BLACKBURN Rovers supporters look set to become the most fashionable in the Premiership!

Clothes guru Wayne Hemingway - the man behind the multi-million pound Red or Dead label - could be about to design a new range of leisurewear for fans of his hometown club.

As we revealed in a recent interview with Wayne in East Lancs 2000, Red or Dead have been in discussions with Rovers about a partnership. Now the London-based fashion house, famous across the catwalks of Europe, is set to go ahead and start work on designs.

Today Wayne, 37, a former QEGS pupil who launched Red or Dead 16 years ago, said it was a dream come true.

"For a Rovers fan to design a new range of clothing for the club is great. And it will be something no other club has done."

Wayne, who has won a clutch of top fashion awards recently, is now looking with Rovers for a local manufacturer to produce the range. He said: "We are determined that the clothes will be manufactured in the Blackburn area," Wayne said. "We want this to be a community based thing.

"The clothes will be designed by someone from Blackburn, made be people in Blackburn and bought by people from Blackburn."

Rovers chief executive John Williams added : "We would see this initially as a limited edition run but we hope demand will be significant and production will grow."

Although work on designing the range hasn't started yet, it will be based around Rovers' strip colours. And Wayne stressed they won't change to match the fashion world's 'in' colours. "And definitely not if they're claret and blue," he joked.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.