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Why does no team use earth tone colors? 


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3 minutes ago, GFB said:

 

I understand the point that you're trying to make, but darker shades of colors (like navy, maroon, and forest green) are not "earth tones." They still have the saturation of the vibrant shades, just with less lightness. 

 

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Go look at the colors posted in the original post... the majority have a <50% saturation. The only truly saturated colors are in the orange/brown spectrum. 

 

Even in most of the examples being thrown out (Coyotes, Browns, Padres), they pair one earth tone with a vibrant color, which is a great base for a unique color scheme.  However, the original question was "Why does no team use ONLY earth tone colors?" and the answer is that earth tones are drab by nature. While that does have its benefits (earth tones work great if you're painting interior walls in your home because they aren't richly saturated), a palette of ONLY earth colors just doesn't work for pro teams:

 

phillies_padres_baseball-sff_213389_game

 

 

I think it depends. Is the term “earth tones” accepted to include only drab, desaturated colors, or does it also include saturated colors found in nature? If it’s the latter, I’d definitely consider the Browns’ orange and the Wild’s/Coyotes’ red to be earth tones (autumn leaves, desert rocks). Heck, there are mosses and grasses up here as bright as the Seahawks’ green.

 

I guess what I’m saying is... “earth tones” is a silly term that lacks proper specificity for this debate. :lol:

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5 hours ago, Ray Lankford said:

(pondering the Padres not using brown and gold)

 

 

Personally, I love the Padres in brown and gold  I just wouldn't consider it to be a true "earth-tone only" color scheme because of that brilliant marigold:

 

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...if you replace the bright gold with a sand/beige/cream color (a true earth-tone), then it would be too drab. 

 

(BTW, stumbled across this concept while Google searching... can we make this happen, Padres?)

 

yLPXgep.jpg8WYcaZ6.jpg

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30 minutes ago, GFB said:

 

Personally, I love the Padres in brown and gold  I just wouldn't consider it to be a true "earth-tone only" color scheme because of that brilliant marigold:

 

usa_today_10024649.0.jpg

 

...if you replace the bright gold with a sand/beige/cream color (a true earth-tone), then it would be too drab. 

 

(BTW, stumbled across this concept while Google searching... can we make this happen, Padres?)

 

yLPXgep.jpg8WYcaZ6.jpg

That Twitter account has tons of concepts btw, and in all sorts of different color combinations.

 

Also, I think you've hit on why the brown/yellow/orange look doesn't work as well for the Padres. The orange dulls the yellow and gives the whole look an autumnal feel, that is both inappropriate for a San Diego team and also kind of drab.

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7 minutes ago, andrewharrington said:

 

I think it depends. Is the term “earth tones” accepted to include only drab, desaturated colors, or does it also include saturated colors found in nature? If it’s the latter, I’d definitely consider the Browns’ orange and the Wild’s/Coyotes’ red to be earth tones (autumn leaves, desert rocks). Heck, there are mosses and grasses up here as bright as the Seahawks’ green.

 

I guess what I’m saying is... “earth tones” is a silly term that lacks proper specificity for this debate. :lol:

 

True, this is a poor term. You could even make the argument that "earth tones" differ depending upon where you are on the globe (Antartica, the Amazon rainforest, the Outback Desert, and the Pacific Northwest all have wildly different natural palettes).  

 

However, in the generally accepted public terminology, earth tones tend to be dirt/rocks/sand colors (I'll concede the Arizona red rocks color for the D-Backs and Coyotes); but I probably wouldn't consider an orange leaf, robin's egg blue, or bright moss green as true earth-tones.  

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There are several schools at the NCAA D1 FBS level that use earth tones. Both Wyoming and Western Michigan are brown and gold:

 

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Colorado State's dark green and gold:

 

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The maroon and gold of Minnesota, Central Michigan, and Arizona State can by very earthy:

 

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Just now, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Are the colours not close? 

 

hLUelbK.png

 

Definitely close..but I've always assumed they're a few shades apart.

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Does this count?  It was more noticeable when they wore gold/tan pants.  However, they seem to be getting away from the gold altogether recently and switched to white helmets.

 

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I’d think that psychologically, bold / bright colors are more “stimulating” and less relaxing, which is why team (and historical army colors)  were traditionally primary colors or secondary, without too much blending. You don’t see many “earthy” national flags either. In 2018 we look at sports uniforms as fashion statements and they need to look good not only on the field but with a pair of jeans or as a winter cap too, but I think there’s a good reason why the early teams didn’t adopt Forrest-green+brown+tan as colors, even if the technology was there to do so. 

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7 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

And yet there are hockey fans clamoring for a return to white at home. 

 

y ayour right, whenever I watch hockey games in high definition I always ask "WHERE DID ROAD TEAM GO" because they're literally invisible.

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3 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

The metallic thread really sets them apart.

 

But the flat, non-metallic version, yeah.  They're close.

 

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They discontinued those jerseys, and they no longer have pants stripes so there's really only a tiny bit of metallic gold left anywhere.

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9 hours ago, jmac11281 said:

I guarantee that more than half of the posters on here are VERY familiar with the dad look.

 

I'm not a dad and I practically live in the dad uniform all summer long (not so much in winter). That burgundy polo shirt and khaki shorts are pretty much ripped out of my closet.

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2 hours ago, slapshot said:

The Brampton Battalion of the OHL used to have a somewhat drab color scheme, patterned after military fatigues.

 

brampton-battalion-miss-first-deadline-t

 

OHL_Eastern_Champs-DSC_9057-853x576.jpg

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12 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Oh, plenty of teams want to be drab: Eagles, A's, Jets, Brewers, Rams, Bucs, Diamondbacks.  All of these teams switched away from vibrant shades to very drab earthy colours.  (All significant downgrades.)

 

 

 

Right -- the one team for which brown is an indelible part of its identity refuses to embrace it.


Another team that looked great in an earthy tone was the Pirates from 1971 through 1976, a uniform that was used as a throwback a few years ago.


  Related image     Related image

 

(It's funny that the colour that looks so bad on the Brewers looks so good on the Pirates.)

Glad they're fine though. At least, in a full time rotation. As a Sunday alt not bad, but not a regular home. 

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