The club from Ibrox is in more bother with the Competitions and Market Authority launching an investigation into the kit sales of their Hummel deal from 2018 to 2020.
Halfway through the three year contract the Danish firm cancelled the deal after repeated issues over following a late launch.
Soon after Dave King announced the breakthrough contract with Hummel in 2018 injunctions came in from Sports Direct over matching rights which delayed the kit launch until September 2018, missing out on the prime summer season.
Sports Direct have launched a number of legal actions against the club which are still ongoing. With the new action referencing Greaves Sports and JD Sports it would be a major surprise if Sport Direct weren’t involved in the latest complaint.
Another option could be that the action has been triggered by Hummel due to the restricted reach for their products.
The UK competition watchdog has launched an investigation into Rangers FC and sportswear retailers over the price of replica football kits. https://t.co/LKFoCg86Vv
— STV News (@STVNews) December 16, 2020
The Sun reports:
It says it is probing Rangers and Hummel, the previous manufacturers of the club’s kit, as well as retailers Greaves Sports and JD Sports. The investigation process, which is expected to take six months, will look into suspected breaches of competition law, it said.
The regulator said: “At this stage the CMA believes that it has reasonable grounds to suspect one or more breaches of competition law. The CMA has not reached a view as to whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections or, ultimately, an infringement decision, to any party under investigation.”
Liverpool based form Castore Sport now has the contract for Ibrox kits, the only High Street stores stocking them are Sports Direct and House of Fraser who are both part of the Ashley retail empire.
