Your perfect GSHC Jersey & Merchandising

[swissgripen]

As some of you will know, I've been quite critical of the last couple of GSHC jerseys & merchandise. As such, I think we can maybe help the club by telling them what we would like to see on a perfect GSHC jersey? Here's what I would like to see regarding the next jerseys & merchandising:

- Lace-Up Neck
- Maroon Home,white Away
- A proper launch event for the new jerseys.
- a Traditional Hockey design (like the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins)
- Secondary logo on shoulder, like NHL teams
- a 3rd/Cup (from 2014/15 season) that mimics a jersey from the 100+ year history of the club.
- Better Quality
- Either Nike or Reebok design/maker
- Better selection of merchandising, but higher quality
- Season Highlight DVD's (Inc. Goals of the season, Fights of the Season, Saves of the season and best funny moments)
- Wider selection of items, like what Davos HC & the Zurich Lions have.

Thats just a few of the points I hope the club take on board! So what would you like to see?

[Captain Iglo]

As far as I know, 3rd jerseys aren't allowed by the league. (You can only use one special jersey in one game per season.)

And having witnessed the catastrophe known as the Reebok Edge jerseys, I'm not keen on having them designing my favorite team's equipment.

[NoUseForANickname]

Here's my opinion :

As much of a merch lover that I am, I've concluded that NLA is not and will never be NHL, so we might as well not try to copy-paste anything they do...

One has to understand that NHL market is worldwide and generates billions of dollars ( personal estimation ha) when GSHC is extremely local ( there aren't many Servette fans outside the GVA county and nearby France, at least not enough to be considered a viable market.

Dont get me wrong, i've complained numerous times about the piss-poor shirt designs and the awful caps, but while I'm sure it will improve with time, one might accept that we are no NY Yankees, or the Bruins or whatnot...

Because if so, then soon you will complain about the lack of choice with food and drinks, poor animations, uncomfortable seats etc...

I'm sure you can find the road to TD Garden or the Barclays Center otherwise


Euh bon j'ai écrit en anglais, si vous voulez une traduction, en gros j'ai dit : "Machin, machin, l'amerloque de bleu de bleu le nière, pas possible ses cigues !"

[Mirko]

Euh bon j'ai écrit en anglais, si vous voulez une traduction, en gros j'ai dit : "Machin, machin, l'amerloque de bleu de bleu le nière, pas possible ses cigues !"

Yes, can you spell that please ^^

[GSHC SA]

We'd like to thank you for your suggestions. Here's what we can tell you about:

- Lace-Up Neck - even if it's nice, it's just a trend. We had lace-up neck, and only the Reebok system (only available with Reebok Edge as Reebok doesn't do the Reebok-sponsored team jerseys in Europe) is a good thing as the lace doesn't move during cleaning. It's a pain in the a** for a daily use.
- Maroon Home,white Away - choice of the designer.
- A proper launch event for the new jerseys. - we tried a few years ago, it was a flop. Execpt this season, we recieved our jerseys only on opening night. It's difficult then to organize something big
- a Traditional Hockey design (like the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins) - what's really traidtional in hockey? We had one in 2004-2005, but we had to ask our partners (who offers us the opportunity to have palyers such as Matthew Lombardi in Geneva) to remove their advertising. Not many of us are fans, but it a necessity to have partners on the jersey (it's the most expensive advertising space in a hockey club and we need money to play players).
- Secondary logo on shoulder, like NHL teams - league doesn't allow it
- a 3rd/Cup (from 2014/15 season) that mimics a jersey from the 100+ year history of the club. - Maybe for the Cup, but, what we have heard so far, is that the cup organizer will provide the jersey, as during the Spengler Cup
- Better Quality - same as lace-up neck. As long as Reebok, and the other manufacturers, only work in Europe for IIHF and IOC events, there won't be any.
- Either Nike or Reebok design/maker - it's not because it's Reebok or Nike that design a jersey means it will be a nice design. Have a look at the Olympic jerseys. There not as beautiful as the new Wild away jersey.
- Better selection of merchandising, but higher quality - we're already working on that for next season
- Season Highlight DVD's (Inc. Goals of the season, Fights of the Season, Saves of the season and best funny moments) - cost money. Do you have some to help us provide the DVDs?
- Wider selection of items, like what Davos HC & the Zurich Lions have. answered two line before

As NoUseForANickname has written, our budget is not equal to the NHL's. There is also a very different factor: the NHL owns the league's and team's merchandising. If you order 800k red t-shirt for Detroit, Washington and Montreal, it costs less money than 1k in burgundy (a very rare and difficult to find colour). Just for your information, what Ilya Kovalchuk earned last season was more money than Bern's budget, which is one of the two biggest in Switzerland.

[Doug]

None of this will happen! Just get over it, we're in Geneva for Christ's sake!

[MMM]

None of this will happen! Just get over it, we're in Geneva for Christ's sake!

For Chris's sake (ic)

[NoUseForANickname]

Mais ouais... on est pas la NHL, point final.

tout est plutôt cool au final, vu les moyens dispos... promis, si je deviens milliardaire, je sponsorise de ma poche un merch et des maillots que le monde entier nous enviera...

[AussieDave27]

Thank you kindly for your details reply. I have a friend who is a bit critical about our guernseys. He also suggested that the secondary logo would look better on the shoulder, particularly since it's white and tends to blend in where it is, but if that's not allowed then it's not a big problem.

One question that hasn't been answered, is it going to be possible to buy the match quality guernseys where the big GSHC logo is stitched on (and possibly the name and number too?).

Oh, and one more, what about numbers on the shoulders/sleeves. I don't want to resort to a "they do it in the NHL" argument, but I genuinely think it looks cool. It would be confusing with the retired numbers at the bottom though, and they are a nice touch on a guernsey.

Great fact r.e. Ilya Kovalchuk!

We'd like to thank you for your suggestions. Here's what we can tell you about:

- Lace-Up Neck - even if it's nice, it's just a trend. We had lace-up neck, and only the Reebok system (only available with Reebok Edge as Reebok doesn't do the Reebok-sponsored team jerseys in Europe) is a good thing as the lace doesn't move during cleaning. It's a pain in the a** for a daily use.
- Maroon Home,white Away - choice of the designer.
- A proper launch event for the new jerseys. - we tried a few years ago, it was a flop. Execpt this season, we recieved our jerseys only on opening night. It's difficult then to organize something big
- a Traditional Hockey design (like the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins) - what's really traidtional in hockey? We had one in 2004-2005, but we had to ask our partners (who offers us the opportunity to have palyers such as Matthew Lombardi in Geneva) to remove their advertising. Not many of us are fans, but it a necessity to have partners on the jersey (it's the most expensive advertising space in a hockey club and we need money to play players).
- Secondary logo on shoulder, like NHL teams - league doesn't allow it
- a 3rd/Cup (from 2014/15 season) that mimics a jersey from the 100+ year history of the club. - Maybe for the Cup, but, what we have heard so far, is that the cup organizer will provide the jersey, as during the Spengler Cup
- Better Quality - same as lace-up neck. As long as Reebok, and the other manufacturers, only work in Europe for IIHF and IOC events, there won't be any.
- Either Nike or Reebok design/maker - it's not because it's Reebok or Nike that design a jersey means it will be a nice design. Have a look at the Olympic jerseys. There not as beautiful as the new Wild away jersey.
- Better selection of merchandising, but higher quality - we're already working on that for next season
- Season Highlight DVD's (Inc. Goals of the season, Fights of the Season, Saves of the season and best funny moments) - cost money. Do you have some to help us provide the DVDs?
- Wider selection of items, like what Davos HC & the Zurich Lions have. answered two line before

As NoUseForANickname has written, our budget is not equal to the NHL's. There is also a very different factor: the NHL owns the league's and team's merchandising. If you order 800k red t-shirt for Detroit, Washington and Montreal, it costs less money than 1k in burgundy (a very rare and difficult to find colour). Just for your information, what Ilya Kovalchuk earned last season was more money than Bern's budget, which is one of the two biggest in Switzerland.

[swissgripen]

We'd like to thank you for your suggestions. Here's what we can tell you about:

- Lace-Up Neck - even if it's nice, it's just a trend. We had lace-up neck, and only the Reebok system (only available with Reebok Edge as Reebok doesn't do the Reebok-sponsored team jerseys in Europe) is a good thing as the lace doesn't move during cleaning. It's a pain in the a** for a daily use.
- Maroon Home,white Away - choice of the designer.
- A proper launch event for the new jerseys. - we tried a few years ago, it was a flop. Execpt this season, we recieved our jerseys only on opening night. It's difficult then to organize something big
- a Traditional Hockey design (like the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins) - what's really traidtional in hockey? We had one in 2004-2005, but we had to ask our partners (who offers us the opportunity to have palyers such as Matthew Lombardi in Geneva) to remove their advertising. Not many of us are fans, but it a necessity to have partners on the jersey (it's the most expensive advertising space in a hockey club and we need money to play players).
- Secondary logo on shoulder, like NHL teams - league doesn't allow it
- a 3rd/Cup (from 2014/15 season) that mimics a jersey from the 100+ year history of the club. - Maybe for the Cup, but, what we have heard so far, is that the cup organizer will provide the jersey, as during the Spengler Cup
- Better Quality - same as lace-up neck. As long as Reebok, and the other manufacturers, only work in Europe for IIHF and IOC events, there won't be any.
- Either Nike or Reebok design/maker - it's not because it's Reebok or Nike that design a jersey means it will be a nice design. Have a look at the Olympic jerseys. There not as beautiful as the new Wild away jersey.
- Better selection of merchandising, but higher quality - we're already working on that for next season
- Season Highlight DVD's (Inc. Goals of the season, Fights of the Season, Saves of the season and best funny moments) - cost money. Do you have some to help us provide the DVDs?
- Wider selection of items, like what Davos HC & the Zurich Lions have. answered two line before

As NoUseForANickname has written, our budget is not equal to the NHL's. There is also a very different factor: the NHL owns the league's and team's merchandising. If you order 800k red t-shirt for Detroit, Washington and Montreal, it costs less money than 1k in burgundy (a very rare and difficult to find colour). Just for your information, what Ilya Kovalchuk earned last season was more money than Bern's budget, which is one of the two biggest in Switzerland.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, been busy with work! It's great to see the club ARE addressing the situation regarding the merchandising and the lack of verity. The points you've made in regards to the jerseys are very valid, and I'm glad we think along the same line... maybe though, the club could do a fan designed home/away jersey for next season. That way the fans could design and vote on next seasons jersey. The one thing I would say is to offer a retro jersey, made in traditional style? I love my 100ans jersey and just wish I could get another to actually play hockey in!

As for the season highlights, maybe make it as a download from iTunes? That way it costs the club very little to produce and very easy to distribute. You could also then offer individual games for purchase as well.

Something thought that keeps coming out at me is that everyone seems to feel we are a "small club"... Why are we small? we have the same catchment area that most AHL teams do, We have a 2nd tier Football team to "compete" with for fans and revenue and hockey is consistently getting more popular in Geneva. I think it would be good to think big in certain respects to the club, and especially merchandising... especially as its a product that never goes off!

[Cole]

Also - for instance - the ZSC is no NHL club either and yet they offer really good merchandising. The "we are not an NHL structure" arguement has its limits.

[Taupe]

Also - for instance - the ZSC is no NHL club either and yet they offer really good merchandising. The "we are not an NHL structure" arguement has its limits.

Hum. C'est pas un club de NHL, mais ils ont quand même 3 fois notre budget, il me semble...

[swissgripen]

Hum. C'est pas un club de NHL, mais ils ont quand même 3 fois notre budget, il me semble...

How on earth can they have a budget 3 times the size of ours, especially when they have a) 2 top flight football clubs in the area & b) a second flight team in the NLB!?

[Taupe]

Hum. C'est pas un club de NHL, mais ils ont quand même 3 fois notre budget, il me semble...

How on earth can they have a budget 3 times the size of ours, especially when they have a) 2 top flight football clubs in the area & b) a second flight team in the NLB!?

Canton de Genève : +/- 470'000 habitants
Canton de Zurich : +/- 1'400'000 habitants

Le canton de Vaud (le seul qui nous est voisin) à déjà son club de hockey qui est maintenant en LNA. Les Français n'ont pas l'air non plus trop attaché au GSHC.
Du côté de Zurich, les cantons limitrophes (Schaffhouse, Argovie, Thurgovie, Saint-Gall, Schwytz) n'ont pas de club de hockey performant, à part Zoug.

==> ils ont un bien plus grand bassin de supporters potentiels (c'est pas Rappi Jona, ni Kloten et ses 5300 spectacteurs en moyenne qui vont leur en voler des masse..).

Leur patinoire a plus de place que la notre + ils ont des meilleurs résultats que les nôtres.

Peut-être aussi que la ville et le canton de Zurich préfèrent investir là-dedans plutôt que de sur-subventionner le Gross Theater local. Peut-être aussi qu'ils ont plus de mécènes qu'ici.

Voilà voilà, si t'as besoin d'une traduction, n'hésite pas à demander..

[Cole]

Hum. C'est pas un club de NHL, mais ils ont quand même 3 fois notre budget, il me semble...

How on earth can they have a budget 3 times the size of ours, especially when they have a) 2 top flight football clubs in the area & b) a second flight team in the NLB!?

Some dude (or dudette) named Frey - If i remember correctly - is injecting a lot of money in the club. Or it used to be the case anyway, i'm not necessarily up to date.