Salvaging Nike's Rebrands with Their Own Work

[drdougfresh]

I was expressing my total disappointment in the Washington/Syracuse/Illinois rebrands in the College Football 2014 thread, and it got me thinking -- what if Nike knew how well they did the first time instead of re-inventing the wheel? They've rebranded several teams poorly of late that had great looks as one-offs in 2010 — and each of them could've made excellent full-time sets, in my opinion.

I figured I'd take a break from the 2014 NCFA Yearbook for a little side project. The 2010 Pro Combat Series was far and away the most unique and well done of any of the years Nike ran the program. My idea here is to explore what these uniforms would look like full-time if Nike had taken that route instead of the "generic template and wacky number font" route. There will be some liberties taken here and there as there are some pieces of the new looks I do like, but the basis of the "new" looks will be previous Nike Pro Combat uniforms that were, in my opinion, very successful. There are also a few schools who had Pro Combat looks that were better than their standard looks, so I'll be updating those teams as well.

It's probably one of the most reviled phrases around the boards now, but since I'm actually using the program's uniforms, I'm going to call it Nike Pro Combat: Rebooted.

On the docket:

• West Virginia (Photo) (Concept)
• Oregon State (Photo) (Concept)
• Miami (Photo) (Concept)
• Pitt (Photo)
• Virginia Tech (Photo)

[drdougfresh]

West Virginia Mountaineers

This is one of my favorite uniforms, to be honest. I loved the coal mining touch to it, and the contrast of black/white with the pop of canary yellow really worked.

For this reboot, I decided to make WVU's primary yellow for a few reasons. One: contrast. Navy with black and a coal pattern is not very friendly on the eyes. Two: Pitt is a part of this series, and I dressing rivals in basically the same uniform would be pretty lame.

I decided to carry over a few elements from the new look: the canary that's inside the collar, and the motto from the inside of the collar. I moved the canary to the front of the collar and to the gloves, since the original was a little overkill on WV logos. Kept the collar writing in the same spot. Modifications from the original look also include removing the extra black stripe from inside the pant striping area, and darkening the coal elements to improve number legibility.

Without further ado, the full look:

[Guest]

Fantastic look and presentation Doug!

[LAWeaver]

Let me just say that I am really looking forward to this series. I love your style and your presentation is phenomenal.

That being said, there is one little thing that is bugging me on the presentation(?) photo for WV. The streaking right under the football looks as if it's overlapping the player's body, right over his torso. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but it's a slight nitpick that I think takes away from the presentation just a tad.

As for the design: It's fantastic. No complaints about it. I especially love that helmet.

Looking forward to the rest of the series. I'll be putting this on my "2015 Creamer Watch List"

[mattb6]

I have a feeling this is going to be a very impressive series that won't disappoint. The presentation is fantastic, and the action-shot photo shopped with the new uniforms is awesome. Great job. If I was the head man at Nike and saw this, I would hire you on the spot.

[GriffinM6]

Man, I can't wait for the rest of this Doug! Only thing that I don't like about the WV concept is that there's no navy jersey, but I understand your reasoning behind using yellow.

[Clintau24]

I think West Virginia does indeed fall into the poorly rebranded category, but I think Oregon State is one of the best. They've got some of the best uniforms in my opinion in college football now. Miami's uniforms were good to me, probably because the eye brow uniforms looks so awful. Pitt and VT could use it also. But Syracuse, Illinois, and Washington should be added also. They were all uninspired to me.

But I agree, Nike has done great jobs in the past. I'm excited to see the rest of this!

[missouri tigers]

Looking good so far, Doug. That full body action shot looks amazing.

I was wondering, Is that an eagle on the gloves? I don't think i've seen that mark used by WVU before.

[Clintau24]

Looking good so far, Doug. That full body action shot looks amazing.

I was wondering, Is that an eagle on the gloves? I don't think i've seen that mark used by WVU before.

It's a canary. They implemented it with the new uniforms last year. They were used by the miners to see if there was toxic air in the mines...

[DenverKing]

The 2010 Virginia Tech Pro Combats are far and away my favorite one-off uniform ever made (from any brand). I wish they wore that full time, or at the very least, more than once. I'm excited to see what you do with it.

As for West Virginia, the only thing I don't like is the lack of navy. I understand not having a navy jersey, but what about incorporating it more as a secondary?

Great look and presentation as always.

[drdougfresh]

Looking good so far, Doug. That full body action shot looks amazing.

I was wondering, Is that an eagle on the gloves? I don't think i've seen that mark used by WVU before.

Here's a decent look at it (inside front collar):

Clint is right on with the reference -- once again, Nike hiding a really unique item from plain view (like the sled dog imagery on UW's new unis).

As far as Navy, it's there in a few places, but not used as heavily as it could be. My main reason for not adding more was just flow and contrast. Navy next to coal wouldn't stand out enough on the shoulders, and outlines on the numbers would just muddle the look. So I left navy only in the logos on the uniforms. It's the only way I could bring it in without messing with the balance, IMO.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, gents!

[VictoriaGooner]

Doug this concept thread series is going to be amazing. I will be following it right down to the end. West Virginia's kits are spot on wit no negatives from me. I like the canary yellow home kit and coal helmets with reference to the mining history. Keep it up mate!

[OliverP]

Top notch man...the presentation is awesome as well!

I think West Virginia does indeed fall into the poorly rebranded category, but I think Oregon State is one of the best. They've got some of the best uniforms in my opinion in college football now. Miami's uniforms were good to me, probably because the eye brow uniforms looks so awful. Pitt and VT could use it also. But Syracuse, Illinois, and Washington should be added also. They were all uninspired to me.

But I agree, Nike has done great jobs in the past. I'm excited to see the rest of this!

I agree. Oregon State looks amazing as is, but I believe that Mr.Doug has some good ideas for them.

[drdougfresh]

Oregon State Beavers

Oregon State is one of those teams that I tend to pull for because I love their identity. When they released their new look last year, though, I was seriously disappointed. It felt like they were trying to keep up with Oregon, which in my opinion was the exact opposite route to take. The contrast in styles in their 2010 Civil War matchup was really neat to see, and I think it said a lot about both teams.

One thing that really stuck out to me from the original Pro Combats for the Beavs was the inspiration. Taken directly from the original designer:

The 1967 Oregon State University "Giant Killers," a nickname earned by beating and tying two no. 2-ranked teams and upsetting no.1-ranked USC. The Dee Andros-led team epitomizes Oregon State's blue collar, do-more-with-less mentality.

Do more with less. Basically the opposite of their arch rivals. So you can understand my disappointment when they rolled out monochrome + chrome + facemask stripes... They had a good thing going with the Giant Killers theme, so that's what I went with here.

I saved a few new elements: the block font, the brighter orange, and the tartan pattern can be found inside the collar and on the gloves. When the Beavs rolled out their new look, I was also disappointed at the loss of the interlocking 'OS', so I brought that back with the new style. It's not as technically correct as I'd like at this point, but it's 80% there. I modified the original uniform to bring the sleeve stripes up to the shoulder area as well, since not everyone wears the baselayers which created some uniform inconsistencies on the field. 'Giant Killers' is inscribed inside the collar, as well.

One last item I brought into the identity, and that's the cream color. I thought it would play up the vintage and blue collar motifs, and it also warms up the palette ever-so-slightly, making things flow a little better. In this implementation, the Beaver takes a back seat and is relegated to a secondary mark. Sorry FD

[upperV03]

I personally think that the original pro combats for the beavs is far better than this. Instead of doing more with less it seems like you did less with more, meaning there are too many unnecessary small elements like the wraparound pant stripe that make a beautiful look into a cluttered mess.

[JRB14]

This looks great, though I don't like the shoulder yoke and the wraparound.

What font did you use for the numbers for Oregon State?

[drdougfresh]

UpperV: not quite sure what you mean by a "cluttered mess" here. I added some minimal branding since it would be a full time look, if that's what you're referring to, but the original concept is pretty much all still here. Could you elaborate? I do agree on the pants though, the more I look at it the less I like the back side. I'll definitely update that.

Regarding the yoke, I added it because I thought it would add a little more of a vintage feel without being too obvious (and intrusive to the simple design), and I also wanted to keep it as far from Ohio State as possible. Without that yoke on the away, the shoulders are remarkably similar to the new look for the Bucks.

JRB, the font is Beaverton Block, the font they just released last year. I believe it was a part of Conrad's font packs.

[Guest]

Yeah include me in the group not liking the wrap-around pant stripe, definitely a personal preference. Not really seeing where others are getting the 'cluttered' mess, I think this is a great improvement to the "Giant Killers" set. I love the Black, Orange, Cream color scheme too! Using the beaver logo on the helmet would make this top notch.

I also must say your photo swap skills are on point, crazy to see your growth over the past few years.

[Clintau24]

I enjoy these, even though I think OSU is one of the best looking teams now (their all orange set could use some work). I was in the complete opposite camp when I saw the new identity, I thought they were amazing. I also really enjoyed the original Pro Combat sets they had. I don't think these are so far off of what they might have worn if Nike didn't change everything last year.

[upperV03]

The wraparound on the pants, the shoulder yoke and the logo on the helmet all make it seem like a little too much. Also on the home white pants I would suggest making the pants stripe just black/orange/black like the original pro combat without the white in between the orange and black.