(Image: AFC Bournemouth)
(Image: AFC Bournemouth)
THE Cherries will not be changing their kits this season after backlash over the pink Vitality logo on the front of each shirt, Jim Frevola has confirmed, but the club and company will take on board the feedback for future shirts.
All three kits feature the Vitality logo in a pink circle, which has drawn criticism from fans.
The health and life insurance company, which is a big employer in Bournemouth and sponsors the club’s stadium, took over from BJ88 as front-of-shirt sponsor for this coming season, with a ban on betting sponsors in the Premier League.
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But fans were disappointed with the kits as they turned out, due to the clashing colours.
In an interview with Jordan Clark from BBC Radio Solent, president of business operations Frevola, explained: "Two years ago, when we had our partnership with BJ88 announced, there was a lot of negative feedback around that.
(Image: AFC Bournemouth)
"Understandably, I understand why people would object to certain partners.
"People are absolutely welcome to their opinions on it.
"But what I will say is our kit sales were through the roof and we had record kit sales in back-to-back years.
"So two years ago we had a record kit sale, last year we beat two years ago’s record.
"So sometimes the noise and the clatter around those kits don’t translate necessarily to people’s desire to have the kits.
"Football kits are a personal thing to folks and I totally respect that, totally understand that."
(Image: AFC Bournemouth)
Frevola said that Vitality are "one of the best partners a football club can have".
"They’ve been partners with the team for ten years," he said.
"They are one of the biggest employers in Bournemouth. They are a flagship partner of our community sports trust, they sponsor our women’s team. They do so many community initiatives.
"When we went to them, six, eight, ten months ago whenever it was that we started the conversations with them, we were facing down 10 or 11 teams that had the sports betting ban going into effect this year.
"They were one of the first people to step up and say we’re behing you in a meaningful way, in a meaningful contribution from a sponsorship perspective.
"They’ve been phenomenal partners.
(Image: Robin Jones/AFC Bournemouth)
"We are not immune to the noise on this topic, and neither are Vitality.
"Their CEO is aware of it, their marketing team is aware of it, and all I can say is we’ve absolutely heard the feedback.
"We will take it on board, we’ve talked to Vitality about it.
"They’ve been super supportive about talking about future designs for future seasons and taking that feedback onboard and integrating it in a way that I think people will be happy about in the future."
Frevola confirmed that the kits will stay as they are and will not change, and fans will not be able to buy a shirt without a sponsor, as in previous years when there was a betting sponsor on the front.
(Image: AFC Bournemouth)
The alternate badge on the third kit, too, was not the start of a ‘silent rebrand’, as some fans had said on social media, with Frevola saying that was "completely false", and there is no desire to change the club crest.
He did say limited numbers of kits with Bournemouth University on the front, that the women’s team wear, would be available.
The partnership with Vitality, though, is key, and Frevola said they would have violated squad cost ratio rules without it.
He confirmed that next season’s kits are being designed now, and they have taken the feedback on board.
(Image: AFC Bournemouth)
"We’re going to integrate it well," he said.
"I think pink is an important colour to them and what we have to do is if we’re going to integrate pink into a kit is make sure that it’s more naturally integrated into it.
"We’ve heard the feedback and we’re not immune to trying to make adjustments."
With the kits currently being designed for the 2027/28 season, Frevola admitted that they were behind in finalising their kits for this season as the deal with Vitality was confirmed around December/January.
The base kits were already designed with Hummel, and so they had to integrate the sponsors into them in a condensed time frame.
Despite the criticism, Frevola said kit sales had been "really good", even with the superstore currently closed due to building work at the Vitality Stadium.