When Sheffield Wednesday hierarchy are expecting Umbro kit arrival
Sheffield Wednesday will have a new and familiar look heading into the new season.
Time constraints on the rapid turnaround of Sheffield Wednesday’s new deal with a much-loved retail manufacturer will mean kits will be available to buy a little later than would be ideal.
The Star reported that the Owls are set to head back to images of their halcyon days with the return of Umbro as their kit manufacturer after an existing agreement with Macron was terminated early towards the end of the administration process. The Umbro deal is yet to be announced but is expected to be made in due course, with new Wednesday CEO David Bruce having once again playfully declined to comment on the identity of the new kit manufacturer in a fan meeting on Monday evening.
Kits are routinely signed-off between clubs and manufacturers well over a year before their release, making their timely release one of many ambitious projects senior figures have attacked since taking ownership of the Owls at the turn of May. The switch was seen as a necessary one, with the Macron deal having been seen as less than favourable to the club from a business perspective.
Bruce said: “It’s a really unique situation in many parts of our business, moving from the old company to the new company and the situation where you can terminate contracts that you don’t thank are working for the club and you look at if you want to do something different.
“Clearly we’re moving away from the past manufacturer of our kits - and well played to the previous manufacturer of our kits, they served a purpose for a period of time. But we want to bring in a partner who are a lot more suitable to the Wednesday we want to be and that is in line with the history and heritage that this football club has.”
Though announcements and a pre-sale offering are expected in the coming weeks, Bruce explained the time pressures on the eventual release of the kit to supporters and expressed a confidence that at least the home kit will be available to buy in the Megastore in the week leading into of the season opener, a Carabao Cup clash set for the weekend of August 7.
“Timelines on these things are normally 12 to 18 months,” he continued. “We’ve given ourselves two and a half or three months. We’re working really, really hard with our new partner, who we hope to be able to announce very soon. The plan is to be ready with at least a home kit - and hopefully an away or a third - for the first week of August.
“That’s obviously not the timeline we will be adhering to moving forward. (In future seasons) We’ll obviously have them ready for the summer, earlier in the summer so you can get them when the season has ended and you’re getting ready for the summer holidays and so on. But we’re hopeful for that first week of August to have a couple of the kits in.”