Preston North End third kit release imminent as Peter Ridsdale delivers Castore verdict

Preston North End’s home and away kits for 2024/25 have been launched, and the third strip is not far away now.

The Lilywhites have a simplistic, traditional white home kit, with an all light blue away strip - featuring the flag of Preston and a centralised badge. Fans are now waiting in anticipation for the reveal of the third shirt, and director Peter Ridsdale says it will be worn by North End in the second Championship match of the season.

"Yeah, we are wearing it at Swansea and it should be released next week," said Ridsdale, in an interview with the Lancashire Post. "I like it. I hope everybody else does. There have been a few people spreading rumours on what the base colour might be - a lot of it right and a lot of it wrong. And yeah, it will be out next week."

Last season, Ridsdale discussed the first year partnership with sports brand Castore - whom PNE linked up with after the Nike deal expired. There was some early frustration relating to stock availability in the club shop, but so far this summer Ridsdale only has positive things to say.

"I tell you what happened last summer, and it is one of those weird situations, with my background as a retailer," said Ridsdale. "If you have got a shop full of stock, often it is because you've done a good job and are fully stocked - or that people don't want to buy what you have put in front of them. So, sometimes the sign of a half-full shop is that it's signing so well, you can't replenish it quickly enough. Last summer, in our first year with Castore, we had that bottle green hoodie that we had as an interim solution before all the stock came in.

“We started wearing it for pre-season games and everybody was desperate for it, and we couldn't get it in. When we did, it kept selling out. To the best of my knowledge, we are properly stocked this summer. I have had the opportunity to see most of it and I think the quality is outstanding. I think the design is as good as it gets. In fact, I wore one of the zipper tops at the Football League board meeting and everybody was asking where they can get it from - until they realised it had a little 'PNE' on it. I think the quality is superb, the design is very good and, to the best of my knowledge, we are stocked as well as we can be at this time of the season.

“Sales have been outstanding which, again, is another challenge, to replenish it. We've had nothing but support from Castore and nothing but compliments about the quality of their stock. And, the designs are unique to us - whether people sometimes like them or hate them. Whereas, prior to going with Castore we had to have, essentially, off-the-shelf stock that others could buy or use elsewhere - or hand-me-downs from the Premier League. So, we are delighted with Castore and we are delighted with the sales."