Oiselle Team - Pay for Play Now?

Flock members now get to pay $100 a year for the privilege of wearing the race kit and receiving a 20% discount. $20 of that $$ goes to their elite team. There are plenty of fan girls who I bet will do this and more to say they are on the same team as Kara and Lauren.

the fierce little flock of angry birds loves kara and wants to be her friend

Wazelle wrote:

Flock members now get to pay $100 a year for the privilege of wearing the race kit and receiving a 20% discount. $20 of that $$ goes to their elite team. There are plenty of fan girls who I bet will do this and more to say they are on the same team as Kara and Lauren.

Wazelle wrote:

Flock members now get to pay $100 a year for the privilege of wearing the race kit and receiving a 20% discount. $20 of that $$ goes to their elite team. There are plenty of fan girls who I bet will do this and more to say they are on the same team as Kara and Lauren.

wut.

f^k them, I will just keep wearing counterfeits.

Wazelle wrote:

Flock members now get to pay $100 a year for the privilege of wearing the race kit and receiving a 20% discount. $20 of that $$ goes to their elite team. There are plenty of fan girls who I bet will do this and more to say they are on the same team as Kara and Lauren.

really? I dunno - the race kit? it would take a strange mindset to pay to wear a pro uniform. kind of weird.

Current flock members got a "race kit" that was a fugly ass singlet and a pair of normal shorts that everyone else could buy. A friend told me they sent her a second "race kit" that was literally just a tank and shorts that were both widely available to the public.

Are there really women out there that think being charged $100 for the privilege of wearing clothes everyone else gets to wear for free is... normal? Shame on Oiselle.

Any current flock members out there willing to share the text of the announcement? This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I imagine it went something like "We're all sisters in sport, but only if you pay us." I just want to know their rationale behind this.

This sounds like any other non-elite running club. What's the big deal?

Not a big deal. A lot of companies have membership clubs that one pays for that entitles you to discounts. Best Buy, Gamestop, etc.

The problem with Oiselle is they bitch about the USATF all the time yet don't pay them a dime.

Most likely the company is going belly up. I've never seen a girl running in Oiselle clothes. Plus the just paid Kara like a million bucks to sit at home with an injury. This is a desperation move, obviously.

dum-dee-dum-dum wrote:

Not a big deal. A lot of companies have membership clubs that one pays for that entitles you to discounts. Best Buy, Gamestop, etc.

The problem with Oiselle is they bitch about the USATF all the time yet don't pay them a dime.

This was more of a "brand ambassador" program than a rewards club.

In return for free and heavily discounted merchandise, you were supposed to preach the gospel of Oiselle. Kind of like the Brooks ID program and the Saucony Hurricanes, although the latter is geared more towards sub-elite runners.

Now the free goodies are going away, the discounts are being cut back, and the members are being charged for being in the program. I don't know if Oiselle is doing it because the company financials are bad or if they determined sponsoring a couple big names (Kara, Lauren, etc.) is more worthwhile that a lot of no-names.

Can guys pay the 100 and be a fierce little bird too?

dum-dee-dum-dum wrote:

Not a big deal. A lot of companies have membership clubs that one pays for that entitles you to discounts.

yeah, but do those members CONSTANTLY tweet and blog about how great the company is? And are expected to?

No, you can't charge people to advertise for you. I'm not on twitter doing hashtags about my warehouse club membership.

Totally different situation.

I doubt this rumour is true, anyways. Some not so happy bird would have posted the email by now.

It will be fascinating to watch the "flock" implode upon itself. So many fangirls were eagerly vying for Sally's attention by posting selfies of themselves in her overpriced, low-quality clothes and now they have to pay to be a part of the club, possibly because Sally can't afford to keep her two "elites" on otherwise.

Oiselle has vanity project written all over it - I hope they make it, but I suspect this high level of spending has to fall very quickly

Anyone hear any more rumblings? I've heard that they're not expanding their age-grouper team this year - I wonder how that jives with this supposed change.

tuner wrote:

really? I dunno - the race kit? it would take a strange mindset to pay to wear a pro uniform. kind of weird.

Imagine seeing someone wearing a Lebron James jersey. That would be so weird.

tuner wrote:

really? I dunno - the race kit? it would take a strange mindset to pay to wear a pro uniform. kind of weird.

Um, it would definitely be weird if I saw some recreational pick-up game player wearing a head-to-toe Lakers uniform during his own game... as his actual uniform. And then calling out Lebron on Twitter like, "Hey! Teammate! We both scored 23 points last game - twinsies!" Or taking selfies while wearing the race kit and posting them on instagram and tagging Labron and being like "So excited to be teammates with Lebron! #ObliviouslyJustSponsoringRealProAthletesWithMyFangirling"A race kit is not just something you wear on the weekends or while at a bar watching a sporting event. You wear it while *competing* in that sporting event...That being said, I highly double it will be the same kit as the pros. Currently, the pros wear a special kit. The normal brand ambassadors wear a different one. If that same uniform divide continues, the brand ambassadors will literally be paying to wear a tank top that can be purchased on the website. Dumb.

crinkle and crackle wrote:

Imagine seeing someone wearing a Lebron James jersey. That would be so weird.

tuner wrote:

really? I dunno - the race kit? it would take a strange mindset to pay to wear a pro uniform. kind of weird.