ECHL All-Star Game Jerseys

[Geoff]

Ugh. I don't like that SP decided to try the form fitting crap.

http://echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action...t=1&id=9711

[rvrdgsfn]

My God....

if they weren't form fitting, i'd say it's passable but...

Words can't describe how bad that looks

[-kj]

The article didn't mention form-fitting anywhere in it. Odd that one set would be and the other not.

They seem to have found a way to make those Atlanta one-armed jerseys look worse, and yet those are still much, much better than the blue jerseys. Yike.

[pylon]

Neat that they let two different companies come up with their own unique designs. I've never seen anything like that before.

I like RBK's design better than SP's

[timparry]

Please allow me to innocently ask....

What's everyone's beef with the new form-fitting jerseys?

Is it because it will affect the design/fit of store-bought jerseys?

Or is it design overhaul/logo overhauls that will result?

I've only seen the illustrations.

Please share your insight so I can form some sort of opinion.

Thanks!

[Geoff]

For me, it's messing with part of the game that doesn't need to be changed. Also, most players I've seen that have tried them and voiced their opinions have hated them. And it just seems like RBK and the NHL are putting these out there to get more profits. They've already tried to raise scoring and they should stop dicking around with the sport we love.

[slapshot]

Please allow me to innocently ask....

What's everyone's beef with the new form-fitting jerseys?

Is it because it will affect the design/fit of store-bought jerseys?

Or is it design overhaul/logo overhauls that will result?

I've only seen the illustrations.

Please share your insight so I can form some sort of opinion.

Thanks!

Most of the disgust is aesthetics. Early word was rampant that the every jersey would have to be changed drastically, that due to the design of the jersey itself, elements as basic as horizontal stripes would be eliminated.

Did you watch the last Winter Olympics? Nike outfitted almost every team (except Sweden) in the Swift jersey, which is similar to what the new Reebok jerseys will look like. Fit-wise, the jerseys didn't look that much different, just a little more snug around the arms. But every team had the exact same striping pattern (but different colors), numbers were moved high on the shoulders, and the same fonts were used for all nameplates and numbers. Individuality was gone, replaced by a cookie cutter scheme. It was very boring, aside from the crests, and if you didn't like one team's jersey, chances are you didn't like any of them.

So most everyone fears that little things like the horizontal striped midsection of the Canadiens, the gale flag trim of the Hurricanes, and the giant star for Dallas will be eliminated league wide in favor of overly embellished jerseys like Buffalo, or asymmetrical jerseys like Atlanta. Or even worse, logo changes for everyone, possibly as bad as the Buffaslug.

Imagine if next season every team in the NFL looked like the Broncos or Falcons, and you get the point.

Also, many of the players have said that the jerseys are too form-fitting, so it becomes obvious to everyone where they have little to no padding, making them more succeptible to injuries.

[Axis_of_Weasel]

no vertical striping. im fine with it.

[Geoff]

Did you watch the last Winter Olympics? Nike outfitted almost every team (except Sweden)

You forgot the Swiss.

The Swedes have since switched:

[ElwoodCuse]

They seem to have found a way to make those Atlanta one-armed jerseys look worse, and yet those are still much, much better than the blue jerseys. Yike.

The Wilkes-Barre Penguins have Atlanta-template warmup jerseys this year. They have the PLAYER NAME on the colored sleeve (because it says DODGE over the number on the back). BARF.

[timparry]

Did you watch the last Winter Olympics? Nike outfitted almost every team (except Sweden)

You forgot the Swiss.

It kinda didn't matter too much for me with the Olympic jerseys because they seem to change every 4 years (I think, at least since I started focusing on designs). But I see your point with longevity like the Canadians and Leafs identity.

Maybe the Buffaslug was designed with the new unis in mind?

[Francis10]

From the article:

The crest of the jersey is the logo of the 2007 Rbk Hockey ECHL All-Star Game. The left sleeve has a blue stripe trimmed in black and silver with ?National? in black letters outlined in black. The right sleeve is white with an ECHL logo on the shoulder as well as the uniform number.

Black outlined in black... what innovation will they think of next?

[youcan'tseeme]

those are horrible, what a joke!

[letterform]

This is really strange how SP seems to have the Nike Swift template and Reebok has a traditional - decent looking - template. It's almost as if Reebok is trying to look like the good guy here.

So who owns SP anyways? Is it Nike, or is it a division of Reebok?

[beesharps]

This is really strange how SP seems to have the Nike Swift template and Reebok has a traditional - decent looking - template. It's almost as if Reebok is trying to look like the good guy here.

So who owns SP anyways? Is it Nike, or is it a division of Reebok?

I don't know all the logistics of it, but I believe Nike actually outsources all their international designs out to SP (based in Granby, QC). My beer league team gets our jerseys from SP as they are the only ones who carry our preferred jerseys (Kazakhstan), or any other non-North American team jersey.

I've also compared the fabrics between our Kazakhstan beer league jerseyand my authentic Kazakhstan jersey (I liked the jersey/team BEFORE Borat, incidentally), and the quality between the two are very similar. Also, having now looked at the tags on a replica Nike international jersey and an authentic, I notice that the replicas are made in Korea, while the authentics are made in Canada.

Now, this may have all changed with the Swift jerseys. I don't own one, and SP does not yet offer the Swift templates for sale.