Rangers sued for £9.5m over Hummel kit wrangle

RANGERS are being sued for £9.5million by a leading sportswear company that claims the club breached a contract allowing them to sell replica kits. Lawyers acting for Elite Sports Group Ltd, the exclusive brand partner to Danish firm Hummel, yesterday persuaded judge Lord Braid to pass an order which forces the Ibrox club to disclose the sales data of rival firm Castore to them. Elite claim Rangers reneged on a deal with them when the club signed an agreement in 2020 with Castore, the official technical kit partner of a number of prominent teams and athletes including Sir Andy Murray. Elite’s lawyer David Thomson KC said his clients should be granted access to how many team kits made by Castore have been sold to help them prepare their case for compensation. He told Lord Braid: ‘It is the pursuer’s case that the rug was effectively pulled from under them. It is clear that Rangers entered into an agreement which they didn’t perform. ‘The amount being sought is currently based on an estimation of sales. If the relevant figures are produced, it will allow the claim to be more specific. I would ask the court to allow my motion for commission of diligence.’ Gavin MacColl, KC for the club, asked Lord Braid not to grant permission for the Castore sales figures to be released. However, Lord Braid allowed Mr Thomson’s motion to be granted, saying: ‘I accept Mr Thomson’s submission that it is relevant to look at what the market was and the sales figures for Castore.’ The case, which will call again in the near future, arises from a separate legal dispute involving Sports Direct — which was then owned by Mike Ashley — and Rangers. Lawyers for Ashley’s firm went to the High Court in London seeking an injunction to stop the deal between Elite and Rangers from going ahead. The deal, which was signed in October 2018, was supposed to allow Hummel to supply the club with kits and to sell replicas to fans. However, it was found that the deal with Hummel was undertaken without giving Sports Direct a chance to match it. A judge ordered that Rangers couldn’t ‘wear any Official Rangers Technical Products designed by, supplied by, gifted by or manufactured by Elite or Hummel, or bearing the Hummel brand’.