Admiral Sportswear Limited to be new kit suppliers
We are delighted to announce that AFC Wimbledon will have a new kit supplier from 2014/15 after agreeing a four-year deal with Admiral Sportswear Limited.
Admiral has earned a reputation as one of the most iconic kit manufacturers around having been suppliers for the England national football team (our picture above shows Kevin Keegan leading out the Three Lions in an Admiral kit during the 1970s) , along with clubs including Manchester United.
But this new agreement also has special significance for the Dons because heroes including Vinnie Jones and John Fashanu wore the famous Admiral logo for Wimbledon when the company were the club's kit suppliers over 20 years ago.
It will be the first UK kit supply deal for the owners of the Admiral brand, Admiral Sportswear Limited, and the agreement will result in the launch of three new AFC Wimbledon kits for the 2014-15 campaign.
AFC Wimbledon has provisionally pencilled in 29 June to launch the new kits at the Centre Court Shopping Centre in Wimbledon town centre.
The designs will be revealed the closer that we get to this date and AFC Wimbledon will have a completely new range of training wear.
Commercial Director Ivor Heller has worked tirelessly to tie up the deal and he wished to pay tribute to long-serving kit supplier Tempest Sports.
Ivor said: “Having gone through a lengthy process over the past 18 months to find a new kit supplier, I am thrilled that we’ve agreed a deal with Admiral. We have talked seriously to lots of the key names in kit supply, but the Admiral offer was by far the best and most interesting.
“I would like to pay tribute to Tempest after they served us so well for the club’s first 12 seasons. Alp Orge (Managing Director at Tempest Sports) has been a great help to the club. I will miss dealing with him, but things move on in football. Tempest were informed of the new deal some time ago. It is a credit to them that they continue to support the club and I am truly grateful for that.”
“We’re absolutely delighted to agree a new deal with AFC Wimbledon. We really appreciate the openness and the way in which the club have welcomed the opportunity to work with Admiral. I’d like to personally thank Ivor Heller (AFC Wimbledon Commercial Director) for helping to make this happen. Admiral Sportswear Sales and Marketing Director, Tim Gardiner, said:
“We’re all looking forward to working with the club over the next four years and making this partnership a success, with AFC Wimbledon playing an important role in the re-launch of the Admiral brand.”
Established in 1914 in Leicester by Harold Hurst and Christopher Cook, Admiral started life as a supplier to the British Armed Forces, but it has since become a renowned sports kit supplier.
A ground-breaking deal came when Admiral agreed a five-year contract with the English FA in 1974 to produce the first commercially available England football shirt. Having also supplied the England cricket team with kit, Admiral remains the only ever brand to have appeared on both the English national cricket and football teams’ playing kit.