season by season, tied to each season's shirt: growth, footage and memories.

    How realistic Correctly self-labelled as weak alone; it depends on the same unapproached outside platform as the kit-that-knows-the-player idea above.

  • The kit-that-knows-the-player direction, as a wholeNot used yet

    Bundled kit-linked performance data, the player archive and a filming trend into one direction.

    How realistic Already judged the weakest of the original directions and kept only because it costs nothing to keep listed; it depends entirely on a partner nobody has spoken to.

  • Defining the gym line properlyNot used yet

    The gym collection was produced once and never had a defined route to a buyer; it needs its own definition of who buys it, at what price, and through which channel.

    How realistic A real, overdue task, but blocked on the separate decision about whether EKANA's own online shop gets finished or closed.

Ordering, delivery and admin5 ideas

Sizes, packs, pickup, stock and the admin that usually falls on one volunteer.
  • Pack-and-pickupLands in C

    The club and EKANA agree what every family must order; families order and pay online by a deadline; EKANA delivers every pack, already made up per child, in one shipment; families collect on the first day of training.

    How realistic Mostly catching up to how club stores already work elsewhere; the genuinely new pieces are packs made up per child and one collective delivery, both still untried, and the order deadline has to sit well before the season because EKANA still needs four or more weeks.

  • The volunteer's real pain, tiers one and twoLands in C

    The wait, small reorders, admin sitting on one person, and minimums, for the teams that buy grudgingly or go to a print shop instead.

    How realistic A larger pool of clubs, but also the toughest ground: several named rivals already sell exactly this, and it is where EKANA is currently weakest.

  • Two links worth building forLands in C, also B

    Parents, who already pay but were never designed for, get their child's pack made up and ready to collect, and they see the kit finished before they pay; the people around the club, never sold to at all, get the shirts that have to be earned.

    How realistic Splits cleanly into two real offers for two different people; the community-side offer's actual size depends on the still-open question of how many season tickets clubs sell.

  • The cheapest way to test itLands in C

    Cost blank stock plus local printing properly, then run one club's packs through the process, before testing anything else.

    How realistic Correctly sequenced: testing an unpriced model with a real club would tell the family nothing about whether it actually works.

  • Taking kit back at the end of the seasonNot used yet

    Returned kit gets recycled, and the more that comes back, the bigger the discount on next season's order; club-owned stock and family-owned kit are two different problems and need two different answers.

    How realistic Genuinely two ideas wearing one name; collecting family-owned kit from hundreds of homes is logistics EKANA does not have, and whether a Spanish recycler pays for sorted fabric or charges for it is still unverified.

Money and deals9 ideas

Price, the club's cut, sponsors' money, and who actually pays for what.
  • The club's cut, automatedLands in A, also B

    EKANA runs the club's online shop; members buy directly; the club's agreed cut lands automatically, without the club chasing anything.

    How realistic The honest reading is that if members are obliged to buy anyway, a commission may just give away margin to a club that would have signed regardless; whether the way the price is framed actually changes a president's decision is still untried.

  • No stock, everLands in B

    The club never buys stock at all: it customises its kit once, members buy this year's package directly from EKANA's site, and every sale pays the club a cut automatically.

    How realistic Already sold by named rivals today, so it is not a difference on its own; real open risks remain in per-unit shipping, sizing and returns, and whether a club accepts a cut that beats its current arrangement for less work.

  • Who actually pays for the communityLands in B

    The open question of where the money for the community idea actually comes from.

    How realistic The honest answer, argued elsewhere on this page, is the club and sponsors first, fans second, and nothing changes that until a real club signs.

  • Ranking the possible payersLands in B

    In order of realism: the club pays a package price with token shirts included at cost; a sponsor pays for something people actually see, better than a badge nobody notices; fans pay retail as proof the idea works, not as the main source of money; the season ticket pays for its own free shirt, if enough tickets sell.

    How realistic A realistic ranking, because it puts the club and sponsors first and fans last, matching how little spare money and time the family actually has; built expecting fans to pay first, this idea would not survive its first year.

  • Mapping identity to moneyLands in B

    A pointer to a fuller map of how the community idea's loop turns into money, and who pays at each step.

    How realistic Useful as an organising reference; its actual content is the individual money ideas listed through this section.

  • The bar sells on match dayNot used yet

    The bar where people already gather sells the town's clothing on match day, and keeps a cut.

    How realistic Realistic: the bar is already the gathering place, and a consignment cut needs no new EKANA capability; needs a fact about whether any bar owner will actually agree to sell and account for the stock.

  • A sponsor pays for a story, not a logoNot used yet

    A sponsor pays for a fixed number of kids' packs each season, told as a story rather than shown as a badge nobody looks at.

    How realistic Realistic as a sponsor product, and a sharper pitch than a chest logo; needs a fact about whether local businesses will actually pay for a story rather than plain visibility.

  • A visible club and public moneyNot used yet

    A visible club, with its own site, feed and town shirt, may find it easier to get support from the local town hall than an invisible one.

    How realistic Plausible but unverified; not worth spending the family's time on before a real fact exists about how any Madrid town hall actually behaves.

  • Sponsor spots, sold before the club sees themNot used yet

    Design shirts carrying a club's identity, sell the sponsor spots to local businesses first, then show the club finished designs with the money already attached, letting the club pick.

    How realistic The single least realistic piece on this page for three people: using a club's badge before it has agreed is using its identity without permission, a business will ask whether the club even knows, and selling the spots door to door in Spanish is a full sales job on top of everything else. Both directions that once carried it have dropped it: the town direction now hangs on no sponsor at all, and the sponsor page that survives elsewhere is the club's own, sold by the president himself after he has signed.

Marketing and reach13 ideas

How EKANA reaches clubs and their communities: coaches, ads, campaigns and events.
  • Free kit for the coachesNot used yet

    Coaches and trainers, who members look at every day, wear EKANA kit for free.

    How realistic Realistic and cheap, a small addition inside a production run already happening; needs a fact about whether a club or a sponsor actually pays for it, which nobody has priced.

  • Coaches as the influencer link nobody usesLands in A

    Free staff kit inside the club deal, because coaches are the influencer link nobody currently activates.

    How realistic Realistic and cheap, paid for by the club's cut or a sponsor rather than a new cost; still needs a test of whether coaches actually work as an influencer link a president will pay to activate.

  • Show three presidents the idea firstLands in A

    A cheap early test: show three club presidents the design mockups and the sponsor-spot idea, and see how they react.

    How realistic Realistic and cheap, and it tests the real open question directly rather than a proxy for it.

  • Ads that point to the communityNot used yet

    Advertising that points people toward the community building up around their club.

    How realistic Not realistic soon: demand for this is still unproven, and an ad without an offer behind it is test material, not a launch.

  • Social templates to followLands in B

    Ready-made social media templates, so a club's community has something to start following.

    How realistic Realistic for three people: templates are exactly the reusable unit this kind of work needs; needs a fact about whether a club's own volunteers will actually post from them without EKANA running the account.

  • Campaigns and games made to be sharedLands in B

    Small campaigns and games designed to be shared on social media.

    How realistic Realistic as a small, cheap production, design time rather than new capability; needs a fact about whether any club's community is large enough for one to be worth making.

  • A hook for the neighbourhood's kidsLands in B

    Marketing lines aimed at the kids of the neighbourhood who do not yet play or come.

    How realistic Realistic once a community is actually running; premature as a standalone idea before any club has signed, since the audience does not yet exist for EKANA.

  • The ad that opens with prideLands in B

    An ad that opens on kids watching a big team get new shirts, and turns their old wish to be that team into wanting their own club to look just as good.

    How realistic An idea nobody can sell yet is worth advertising; the real bar is that the small club's own shirt has to look worth wanting next to the big team's, which is a design question before it is a marketing one.

  • A school visit before registration opensNot used yet

    The club visits neighbourhood schools with the shirt once a year, timed just before registration opens.

    How realistic Realistic and cheap, a timing decision rather than new capability; needs a fact about whether it actually moves registration numbers.

  • Free product for photos and reachNot used yet

    Give gyms free EKANA merchandise for new members, in exchange for the right to photograph members and trainers wearing it.

    How realistic Realistic as a small experiment, but it needs its own costing before it competes for the family's time against any club-facing idea.

  • Paying for reach through influencersNot used yet

    Money or product given per social post, feeding reach for the branded collection and the shop.

    How realistic Undefined as it stands; realistic only once there is a specific product and channel for it to point to.

  • Costing free gym product for reachNot used yet

    The gym-seeding idea, tracked as its own task: needs a real costing, since free product is still stock that has to be made, and written image-rights agreements.

    How realistic A real, overdue task before the underlying idea can be judged at all.

  • Example ad videos for a town campaignLands in B

    Six short videos made on 9 September, 2026 as examples of what EKANA would make for a club's social channels to unite the town around the club.

    How realistic Made in a day with consumer tools; the question is who runs a campaign like this for five clubs at once.

What the market is like23 ideas

What clubs, rivals and buyers actually do, as far as it is known today. Not proposals: the ground every idea above has to stand on.
  • Where EKANA actually sits today

    EKANA currently sits just below the specialist suppliers on almost every factor, only cheaper and without a shop of its own: a cheaper version of its closest rivals, which is exactly where price wars happen.

  • Who EKANA actually competes against

    A four-level ladder around Madrid: big brands through distributors, local sports shops that became club channels, mid-size custom specialists (EKANA's own group), and catalogue-plus-local-printer at the bottom; delivery times put EKANA level with its nearest rivals in its own group.

  • The name beats the fabric, at this level

    A well-known chain sells a big brand's cheapest tier at a discount and is still the priciest option, and clubs buy it anyway for the name; at this level, the name on the shirt decides more than the fabric.

  • A competitor group almost missed entirely

    A neighbourhood sports shop can become a small club's official channel without being a brand, a specialist or a printer; small clubs may trust the shop on their own street more than any outside supplier.

  • The club is becoming a promoter, not a reseller

    Clubs used to buy kit to resell to players at a markup; increasingly, families pay the supplier directly through a club store and the club simply receives a commission.

  • Who the industry actually pitches to

    Nearly every supplier converges on pitching to the same one person, usually the club president; pitching instead to parents, coaches or players themselves is largely untried.

  • Where real buying power actually sits

    Kids have no power over an obligatory kit purchase, but for anything optional, kids pushing parents, and parents pushing the club, is real and mostly unused.

  • The kit lifecycle, before, during and after

    Ordering itself is not a real pain, clubs already know how much to order; mid-season size changes and washing care are minor; what happens to old kit after the season splits into two separate problems, the club's own leftover stock and each family's own kit.

  • Where three trends lead if followed to their end

    Cheap AI capability makes a full-service one-person supplier possible; on-demand small-batch production makes single custom items normal; more filming of grassroots matches makes player data an expected feature; youth football getting more professional feeds a push for the full pro-level treatment.

  • The world EKANA has to build for

    Clubs increasingly order in single units, and looking alive online gets cheaper every year; EKANA's own current model, made abroad in batches over several weeks, sits on the wrong side of both trends regardless of which idea wins.

  • Where those two trends actually lead

    Money moves from one large seasonal order to many small ones, which makes minimums, over-ordering and boxes of unsold kit stop making sense; and once looking active online costs nothing to produce, what a club values shifts from just "a shirt" to "a club that looks alive", paid for by sponsors and fans rather than the club's own budget.

  • Clubs want their own design, not just a big name

    Confirmed directly: several lower-tier clubs specifically want their own design, such as a town landmark, sublimated onto the shirt, alongside caring about a recognised brand name.

  • Replacements for damage are already routine

    Confirmed directly: kit tears during normal play across the whole industry, and suppliers, EKANA included, generally replace it free of charge already.

  • Over-ordering happens in a design's final year

    Confirmed directly: in the last year before a design changes, clubs deliberately reorder only a small amount so they are not left with unsold stock.

  • What actually happens to kit at season's end

    Confirmed directly: leftover club stock is usually used up or given away as gifts; family-owned kit passes to a younger sibling or is thrown out; no formal take-back scheme for clubs exists in Spain today.

  • Blank stock still needs printing done in advance

    Holding blank garments does not remove the need to sublimate a club's design onto them first; direct, order-by-order printing is a separate, later layer, not a shortcut around that step.

  • Multi-year kit deals already exist

    Confirmed: contracts spanning more than one season are already standard practice at this level.

  • Most clubs already have some kind of shop

    Confirmed by direct checking: the great majority of clubs already run some version of an online store.

  • Clubs mostly already know how much to order

    Confirmed, with one real exception: late registrations occasionally cause a shortfall, usually in the final year before a kit design changes.

  • How many season tickets a club actually sells

    Answered: these clubs sell very few, or none at all. That is why a shirt attached to a season ticket is a bet on creating a base rather than a way of using one.

  • Cutting quality saves nothing

    Reducing fabric or quality-control tier does not actually save real money; this lever is closed, and the only standing rule from it is not to over-deliver beyond what a buyer would ever notice.

  • How a club's resale markup actually works

    It depends entirely on the terms agreed in each deal; there is no fixed number to build any money-back claim on.

  • Free first-team kit, as a term

    Also depends entirely on the deal; no standard version exists to copy from a rival.

What we already know will be hard5 ideas

The five things most likely to break an idea on this page, written down before anyone builds one.
  • Who runs it for several clubs

    Running the community and its posts for many clubs is the same one-person problem wearing a new name; the only honest fix anyone has named is templates and automation the club runs itself, which nobody has actually built yet.

  • Demand is still unproven

    Stated pride turns into conversation far more often than into an actual purchase; nobody has yet run the simple test of three designs shown to one club's community, counting real pre-orders.

  • Production still needs to be fast

    Free shirts, earned shirts and single orders all need small quantities made fast, and EKANA today needs four or more weeks from Egypt; the blank-stock alternative is the enabler and it is not yet costed.

  • The idea is copyable

    A rival already sells a town shirt in one town today; no single piece of the belonging idea is defensible alone, only the combination of relationship, earned scarcity and the engine together, which is harder to copy but also harder for three people to hold together.

  • "Free" always means someone pays

    A free shirt still costs money to make, so the club or the season ticket has to cover it, and the maths has to close club by club; nobody has done that maths yet.

EKANA as it is17 ideas

What the business was, wanted and was blocked by when this work started, in the family's own words from the workshop of June 2026.
  • What EKANA is, in one sentence

    A sportswear brand giving clubs and athletes good products at a fair price, using connections in low-cost manufacturing countries.

  • The agreed definition of the business

    A football-focused sportswear brand, manufacturing cheaply in Egypt, selling customised kit to lower-division Spanish clubs and academies, with a small gym line alongside it.

  • The real bottlenecks, in order

    No dedicated salesperson working full time on new clubs; not enough cash, including for marketing; no system for tracking who has been approached and when to follow up; and looser process discipline than needed in Egypt.

  • What "bigger" means, one way

    Winning more deals, and using AI and automation to get more out of existing time and money, so effort goes where it is actually needed rather than where a tool could already do the work.

  • What "bigger" means, the other way

    More clients and clubs, more products, growing the gym line beyond football, and eventually the company being worth more.

  • Why a customer actually cares

    Good quality and a fair price matter, but so does an unusually smooth, trustworthy buying experience, which is worth showing rather than just claiming.

  • What EKANA is really selling

    Not just football kit, but a supplier a club never has to worry about: solid quality, a price that works because of Egypt manufacturing, and an experience trustworthy enough that a club stops shopping around.

  • The three-phase plan, from the start

    Short term, fix sales and tighten every process; medium term, launch and grow the gym line; long term, grow the company's overall value, possibly turning parts of the business into more of a service.

  • The pain EKANA believed it was solving

    Clubs overpaying for average quality, wanting better communication with their supplier, and wanting flexibility in design; the starting assumption this whole process exists to test.

  • A realistic version of a referral network

    Fifteen to thirty connected people, such as coaches or former players, paid a real commission under a simple one-page agreement, rather than any larger sales force.

  • The original growth math

    Starting from the customers already renewing, doubling the number of customers each year for three years running was treated as the ideal outcome.

  • A named resource for outbound calling

    A specific contact with a calling tool that could help with outbound sales work.

  • Comparing past deal profit to a salesperson's cost

    An open task to work out how profitable past deals actually were, to weigh against what hiring a salesperson would cost; no figures from this are repeated here.

  • The original next step, from June

    Build a single page pulling every idea from the June workshop into one 90-day plan; since overtaken by everything that has happened since.

  • The underlying goal

    Win more clubs and sell the branded collection by attacking from several angles at once that each feed the others, using only the time, skill and money the family already has, with no new hires.

  • The running club, parked

    A second product line built around Madrid's running scene, already parked by one of the founders; waking it up is a decision, not a free slot.

  • Other ways to deepen the same identity

    A well-known health-care company grew from making one product to running the whole care around a condition; EKANA's own versions of that shift, none yet chosen, range from a club-image company to a player-performance company or something not yet named.

Still open7 ideas

Questions nobody has answered yet. Each one decides something above it, and none of them needs a club to say yes first.
  • What clubs actually weigh their spending against

    Still an open question, deliberately kept wide rather than narrowed to any one type of rival.

  • Has any club actually turned down a custom specialist

    Still an open question that only the founders themselves, from their own contacts, can answer.

  • How to set a price a rival cannot follow

    A parked question about setting a target price first and then engineering the cost down to meet it, waiting until an actual idea exists to apply it to.

  • Whether partnering can carry some of the cost

    Whether working with factories, clubs or fan groups could help carry a cost is a lever any idea's cost case can use, not an idea in its own right.

  • Whether the pricing model itself should change

    An open question about the pricing approach in general, parked until a specific idea needs it answered.

  • Whether recycling brings money back or costs it

    Still open, and it decides whether the take-back idea is a discount worth offering or a cost EKANA would be absorbing.

  • The right instinct, at the wrong moment

    An event bringing club presidents together to hear the future offer is a genuinely good idea, but only once there is an actual offer to show; held earlier, it would just be an expensive way to hear "make it cheaper".