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The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) launches its new premium leisure and performance wear line – designed in-house just steps away from Centre Court.

Available to purchase from this week both in store and online, the ‘Wimbledon Collection’ range includes polo shirts, training tops, skirts, silk ties, UK-sourced Panama Hats as well as the famous souvenir Wimbledon Championships towel.

The aspiration behind the ‘Wimbledon Collection’ is to tap into the growing trend of high-quality all-year round sports and athleisure wear – and put its fashion on a par with must-have brands such as Barbour and Belstaff.

The AELTC also aims to deliver on its environmental goals by including an outfit in the range made almost entirely from sustainable sources – as the polyester fibres come from recycled plastic bottles.

In contrast to Wimbledon’s trademark purple and green, the Activewear Sports capsule collection is white with a symbolic ‘ocean blue’ trim to highlight the sustainable sourcing.

The AELTC today also unveils that from next year, 99 per cent of the fabric used in the entire performance wear collection will be recycled and each individual piece of performance wear will contain the equivalent of up to 20 plastic bottles.

David Hewitt, AELTC Head of Retail, said: “Our clothing operation is now truly aligned with our core value ‘In Pursuit of Greatness’ which is woven into every aspect of Wimbledon life and what fans around the world have come to expect.

“The Wimbledon brand is famed for our attention to detail – from cutting the grass to 8mm to only picking strawberries of a certain size – and with our fashion range we wanted to go from something seen as a competition souvenir to a quality everyday brand, something that we’ve managed to convey through ‘Proudly Understated’ ad campaign to launch the range.

“To achieve this we reviewed the entire range, brought design in-house and took complete ownership of all sourcing. We also communicated directly with manufacturers and started visiting and auditing the factories we work with to ensure the whole operation is in line with AELTC values. We took control of the materials and the cut by creating our own patterns, which immediately took us out of the ‘stock printed T-shirt’ cycle.

“Our commitment to using sustainable sourcing shows the pride we have in our Collection; it’s the right thing to do, in this year of all years, and we are delighted to be helping to show how it can be done.”

The ‘Wimbledon Collection’ is the culmination of a four-year journey that began when Mr Hewitt and his team were brought in. The team was concerned that previous product was too often associated purely with The Championships and therefore viewed as a seasonal brand.

A complete review of the brand saw design taken in-house beginning with the AELTC’s classic T-shirt and moving onto polo shirts, performance wear, skirts, dresses, knitwear, kidswear, outerwear, caps, hats and socks.

The in-house ‘Wimbledon Collection’ features more than 100 items and will sit alongside traditional collaborations with Polo Ralph Lauren and Babolat.

Amelia Graham

The ‘Proudly Understated’ campaign, shot by famed photographer Elliot Kennedy, celebrates this journey, aiming to demonstrate that Wimbledon has a relevance beyond tennis, and can be a part of everyday fashion life.