Origin of Boston Patriots in red?

[TheOldRoman]

Nope pretty sure this was.

Yes and no. That pic shows two different jerseys. The smaller pick shows the original look in 1993, with gray facemasks, mismatched numbers on both jerseys and pant striping mimicing Elvis' uh, tail. The next year they eliminated the mismatched numbers on the blue jersey (the road still had solid blue on the shoulders, red with a blue outline on the body), a red facemask and red and blue doublestripes on the pants.

[SmoothieX]

I miss the Elvis tail pants and red numbers.

Pats look like a total mess these days.

[oldschoolvikings]

Nope pretty sure this was.

Yes and no. That pic shows two different jerseys. The smaller pick shows the original look in 1993, with gray facemasks, mismatched numbers on both jerseys and pant striping mimicing Elvis' uh, tail. The next year they eliminated the mismatched numbers on the blue jersey (the road still had solid blue on the shoulders, red with a blue outline on the body), a red facemask and red and blue doublestripes on the pants.

I think the concept of the mismatching numbers (large front and back being one color, small TV being another) is an interseting design idea. I'm surprised we don't see it more often, the only other example that pops to mind for me is the Vick-era VaTech. With the sleeves of today's jerseys being pretty much non-existant, its actually a clever way to work a secondary color onto the jesersy. You wouldn't need to resort to side panels, which I think is often just a lazy way to introduce a second color. It kind of reminds me of a baseball team going with a secondary color for the small jersey front number, ala the Dodgers.

[WSU151]

Nope pretty sure this was.

Yes and no. That pic shows two different jerseys. The smaller pick shows the original look in 1993, with gray facemasks, mismatched numbers on both jerseys and pant striping mimicing Elvis' uh, tail. The next year they eliminated the mismatched numbers on the blue jersey (the road still had solid blue on the shoulders, red with a blue outline on the body), a red facemask and red and blue doublestripes on the pants.

I think the concept of the mismatching numbers (large front and back being one color, small TV being another) is an interseting design idea. I'm surprised we don't see it more often, the only other example that pops to mind for me is the Vick-era VaTech.

The different colored VaTech sleeve numbers began in the 80s or early 90s. The best set was the Jim Drunkenmiller/Ken Oxendine years (mid 90s).

[RedSox44]

The Pats' blue unis with red numbers outlined in white debuted in 1993. The white numbers outlined in red debuted in 1994. The Italic drop-shadowed number set debuted in 1995.

So they were really confused with what they wanted to do with uniform redesign for awhile it seems.

[DGivens87]

The Pats' blue unis with red numbers outlined in white debuted in 1993. The white numbers outlined in red debuted in 1994. The Italic drop-shadowed number set debuted in 1995.

So they were really confused with what they wanted to do with uniform redesign for awhile it seems.

From what I've heard, the original blue uni design (1993) had to be changed because the media and fans complained about the difficulty in reading the red numbers on the blue uniforms from a distance. Thus, the switch to white numbers on the blue unis for 1994. The 1995 jerseys was all Kraft, who bought the team in 1994 but couldn't make changes to the unis until 1995. In fact, the 1995 jersey was based upon the 49ers throwbacks (drop shadow numbers) and the Cowboys double-star design (Flying Elvis on the shoulders), per Patriots Football Weekly.

[sc49erfan15]

The Pats' blue unis with red numbers outlined in white debuted in 1993. The white numbers outlined in red debuted in 1994. The Italic drop-shadowed number set debuted in 1995.

So they were really confused with what they wanted to do with uniform redesign for awhile it seems.

From what I've heard, the original blue uni design (1993) had to be changed because the media and fans complained about the difficulty in reading the red numbers on the blue uniforms from a distance. Thus, the switch to white numbers on the blue unis for 1994. The 1995 jerseys was all Kraft, who bought the team in 1994 but couldn't make changes to the unis until 1995. In fact, the 1995 jersey was based upon the 49ers throwbacks (drop shadow numbers) and the Cowboys double-star design (Flying Elvis on the shoulders), per Patriots Football Weekly.

I'm sure Apex going under also had something to do with it.

[BBTV]

The Pats' blue unis with red numbers outlined in white debuted in 1993. The white numbers outlined in red debuted in 1994. The Italic drop-shadowed number set debuted in 1995.

So they were really confused with what they wanted to do with uniform redesign for awhile it seems.

From what I've heard, the original blue uni design (1993) had to be changed because the media and fans complained about the difficulty in reading the red numbers on the blue uniforms from a distance. Thus, the switch to white numbers on the blue unis for 1994. The 1995 jerseys was all Kraft, who bought the team in 1994 but couldn't make changes to the unis until 1995. In fact, the 1995 jersey was based upon the 49ers throwbacks (drop shadow numbers) and the Cowboys double-star design (Flying Elvis on the shoulders), per Patriots Football Weekly.

I'm sure Apex had some influence, since they were creating all kinds of (at the time) unique looks around that timeframe - the Cowboys double-star, the Minnesota "boobie-M" jersey, the Iowa "bumblebee" jersey, etc. I don't know the history, but it seems like they were out there trying to get anyone they could to adopt their new designs. I doubt it's a coincidence that these teams used that manufacturer.

For what it's worth, I liked the italic-numbered jerseys with the big Elvis on the sleeve, but the one immediately before that was probably their most "professional" looking uniform of that era. The original was terrible, with the single-color TV numbers and patriotic pants stripe (though I know most on here like that feature.)

[WSU151]

The Pats' Elvis-shoulders and double-knit-vertical-stripes were fully designed by Starter, though. Starter's headquarters were in Massachusetts which is why Kraft wanted to team up with them. I think Starter did the infamous Wisconsin W-shoulder jerseys, too, as long as we're talking about huge logos on shoulders.

I'm not doubting your theory on Apex and wanting to get their "look" out there, however. They had some crazy designs that I enjoyed, but definitely out-of-the-box. However, Apex's traditional take for the 1994 Patriots (with the white numbers and two solid pants stripes) is still one of the best uniforms in Patriots history.

[BBTV]

Huh. Did Starter buy Apex or something? Not sure why I thought those were Apex-designed.

[TheOldRoman]

Huh. Did Starter buy Apex or something? Not sure why I thought those were Apex-designed.

The Pats wore Apex in 93 and 94. If Apex went under before the 95 season, it's very likely Apex designed those jerseys which Starter eventually produced.

[WSU151]

From everything I've read, Starter designed the Patriots' 1995 stuff. What really is interesting is the Pats wore the 1994 Apex set during the 1995 preseason. The italic Starter set debuted Week 1, against the Browns in 1995. Even if we had a bunch of suppliers today, I doubt an NFL team could get away with wearing one supplier in the preseason and another during the regular season.

[andrewharrington]

I think Elvis is a bad logo because he's too long to look good on the helmets. The best horizontal helmet logos seem to have a aspect ratio somewhere around 3:2, to fill the space on the side of a helmet.

Plus the focus of the logo is on one extreme end, the face. This means they have to put him very far back on the helmets, so far back thet the two logos almost touch on the back of the helmets and the front is empty.

It's unbalanced and very ugly to my eye. It looks like it was designed to end up on a polo shirt, not a helmet.

I feel the opposite. I find the length of Elvis to be perfectly suited for the helmet. I like the way it uses more real estate and continues to the back a la the Seahawks' logo, as if it were two flags streaming in the wind as a player runs downfield. On apparel, however, I find Elvis to be atrocious, both as a standalone and as a component of a t-shirt graphic, because it is so extremely asymmetrical.

I would love to see a return to a cleaned up version of Pat, though. There's just something about all that detail that makes it an appealing logo.

[sc49erfan15]

Huh. Did Starter buy Apex or something? Not sure why I thought those were Apex-designed.

The Pats wore Apex in 93 and 94. If Apex went under before the 95 season, it's very likely Apex designed those jerseys which Starter eventually produced.

I have no basis for this other than a hunch, but Apex One was bought by Converse in May 1995 and was announced that it would be closed in August 1995. I really feel like the "Shoulder Elvis" jerseys with the italic numbers were designed by Apex and then, after the Apex brand went under, were branded by Starter. It just seems to fit with the other redesigns that they were doing at the time.

[Brian in Boston]

Starter's headquarters were in Massachusetts which is why Kraft wanted to team up with them.

Starter's headquarters were in New Haven, Connecticut. A friend of mine was a manufacturer's rep for them.

[WSU151]

Starter's headquarters were in Massachusetts which is why Kraft wanted to team up with them.

Starter's headquarters were in New Haven, Connecticut. A friend of mine was a manufacturer's rep for them.

Whoops - thanks for the correction. It still stands that Kraft wanted to do business with a New England-area supplier.

I have no basis for this other than a hunch, but Apex One was bought by Converse in May 1995 and was announced that it would be closed in August 1995. I really feel like the "Shoulder Elvis" jerseys with the italic numbers were designed by Apex and then, after the Apex brand went under, were branded by Starter. It just seems to fit with the other redesigns that they were doing at the time.

The shoulders may have been Apex's design. The dual-knit vertical striping in the jersey was all Starter's design, though. They did the same thing for Virginia Tech. FWIW, according to the Patriots' staff, Starter played a huge role in designing the '95 jerseys.