Apex One and Patriot jerseys

[DGivens87]

Thanks to a little research and some very helpful answers from members on this board, I found out that Converse bought out Apex One in 1995, but then dropped them in August 1995 due to financial problems. To make a long story short, this was the end of Apex One as we knew it.

My question is this: Did Apex One have the apparel rights to the Patriots for 1995 season before Starter took over? If you notice in any of the 1995 Patriots pre-season pictures, they are wearing Apex jerseys.

Then boom, during week 1 of the 1995 regular season they're wearing Starter jerseys.

Now I know the style changed when Starter took over (number font, as well as the Flying Elvis logo going from the sleeves to the shoulders and the "soccer" striping)

but my question(s) also include:

Did Starter originally have the contract for the 1995 season for the Pats, or did Starter take over because of the subsequent bankruptcy of Apex One? I hypothesize that Starter kinda took over after Apex One went belly up in August 1995 (which is also the last time we see Apex One Patriots jerseys on the field). Also, I have an issue of Patriots Football Weekly from May 1995, in which an ad for Apex One says "Official Apparel and Jersey Supplier of the Patriots." I think that Apex was originally gonna do the Patriots jerseys in 1995. Also, if you scour eBay every so often, you'll find an Apex One Patriots jersey with the Elvis logo on the shoulders and the numbers on the sleeves (however, the font is still blockish, instead of the "smooth" font used on the 95-99 jerseys)

Were the changes to the uniform a product of Starter's involvement with the Patriots, or was Apex One going to do the changes anyway, but since they went under, Starter just went with the design change?

I was thinking since PANTONE is the resident expert around here on NFL uni changes, he may have the style guide for 1995 (which may be useful).

Any info would be great!

[mac]

I don't know the answer to your question but I miss these jerseys

[brinkeguthrie]

Apex. my favorite.

I had a friend who was a marketing manager there and you cannot BElieve the amount of free Apex stuff I got. Everything they made for the Cowboys, and then some. Prototype turtlenecks, turf shoes, acutal Aikman game jerseys, parkas, polos, T's, the works. FANtastic.

I know that Apex was run by a very demanding guy who I believe over-extended the company in a lot of areas. But Converse bought them, and apparantely, didn't do the homework, and found a lot of under the hood liabilities to Apex, and closed them.

Converse then inherited the Apex NFL license, so for a brief time they got to be the "official shoe of the NFL," which Apex was. But since Converse wasn't in the apparal biz, the jersey licenses were split up with the remaining suppliers, and the Pats landed with Starter. I think other Apex teams were Dallas--who went logoless for the 95 season and Jerry signed his then-renegade deal with Nike (staff just wore plain white or navy shirts and jackets.). How hypocritical of the league- Tagliabue ripped Jones to shreds for going out and signing his own marketing deals..then hops into bed with Swoosh right after that.

Let's see, who else?

The Panthers were first wth Apex--then to Nike. I think the Lions went to Reebok.

I dont think there was more than 1 more team.

At one point, suppliers included Wilson, Champion, Russell, Starter, Nike, Adidas,

and then Logo Athletic got involved I think by buying someone, then Puma bought Logo so the Puma logo showed up for awhile, then Tags got fed up with the circus and sold the whole deal to Reebok.

[timparry]

The Giants were an Apex team.

Here's a question - did Apex buy out Sand-Knit? Or did it just get its license after Sand-Knit went under?

[TruColor]

In fact, I DO have a 1995 NFL Style Guide (I don't have THAT many, but I DO have that one). These things don't mention manufacturers, they just show the jerseys, pants, helmets and socks, along with the color information.

The Patriots' sheet for 1995 is kinda weird. It shows the Blue and White jerseys, along with the Silver pants, but the numbers are block style (going along with what you mentioned as being "Apex" style). However, the TV/shoulder numbers on the White jersey are solid RED (no trim), as opposed to the solid BLUE shown in the pics. Don't know if this was a mistake, or if it was a coming change that never happened.

It's hard to say with this stuff - just because the Style Guide has something listed as fact, doesn't make it so. The manufacturers still seem to do whatever they want anyway. And, the Style Guides have mistakes in them as well.

[irishcurse]

Didn't apex make those horrid banana peel Univerisity of Iowa jerseys in the '90's?

[DGivens87]

The Patriots' sheet for 1995 is kinda weird.  It shows the Blue and White jerseys, along with the Silver pants, but the numbers are block style (going along with what you mentioned as being "Apex" style).  However, the TV/shoulder numbers on the White jersey are solid RED (no trim), as opposed to the solid BLUE shown in the pics.  Don't know if this was a mistake, or if it was a coming change that never happened.

Thank you PANTONE....Interesting...very interesting as far as those TV numbers. DO you think you could scan a copy of the pic of that for me? But aside from that deviation from the 94 jerseys, did the 95 jerseys look pretty much the same as the 94 bad boys?

I remember someone on this board saying that someone from the Patriots was quoted as saying that the concept for the 95 jersey was somewhat of a "tribute" to two different jerseys - the Flying Elvis on the shoulder patches copying the Cowboys "double star" look, and the "drop shadow" of the numbers copying the 94 SF 49ers throwbacks. I could be dreaming...but I could've sworn somebody on this board said this.

In any event - it looks like the 95 look was a creation of the Pats merchandising dept. rather than an idea of Starter themselves when they took over. It's just odd that the team switched manufacturers AND style in the to start the regular season. Unfortunately, the only pics of the 1995 Pats preseason I can find are games against the Raiders - which was their final preseason game of 95. So this is indeed was the las time the Apex jerseys saw the field.

While I don't mind the 95-99 look, I did have a fondness for the 94 look...how could you not like those numbers (a la USC Trojan football numbers)?

I do miss the Apex jersey/brand though - I still search on eBay every so often to see what Patriots Apex merchandise is floating around. So far, I do have a 94 Bledsoe Authentic home jersey, two Apex coaches polos, and a sweatshirt.

[DGivens87]

Apex. my favorite.

I had a friend who was a marketing manager there and you cannot BElieve the amount of free Apex stuff I got. Everything they made for the Cowboys, and then some. Prototype turtlenecks, turf shoes, acutal Aikman game jerseys, parkas, polos, T's, the works. FANtastic.

Brink - got any Patriots Apex stuff lying around that you'd be interested in selling? Let me know what you've got

[Ron Mexico]

Didn't apex make those horrid banana peel Univerisity of Iowa jerseys in the '90's?

Bananna peel? Which ones were these?

[Michigan Dave]

Didn't apex make those horrid banana peel Univerisity of Iowa jerseys in the '90's?

Bananna peel? Which ones were these?

[Discrim]

Didn't apex make those horrid banana peel Univerisity of Iowa jerseys in the '90's?

IIRC they also made jerseys for Wisconsin and Minnesota-the Badgers version was a Cowboys copy that was only worn once (gettin crushed by Colorado will do that to a jersey...a shame, it looked real nice too), while the Gerbils' version was worn for a couple seasons, during which time they also used metallic gold instead of yellow...yeah, this is the M-boobies jersey I'm speaking of

[totc]

Apex also made some wild-as$ basketball uniforms -- Villanova and Vanderbilt had those big Vs on the front and back of the shorts. George Washington, Tulsa, North Carolina State, and Penn had a mountain on one side and a flattened pentagon on the other. And their magnum opus had to have been St. John's, with the midtown Manhattan skyline (complete with Empire State Building!) on the uniform.

I'd love to buy a GWU, Tulsa, NCSt, or Penn pair of shorts from that era! Hint!

[Michigan Dave]

Didn't apex make those horrid banana peel Univerisity of Iowa jerseys in the '90's?

IIRC they also made jerseys for Wisconsin and Minnesota-the Badgers version was a Cowboys copy that was only worn once (gettin crushed by Colorado will do that to a jersey...a shame, it looked real nice too), while the Gerbils' version was worn for a couple seasons, during which time they also used metallic gold instead of yellow...yeah, this is the M-boobies jersey I'm speaking of

I thought UW wore those unis in the 94 Rose Bowl. I must be mistaken. I have been looking for a picture of them, but haven't been able to find one.

[irishcurse]

Iowa banana peel jerseys... Dave found a picture... I couldn't find any pics. Those are the jerseys I was talking about.

[BRice16]

Apex also made some wild-as$ basketball uniforms -- Villanova and Vanderbilt had those big Vs on the front and back of the shorts. George Washington, Tulsa, North Carolina State, and Penn had a mountain on one side and a flattened pentagon on the other. And their magnum opus had to have been St. John's, with the midtown Manhattan skyline (complete with Empire State Building!) on the uniform.

I'd love to buy a GWU, Tulsa, NCSt, or Penn pair of shorts from that era! Hint!

You can't mention wild-ass Apex uniforms without discussing the Kentucky Basketball "denim" uniforms.

[DGivens87]

Minnesota

Arkansas

So I guess (with the help of all of you - thank you) I answered one of my own questions. Based on these jerseys above - I'm thinking the Flying Elvis on the shoulder look was an Apex One idea...then when Starter took over, they decided to go with that look as well.

I still love the 94 Apex One Pats unis though - miss 'em to this day

[pcgd]

And their magnum opus had to have been St. John's, with the midtown Manhattan skyline (complete with Empire State Building!) on the uniform.

Those were awesome! I thought at least. Felipe Lopez I think was a freshman the year they wore those.

The empire state building came up onto the jersey on the otherside.

[Discrim]

IIRC they also made jerseys for Wisconsin and Minnesota-the Badgers version was a Cowboys copy that was only worn once (gettin crushed by Colorado will do that to a jersey...a shame, it looked real nice too

I thought UW wore those unis in the 94 Rose Bowl. I must be mistaken. I have been looking for a picture of them, but haven't been able to find one.

no, UW's 94 Rose Bowl jerseys were nearly identical to the current duds, only no names on the back and tehre was a special rose/W patch on the shoulders for that game only.

The jerseys UW wore when we got killed by Colorado, as I said, were Cowboy copies...white sleeves, white W on each shoulder with black shadow, and the numbers had black shadow. I remember them as if they were worn yesterday, they're impossible to forget.

[brinkeguthrie]

Apex.  my favorite.

I had a friend who was a marketing manager there and you cannot BElieve the amount of free Apex stuff I got.  Everything they made for the Cowboys, and then some.  Prototype turtlenecks, turf shoes, acutal Aikman game jerseys, parkas, polos, T's, the works.  FANtastic.

Brink - got any Patriots Apex stuff lying around that you'd be interested in selling? Let me know what you've got

nope just had Cowboys..all long gone at this point, sold it on eBay I think..

[brinkeguthrie]

Apex also made some wild-as$ basketball uniforms -- Villanova and Vanderbilt had those big Vs on the front and back of the shorts. George Washington, Tulsa, North Carolina State, and Penn had a mountain on one side and a flattened pentagon on the other. And their magnum opus had to have been St. John's, with the midtown Manhattan skyline (complete with Empire State Building!) on the uniform.

I'd love to buy a GWU, Tulsa, NCSt, or Penn pair of shorts from that era! Hint!

You can't mention wild-ass Apex uniforms without discussing the Kentucky Basketball "denim" uniforms.

think Converse made wild-ass denim shoes for UK too.