Confirmed: Sunderland Ditch Umbro For Adidas

After weeks and months of speculation, it's been confirmed that Sunderland have indeed allowed the kit deal with Umbro to expire, and we will now have our strips manufactured by Adidas.

Adidas' currently make kits for Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea among others, and have long been established as one of the worlds premier sportswear brands.

Chief Exec, Margret Byrne, told the clubs official website;

We are delighted to welcome Adidas as an official partner of Sunderland AFC. Our aim is to increase Sunderland's international profile and, as one of the world leaders in their field, we are very much looking forward to working with the dynamic team at Adidas.

New home and away kits will be unveiled in the coming weeks and launched later in the summer and I'm confident that our supporters will be as impressed as we are with everything that Adidas has to offer.

There's still no news on who will be the shirt sponsor, although it's heavily speculated that it will be Invest In Africa, a project spearheaded by Tullow Oil.

Adidas will officially take over as kit manufacturer on June 1st 2012, and all kits will feature ClimaCool and ClimaLite technology - a mixture of heat and moisture controlling materials, ventilation channels and 3D fabrics which improve air flow to the skin and in key heat zones. Basically, you're not gonna be a right sweaty git if you run around in them.

The Away Kit and Training Gear will be unveiled on June 25th, with the Home Kit revealed on July 18th.