I’m doing market research for university and my case study is rugby apparel. Any responses are much appreciated. Cheers!

[TheGreatWhiteRooster]

What are some of the issues you or your mates experience in regards to your match kit?

Shirts-

Shorts-

Looking for honest feedback and open discussion.

[Puja]

Most of the shorts on the market don't have leg holes wide enough to fit my thighs properly. The only one that I've found which does are Gilbert and they fall apart after about 6 months use, so they're more like rentals than buying.

That the kind of thing you need?

Puja

[TheGreatWhiteRooster]

Thanks for the reply @Puja! You were the first person to give me the time of day across most of the interwebs.

That’s exactly the kind of responses I was looking for. Really just looking to gauge interest for a potentially new rugby-wear technology.

I’ve always hated the fact that I can fine some pretty snazzy looking rugby shorts, but the nice, kit-worthy shorts never have pockets. Based on that factor alone, it makes them much less ideal to wear around town.

[Mr Mwenda]

As a social scientist, I feel your pain.

I'm struggling a bit with your questions. Do you mean the training wear that is buy for myself and train in, the club stash I wear to show my membership or the match day gear the club provides?

[TheGreatWhiteRooster]

Thanks again for another response @Mr Mwenda! You and @Puja are providing more interactive conversation than I’ve gotten from anyone in the last month. I appreciate the insight and the knowledge.

I suppose there are a couple answers to your questions here. I play club rugby in the US and every club I’ve been a part of in my 5 years within the sport has always done a bit of all three of the options you mentioned above. For example:

• I have gear that I purchased myself and is average run-of-the-mill gear. Standard, single-color shorts with no team branding.

• I also have some team merch that is branded, but is personally owned and not retained by the club. As my years have gone on in the rugby community I’ve acquired more of this type of gear and have even traded with other clubs so I have a nice hodgepodge of multi-team gear.

• I’m not in a position on the club leadership of my current club (yet) so I’m not responsible for handling the club’s match kit(s) and other essential branded gear.

The questions I’m trying to get at are the experience(s) of people that have been around for a long time (5+ years) that have experience with different types of gear and have found their preferences for and/or against certain materials, styles, sizing options, etc.

The main issues I’ve been having are framing big, multi-faceted questions -like the book I just wrote above- into simple, easy-to-digest language that almost anyone can understand. Do you have any tips/tricks from your experience in the social sciences?

[Mr Mwenda]

To be honest, probably doing some qualitative interviews or focus groups might be more likely to gain results. Getting a group of teammates together would probably deliver a lot of opinions on gear. You could then steer discussion towards the aspects of clothing that interest you. After that, you could then consider some sort of box ticking survey to get a wider sample. There is some good software for that these days. You need to keep it short and tight. People are rarely keen to put in much time to this sort of thing unrewarded.

A few thoughts, personally when I played I found the scramble for the more human sized kit was a pain so I would always being my own shorts and socks even if they didn't match. I also would appreciate pockets for my gumshield.

Jersey-wise, I played through the transition from heavy cotton jerseys that weighed a tonne when wet to the much better modern materials. I still prefer cotton ones for my non playing clothes.

I still have a minor psychological preference for long sleeve shirts that I would always roll up. This was due to my u13 coach instructing us to. The instruction was whenever we felt a long sleeve in a ruck we should think "wahay it's Christmas" and you can go to town on their fingers. It's been a long, long time since I had a long sleeve playing jersey, mind! The fear is still real though.

[Puja]

To be honest, probably doing some qualitative interviews or focus groups might be more likely to gain results. Getting a group of teammates together would probably deliver a lot of opinions on gear. You could then steer discussion towards the aspects of clothing that interest you. After that, you could then consider some sort of box ticking survey to get a wider sample. There is some good software for that these days. You need to keep it short and tight. People are rarely keen to put in much time to this sort of thing unrewarded.

A few thoughts, personally when I played I found the scramble for the more human sized kit was a pain so I would always being my own shorts and socks even if they didn't match. I also would appreciate pockets for my gumshield.

Jersey-wise, I played through the transition from heavy cotton jerseys that weighed a tonne when wet to the much better modern materials. I still prefer cotton ones for my non playing clothes.

I still have a minor psychological preference for long sleeve shirts that I would always roll up. This was due to my u13 coach instructing us to. The instruction was whenever we felt a long sleeve in a ruck we should think "wahay it's Christmas" and you can go to town on their fingers. It's been a long, long time since I had a long sleeve playing jersey, mind! The fear is still real though.

Gods, I haven't played in a long sleeved shirt in over a decade. Brings back memories that does - I've just got a vivid memory of playing in torrential rain in a shirt that had absorbed a swimming pool's worth of mud and weighed more than I did.

I will second the need for a pocket for a gumshield. Proper pocket, as well, not a little shallow internal one that it'll just fall out of.

Puja