49ers are officially changing unis next season

[bigdub81]

QUOTE (sacker12 @ Sunday, April 26th, 2009 - 20:44:55)

I'm guessing the angled stripes were made to make the stripes appear straight with the pads on. On the throwbacks from last season, they appeared slanted.

If that indeed was the thought process behind the design, then I change my grade to an A+

I'm not buying that! Like it was said before, they could have moved the stripes up on the sleeve given that the TV #'s now reside on the shoulders. They were going for an updated 'retro' look in the first place but running their stripes off of the little bit of so-called sleeve just to appease a sense of direction for shoulder pads is stupid! While I do like their updated logo with the new red I won't hate on it seeing that they used a black outline for years during their 'era' so why is it so hard for people to get over on? I would have kept the red facemask but the grey dosen't bother me because it goes with their retro feel. I'm glad they kept the metallic sheen to the pants and reduced the width of the side stripe so all in all it works for me.

[Saintsfan]

Gray facemasks on a helmet like the Niners have looks fantastic. That gold facemask would look, in my opinion, awful. I never liked the red facemask, and don't even mention a black facemask.

With many of the older franchises, Gray facemasks look better than most anything else.

It would be fun to see the gold facemask, but it wouldn't be an actual thing they should wear in a game.

But I am with you on the gray facemask. I think its an upgrade on the red. The facemask shouldn't be a part of the uniform that draws attention to itself and as I said earlier, gray is a nice less noticeable color. I don't know why some are paying so much attention to the facemask. It hardly ruins the look of the uni.

[bigdub81]

Just throwing these out there! I don't think that gold facemask would look so bad like colorwerx thought!

[rtrich11]

Just throwing these out there! I don't think that gold facemask would look so bad like colorwerx thought!

Both better than grey. Nice.

This is a long topic, but didn't know if the old Pitt Panthers helmet of the 70s-80s came up. They had mustard masks, which is an odd color, but it matched the helmet. So I'm wondering, even if you can't get the sparkles, would a really close-to-tone mustard mask look that bad on a gold helmet?

[JQK]

Just throwing these out there! I don't think that gold facemask would look so bad like colorwerx thought!

Both better than grey.

Disagree.

The gray facemask looks so right on that helmet and with this type of uniform. Anything other than gray would look out of place.

[STL FANATIC]

Hardly.

Gray looks out of place. Because. It IS out of place.

You'd be happy with grey on just about any team that's 30 years old and uses a traditional striping pattern. That's your right. It's your taste and you can't really argue that (although gosh darnit we'll all try... if we didn't would this site exist?).

But I think you're love for that old time look is skewing your sense of what actually looks good.

Gold and grey do not look good together. And it's not in their scheme. It's a bad choice.

[bigdub81]

So I'm wondering, even if you can't get the sparkles, would a really close-to-tone mustard mask look that bad on a gold helmet?

Why wouldn't the metal flake treatment be available for the facemask when the Jaguars, just did that very thing to their new helmet.

The gray facemask looks so right on that helmet and with this type of uniform. Anything other than gray would look out of place.

I'm guessing that's only because they wore a grey facemask with the uni's that these new one's are trying to mimic. When you've seen someting together for so long like their classic set, it would look out of place to have another color face mask. I don't think it's sufficient to say that they couldn't go with a red facemask because IMO by them altering the stripes on the jersey, pant stripe width and color, re-locating the TV numbers, adding a wordmark and keeping the updated logo on their helmet, they are by right changing the look of a past uniform to make it their present.

[In 5..4..3..2..1]

Anybody got a good pic of the new helmet?Please!

[TFoA]

Anybody got a good pic of the new helmet?Please!

Dude, just go back a couple of pages.

[BigMac12]

Just throwing these out there! I don't think that gold facemask would look so bad like colorwerx thought!

Both better than grey.

Disagree.

The gray facemask looks so right on that helmet and with this type of uniform. Anything other than gray would look out of place.

I disagree. Grey looks out of place with the 49ers uniform & helmet.

[scraw28]

Colorwerx do you have the official style guides?

[seahawk9]

Wonder why they didn't change the helmet logo ? They changed everything else, colors, stripes, etc

[9erssteve]

Wonder why they didn't change the helmet logo ? They changed everything else, colors, stripes, etc

They've changed the shade of red back to the classic colour. The other changes made to the logo in 96 were done to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the team so i think that's why the gold inlay was left in and the other changes were also left.

They way i look at the whole thing is that this is what they should have done to update the uni for the 50th anniversary back in 96, and that all the gold edges are drop shadow overkill should never have happened and should be just as soon forgotten. I didn't hate it as much in the end but still far preferred the classics and we now have the best of both as far as i'm concerned.

9erssteve

[Gothamite]

I think it might have more to do with 49ers wanting the gold color used whenever the logo is featured on its own. Which kinda makes sense, it being a major team color.

It's the same reason that the Packers added a gold outline around their primary logo in 1980, going from this to this.

[TruColor]

They've changed the shade of red back to the classic colour.

I know I'm being picky (I usually am), but that's NOT the same Red as they used in the past.

[Gothamite]

Hey, it's closer than the Colts' "we're going back to our original blue."

[9erssteve]

They've changed the shade of red back to the classic colour.

I know I'm being picky (I usually am), but that's NOT the same Red as they used in the past.

Really? I had it on good authority that the red they are using now is the same as the one they used in 95 before switching to the previous set of unis. I dont doubt you, you seem to be spot on with everything colour based (been lurking for a few weeks now before joining so read quite a bit on here) so would be curious to know what the previous red was.

9erssteve

[Gothamite]

Yeah, can you give us a side-by-side?

[TruColor]

San Francisco 49ers Scarlet (circa 1980 through 1995) vs. San Francisco 49ers Red (2009 through present):

< - >

The "Classic" throwback uniforms that the Niners wore through last season DID use this newer Red. With an incorrect Gold. However, I have numerous Style Guides, official digital files and documentation that clearly state the older Scarlet shown here is correct.

Pantone Textiles weren't used for fabric matching in the NFL until 1997, so I can't vouch for what fabrics were actually used prior to the 1997 season.

I think what they're doing is using a more trendy proprietary Reebok Red for the color that's close enough to the older Scarlet - it sounds good to the P.R. dept. This is the same Red that the Falcons, Texans and Buccaneers are wearing, and like I said - it uses a custom Reebok fabric for reproduction.

[andrewharrington]

Here's what I don't get. I've said it over and over. I've said it about USC, UCLA, the Cards, the Colts, the Browns, the 9ers. Why the gray mask? People say "it's just equipment" Yes, but your equipment is part of your colors. There is no gray in any these sets. Gray came out first as a protection, not for looks. When the technology came out, people made their unis totally fit. So I guess players could wear any color shoes, gloves, etc. It's just equipment, right? I'm sorry. It looks bad. It looks dated. It doesn't fit. These unis in particular do not combine the sets. They bring back the out of place stuff. Now there's black and gray on the helmet and nowhere else. These guys are professionals, they should look like it. Just because you watched them play in these in the 80's won't bring back those glory days. It only brings back the bad styles. You can't really tell me that this set is better than their previous set. That's the way I feel and there is NOTHING that can change my feelings on this.

A lot of teams wear black shoes, but don't have black in their color scheme. Thoughts? Acceptable?