FOREST Green Rovers have dumped kit manufacturers Hummel and have announced a new partnership with British Sportswear company PlayerLayer for the 2018/19 season and beyond.

Rovers have been without their kit all season and have been playing in an emergency third kit since the opening day.

Following continued broken promises, Forest Green Rovers took the decision to part company with Hummel, to make the move to the up-and-coming PlayerLayer, who are based in Nottingham.

PlayerLayer is already in production on 100% bespoke home, away and third kits for Forest Green. The designs closely mirror those already announced – the famous green and black striped home kit, the striking all-black away kit and the undefeated sky blue third kit.

The kits will still feature three stars on the back, one filled in to signify the club’s promotion to the Football League in 2017 – with two greyed-out to represent the chairman’s ambitions to reach the championship.

Chairman Dale Vince said: "I’m genuinely excited to be working with PlayerLayer as the spirit of collaboration between us is really strong.

"Their flexibility and focus on one-off designs means we can be super creative – not just with our first team kit, but with training wear and club merchandise too. We have some ground breaking ideas for next year which we’ll start work on in the Autumn, and meanwhile we are at last confident that our kit is on its way."

Joe Middleton, CEO of PlayerLayer, added: "We are a young company and we have an urge to build something new and do some things differently. We have looked at Forest Green for some time and admired their fearless approach to doing things in their own, sometimes, unique way. We share their outlook that you can have commercial and sporting success and still do the right thing for the long haul and we’re going to do everything we can to support them on their journey."

All three replica kits will go on sale for fans by mid-October, with pre-orders being honoured first.

Anyone who had pre-ordered a Hummel kit and keep their existing pre-orders will also receive an exclusive item from the club’s forthcoming ‘1889’ range but the club say refunds are available from the club shop online.

They advise to email clubshop@fgr.co.uk to request a refund.