The Emperors' New Clothes, Part II - No Glove...

Follwing up on yesterday's unveil, Nike's website has this to say about the Packers's new uniforms:

The Green Bay Packers have chosen to stay with their traditional design aesthetic as well as their former uniform fabrication for the coming season. In addition to serving as the Packers on-field supplier for uniforms, sideline apparel, practice wear and baselayer, Nike will provide both men’s and women’s fan wear apparel. Athletes will now also be able to wear the Nike Vapor Jet 2.0 Glove featuring the interlocking team logo on the palms.

Here's a picture of the gloves (which were unveiled back in January):

That mugging-for-the-camera hand gesture is going to get very old very fast.

The Emperors' New Clothes

The Nike/NFL uniform unveiling is happening right now in my home borough of Brooklyn. The Seahawks have taken advantage of Nike's design department, opting for a total-overhaul with nothing left untouched. Other teams accepted minor changes, mostly appearing to be influenced by Nike's standard design template and construction considerations.

Here's our first glimpse at what your Green Bay Packers will be wearing in 2012:

Uni Watch

And a glimpse of the back, as seen through the rows of display mannequins:

Uni Watch

Wow, huge changes, huh? The Reebok vector has been replaced with the swoosh, and the "NFL EQUIPMENT" patch is gone. And... that's about it.

I'm relieved to see that there are almost no changes. The Braisher stripes still run all the way up to the top of the pants, Forrest Gregg's collar stripes are uninterrupted by the Nike Flywire design, and the general construction seems to be very similar to previous jerseys, unlike the new jerseys of many teams.

As we thought, the swoosh now faces the players' front on each side, resulting in this "backwards" logo.

The best news so far is that they've scrapped the silly "NFL EQUIPMENT" patch, returning to a simple NFL shield at the throat and on the right hip. A massive upgrade, if for that alone.

The backwards swoosh on the right sleeve looks odd.

Nike's website has this to say about the Packers:

The Green Bay Packers have chosen to stay with their traditional design aesthetic as well as their former uniform fabrication for the coming season.

The Packers were one of five teams to so decline Nike's makeover (the others being Atlanta, Philadelphia, Carolina and Oakland). And good for them all.

Would You Call This a 'Hsoows'?

This blurry cameraphone photo was Tweeted earlier today. It shows what appears to be the Jacksonville Jaguars' new Nike jerseys.

Sneak peak at new #jaguars uniforms. Not much change. But at least black is back in the rotation.via.me/-i9unji

— Doug Walker (@DWalker1026) March 29, 2012

Nothing much new here. Looks like the Jags are keeping the same basic design next year, with the addition of a black jersey in the same template.

There is one point of interest to us, though. Look at the left sleeve of the white jersey: is that swoosh backwards?

If this photo is genuine, that would be a significant departure for Nike.

In the past, they have always noted in their style guides that the swoosh is never to face right to left (except, of course, for every right shoe they sell). And when they outfitted the Packers (and others) before Reebok assumed the league-wide conract, the swoosh always faced the same way on each sleeve.

We'll see soon enough. The Nike unveiling is scheduled for April 3rd in New York City.

A Peek at the (Sizeable) Swoosh.

Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith has posted a picture of his team's orange alternate Nike jersey on his Twitter feed.

This is our first look at a Nike jersey under the new league-wide uniform manufacturing contract. And it doesn't show anything groundbreaking. Set-in sleeve, screened stripes (sure hope the Packers opt for something a bit more professional-looking), Nike swoosh logo. The shoosh looks awfully big to me, but that can't be helped by comparison with the very small Dolphins logo patch.

Most notably, it doesn't appear that Nike has altered the sleeve stripe pattern. Compare with the soon-to-be-former Reebok version:

I know that there have been fears expressed that Nike would run roughshod over the current designs of all teams; I have never believed that, and apparently I was right to be skeptical.

"Futuristic and fun", Part II

Not so fast on those concerns about Nike's new Packers uniforms, according to the Journal Sentinel's Tom Silverstein:

Manufacturer switch won't result in Packers uniforms changing

A lot has been made about the NFL's switch in uniform manufacturers from Reebok to Nike and what changes that might bring.

Here's one thing you can take to the bank: The Packers' colors aren't changing.

I've been assured that by someone in the league who has been briefed on the switchover to Nike. It is true that some teams will make drastic changes to their uniforms in the name of marketing dollars, but the only difference you'll see in Packers uniforms is the material from which they're made.

Nike is known for its futuristic color combinations and mesh look (see University of Oregon), so you can anticipate some change when the uniforms roll out April 3, as ProFootballTalk.com has reported. But most of it will only be noticeable from close up I'm told and from the stands or TV it shouldn't look that different.

Of course, that's from someone who hasn't seen the Packers' new uniforms but is going on what basic knowledge on the switch is around the league.

One could only imagine GM Ted Thompson's hair going from snow white to on fire if he was presented with a uniform that bore any difference than the one the Packers are wearing now, let alone a flourescent green one like Oregon's. He's such a devoted traditionalist that he would never stand for anything but the most minor of changes - if any.

Back in 1993, word got out that then-GM Ron Wolf was considering changing the base color of the Packers uniform from green to blue, but that created a firestorm of criticism from many different directions and the change wasn't made. Neither Thompson nor president Mark Murphy want any part of that.

The technological changes Nike is instituting should make the uniforms appear a little different, but the word is things will be as status quo as possible for the Packers. We'll know in a matter of weeks what Nike's interpretation of green and gold is, but if you see Thompson's head on fire between now and April 3 you'll know something has gone wrong.

Makes sense. The construction of the Packers' classic uniform will change, as we already know, but I'd be surprised if they allow anything more than the minor aesthetic changes resulting from that.

I think Mr. Silverstein is misremembering Ron Wolf's proposed 1993 change, though. While it was indeed rumored in the year leading up to it that the Packers would change team colors to blue and gold, by the time the Packers announced their new design they had scrapped that plan and instead designed a simplified green and gold uniform.

Green jersey, metallic gold helmet and pants, white numbers outlined in gold. Packer logo on sleeves, and no stripes anywhere. Ironically, the kind of design that would fit Nike's template perfectly, had Wolf followed through twenty years ago.

"Futuristic and fun"?!

Uh, oh.

Matt Barrows, who covers the 49ers for the Sacramento Bee, tweeted this about an hour ago:

Big unveil: April 3. RT @Aaron_Nagler: Got an email from someone who has seen the new Packers unis. They are "futuristic and fun" Gulp.

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) March 9, 2012

My initial reaction is skepticism. Unnamed sources are about as reliable as Wikipedia. But we'll see.

Got to try to wrangle an invitation to the unveiling....

Mark Your Calendars

Nike announced today that it will unveil its new NFL uniforms at a media event in New York on April 3.

The teams themselves will receive their uniforms on April 1, the first day of the new league-wide manufacturing contract.

Can't wait to see what they have in store for our Pack.

That's My Motto

More details about Nike's impending takeover of the league-wide uniform contract are leaking out. On the Chris Creamer Sports Logos board, Redskins fan DeFrank posted this tidbit:

At a "chalk talk" tonight with Redskins GM Bruce Allen, the Redskins 80th Anniversary was brought up. It was briefly mentioned by the GM that the Redskins will have the words "Team Effort Tradition" on the inside collar of each jersey in coordination with Nike taking over. He said all teams will have their own motto. So, there we go. Thought I'd share...

Interesting.

Nike has been doing this for years with their soccer shirts. Take for example this beautiful kit, designed by Nike for Arsenal's 125th Anniversary this season.

Inside the shirt, on the back of the crest, is the club motto.

This is fairly common in world soccer these days, and Nike has a major presence there. I don't know if Nike originated the practice, but looks like they're bringing it to the NFL.

I like it. I've never been fond of the overly-detailed uniforms Reebok designed for the Vikings, Cardinals and Falcons, with all their extraneous piping and paneling. This, however, is different. A nice little detail that can be appreciated by the players (but let's be honest, far more by the fans who'll buy these things) that doesn't impact the team's classic design.

So what do you think the Packers' motto should be? Personally, I'm rather partial to "Go! You Packers Go!", although I could see a Lombardi quote working there. Just please, not "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."

How about these, from VinceLombardi.com's quote page?

"Winning is not a sometime thing…it’s an all the time thing."
"If you don’t think you’re a winner, you don’t belong here."
"If we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."

Or maybe something from this sign, erected in New City Stadium's tunnel by Coach Lombardi early in his tenure:
What would you suggest?

The Future's So Bright, Part II

Before the Super Bowl, we learned that the Giants' regular metallic-sheen helmets were going to be replaced by a custom paint job from Oregon-based Hydro Graphics Inc., Nike's go-to subcontractor for custom helmet finishes.

The move was reportedly motivated by problems maintaining the metallic-blue finish over the course of a game:

The Giants staff has been actively seeking out ways of improving the performance and durability of their helmet coatings for quite some time and were interested in how the HGI HydroSkin® technology might be able to help them.

If that was the intention, HGI fumbled.

The finishes looked great at the beginning of the game. I've been a fan of the Giants' helmet since it was unveiled in 2000, and in the beginning it appeared as though HGI got it just right.

Deep royal blue with metallic flake. Perfect.

As the game went on, the repeated impacts started to show.

On many players, particularly Manning and his receivers, the helmets continued to shine:

Linemen and other players who sustained repeated impacts throughout the game, however, were another matter. HGI's vaunted finsh showed every scrape and chip:

Whatever problems the Giants were having with their helmets before, surely they weren't this bad.

I guess this means we won't be seeing new metallic Packer helmets anytime soon. Back to the drawing board.

The Future's So Bright. Well, Sparkly, At Least.

Hydro Graphics Inc., the people behind those super-shiny commemorative helmets given to the Jaguars' former owners, will have a hand in the Super Bowl.

HGI HydroSkin® Technology Adds Finishing Touch to New York Giants Helmets

While every football fan around the country has been making plans for watching the Super Bowl this weekend, HGI has been busy working on supporting one of the teams that is playing in the game: the New York Giants.

The New York Giants project has actually been in the works since early October 2011 when HGI was approached by the Giants staff regarding the HGI HydroSkin® technology. The Giants staff has been actively seeking out ways of improving the performance and durability of their helmet coatings for quite some time and were interested in how the HGI HydroSkin® technology might be able to help them.

Although HGI would have loved to add some spice to the Giants traditional blue helmet, our charter at this time was to match the existing Giants blue helmet using HGI HydroSkin® technology to improve the durability of the final finish to the helmets.

We at HGI are extremely excited to be working with the Giants and supporting one of the teams that will be playing in the 2012 Super Bowl. And although the helmets HGI finally provided to the Giants were not a visual update, we are confident that this is only beginning for future opportunities.

I'm certainly glad that the Giants aren't willing to let them "add some spice".

HGI has given us a peek at the process of applying the "HydroSkin® technology", posting these photos on its Facebook page:


I don't watch enough Giants games to realize that they've been having problems with the durability of their helmet finishes. I will watch this one, however, so it should be interesting to see what HGI can do.

If successful, the Packers might well use this technology to reproduce the pearlized finish they've worn since 2001.

A New Gold Standard?

Last Sunday, at Jacksonville's last game of the season, outgoing owners Wayne and Delores Weaver were given gold-plated helmets from the team as a thank-you for bringing the Jaguars to town twenty years ago.

The helmets were created for the team by Hydro Graphics Inc., the Portland-based custom painting company responsible for the chrome Nike helmets worn by the Oregon Ducks in the 2012 Rose Bowl.

But don't hold that against them.

The helmets themselves are interesting. This might be the wave of the future, as Nike prepares to assume the league-wide uniform contract.

The mirror finish is a little much for me, but I rather like the muted effect on the back bumper.

So, is this something we could ever see the Packers doing? We already know that Nike has some (perhaps) minor changes in store for the Pack when they take over the uniforms, so it's not impossible that the Packers. The helmet finish has already been altered at least once, when the Packers moved to the current metallic "pearlized" sheen in 2001. This could be the next step in their aesthetic evolution.

Okay, that's a "collectible" mini-helmet from a couple years ago. Maybe it wouldn't have to look as garish as all that. Perhaps something closer to the new Notre Dame helmets, which were designed to mimic the famous Golden Dome.

If a paint company can match Notre Dame's administration building, surely they could come up with a pretty good approximation of the Packers' shade of athletic gold. Perhaps in a satin finish, like this gold-plated saxophone:

That color's not too far off.

We can only wonder what Nike might have in store for us.

"Change is Good," Sayeth Nike

Nike recently posted this video on its YouTube page, advertising that they're going to do to Sunday football what they've done to Fridays and Saturdays.

So long as they're talking about technical innovation, I'm all for it. Design-wise, I'm not so sure...

Uh, Oh: Fear the Swoosh?

We're starting to get the first reports that Nike's assumption of the NFL-wide uniform contract might impact our Packers' æsthetic.

Uni Watch ran this little item yesterday:

Disturbing note from Jordan Pope, who writes: "I work for a Nike team dealer in Washington and we received our sideline exclusives for Fall 2012 with what appears to be a notable change to the Green Bay Packers pants for next year. The green-white-green striping down the pant leg does not start at the top of the pant but rather farther down, at roughly the same spot as the scarlet stripe in Ohio State's Pro Combat uniforms." Ugh — I reeeealllly hope that's not a sign of things to come....

It was followed up by a comment from Simply Moono, who added this:

While not good news, I should clear the air here and say that it won’t be like 'Bama's AmPac pants from last year:

but more like the Florida Nike Pro Combat 2011 unis from their bowl game against Penn State (see #94 here).

The top of the stripe (as shown with #94) will start from the bottom of the belt chamber, but — for the most part — will still be a full stripe.

Also see: the new Nike Team Sports uniform builder. The "Three Color Stripe" option on the pants will give you a general visual, although I'm sure that the belt chamber won’t be that big.

Uni Watch prexy Paul Lukas gave us a screencap of the uniform builder website:

As might be expected, Paul himself had the best comment:

And now a simple question: WHY?

Answer: possibly just because they're Nike. A swoosh on the hip might not be sufficiently distinctive to brand the new uniforms as "theirs."

This might not be all bad, if the truncated stripe isn't too obvious. It could look like a simple belt loop. But now I find myself wondering what other changes Beaverton might have in mind for the Green and Gold.

I am still really hoping that they'll make the obvious fix to the Packers' sleeve stripe problem.

A Glimpse of the Future (I Hope)

This past weekend was a significant one in sports æsthetics, not only because of the first on-field appearance of the Packers' 1929-style throwback uniforms, but because of an innovation that took the field in Corvallis, Oregon on Saturday.

Working with uniform manufacturer Nike, the Oregon State Beavers wanted to create a 1960s-style throwback uniform for the latest installment of their traditional "Civil War" game with the Oregon Ducks. This presented a common problem: reconciling the classic uniform style of distinctive sleeve stripes with modern jersey cuts which no longer have sleeves. This is a problem the Packers have faced for years. The previous solution (also created by Nike) was to reduce the number of stripes to something more likely to fit. This time, Nike's designers came up with an inspired solution (if such a description is not too immodest, as I have been advocating the exact same move for years), they moved the stripes off the jersey itself and on to the compression shirts worn under those jerseys.

The end result was pretty solid. And it's one that the Packers should seriously consider when Nike takes over the NFL uniform manufacturing contract in 2012.

It's easy to imagine these jerseys in a particular shade of green and gold.

I'm aware that the reduction in sleeves has come at the request of players, particularly linemen, who feel that every square inch of fabric gives an opponent more opportunity to grab a handful of jersey. That's why I like this solution - not only does it address the æsthetics but also the performance aspects. Fabric worn tight against the skin is hard to hold onto. To the extent any jersey prohibits such holds, the compression shirt model does.

There can be long-sleeve versions and short-sleeve versions for players, ensuring that in warmer weather players could still show their stripes, and in colder weather players would be assured that opposing players couldn't get a grip on their sleeves.

There's an added off-field benefit - the Packers could do a brisk business selling compression shirts to fans, either for wearing under their jerseys or by themselves.

So there you have it. There is a performance benefit, a commercial benefit, and an æsthetic benefit. A win/win/win.

Okay, Mr. Murphy. The ball is in your court - time to bring the Packers' jerseys back to their original form by embracing a bold step forward.

So Simple, It's Perfect

This morning, Nike unveiled its new slate of special "Pro Combat" uniforms for the college teams they outfit. Among the standard hyper-futuristic designs on display is this 1967 throwback for the Oregon State Beavers:

Most notable are the sleeve stripes, which have been moved to the compression shirts:

What a novel idea, preserving 1960s design with twenty-first century technology. If Oregon State can do this, then why can't the Packers?

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UPDATE: Paul Lukas posted more pictures of the uniform on ESPN.com as part of his coverage of the unveiling:

The undershirt looks pretty good in its own right. I can easily imagine a green-and-gold version for sale at the Pro Shop:

Here's Paul's take (emphasis mine):

Surprisingly old-school, no? ... Hard to believe this is the same school that wore that sports bra design a few years back. ... A few minutes before the unveiling, a guy from Nike introduced himself to me, pointed at this design, and said, "I worked on all of these, and this is the best one of the bunch." Hard to disagree. ... Matte-finish helmet is interesting. ... Putting the sleeve stripes on the undersleeves, instead of on the actual jersey, is probably the future of football striping.

We can certainly hope so.