NIKE NFL Uniforms

[TheOldRoman]

Here's a VERY rough draft of my idea:

In hindsight, I'm not sure I quite captured the shade of powder blue that I'm looking for, but you get the idea.

It's not good. First off, the yellow is too yellowish, it needs a tad more orange in it. You should just use the "athletic gold" shade of yellow. I guess it's the combo of that yellow and that blue, but it has a photo negative quality to it. It is visually jarring, and not in a good way. Maybe my monitor here at work is just off. Oh, and the numbers should be white with a yellow outline on the blue jersey.

Also, as I have always said, white helmets MUST have matching pants with colored jerseys. The home jersey looks horribly incomplete, like a halloween costume where the mom slaps a few bolts on a white helmet because she doesn't want to spend money to buy the yellow helmet which the team actually wears. It's like the kid who goes trick-or-treating as Michael Jordan, wearing a replica jersey with red gym shorts.

[Coheed]

Kind of off-topic from the Chargers discussion, but has anyone purchased one of the Limited Nike jerseys? I'm just asking because my birthday is in a couple weeks, and my girlfriend wants to get me one, but they aren't in stores anywhere around here. I'm curious to know how they fit, look, etc.

[Sport]

and it's just ass ugly. The blue is too bright, the yellow is too bright, and the application and execution of the colors together is horrible. Yellow pants? I know they wore yellow pants and white helmets in the past, but it looked silly then too. If you're going to wear a white helmet then you have to have white pants if you want to look like a professional football team. The only way yellow pants would work is if they wore a yellow or navy blue helmet.

Powder blue and the Chargers don't have that long a history. Revisionists will say they're a powder blue team, but overall they've worn a royal or navy blue for an overwhelming majority of their time in football. They should wear navy. That, and powder blue is one of my least favorite colors in sports.

Also, that number font is so unattractive.

The Chargers should dress like this:

or this

or this

but never this

it looked silly then and it'd look even sillier now.

[SmoothieX]

Those all whites look like garbage.

[illini1]

and it's just ass ugly. The blue is too bright, the yellow is too bright, and the application and execution of the colors together is horrible. Yellow pants? I know they wore yellow pants and white helmets in the past, but it looked silly then too. If you're going to wear a white helmet then you have to have white pants if you want to look like a professional football team. The only way yellow pants would work is if they wore a yellow or navy blue helmet.

Powder blue and the Chargers don't have that long a history. Revisionists will say they're a powder blue team, but overall they've worn a royal or navy blue for an overwhelming majority of their time in football. They should wear navy. That, and powder blue is one of my least favorite colors in sports.

Also, that number font is so unattractive.

The Chargers should dress like this:

or this

or this

but never this

it looked silly then and it'd look even sillier now.

The Dan Fouts era uniforms with yellow pants are my favorite Chargers uniforms.

[Gothamite]

@ Lights Out, help me out here, man. Those Alworth pics are their best look but the shade I believe is the original Pacific Blue.

This isn't towards you, 'cause I know you know, but just in general, it baffles me that even most uni freaks either can't or won't differentiate between the anointed, worshipped Powder Blue (that they didn't even wear until 1969) and the original color they really wore for most of the 1960s.

Even the league couldn't get it right for the throwbacks, which were supposedly the '63 uni. Does this (from the Chargers' website btw) look Powder Blue to anyone?

In action:

The pic is definitely from '63 'cause it's the only year they wore the "forehead" decal.

I wish I could trust that Chargers graphic as to the actual color (teams, especially NFL clubs, have traditionally been the worst stewards of their uniform history). The photos are terribly unreliable, and I suspect that's where they got it from.

Has there never been an early Chargers jersey up for auction? Are there none in the team's museum? Why can't we find an actual exemplar?

[29texan]

I think the chargers have a good look and it's easily identifiable. If they would just switch to solid white collars and MAYBE a grey face mask, they would a bit better. I like them though.

No.... no..... just NO. No more grey facemasks....

[darkhaha]

Here's a nice shot of the Chargers' mid-60s set in which you can compare their blue to that of the Oilers:

[IceCap]

and it's just ass ugly. The blue is too bright, the yellow is too bright, and the application and execution of the colors together is horrible. Yellow pants? I know they wore yellow pants and white helmets in the past, but it looked silly then too. If you're going to wear a white helmet then you have to have white pants if you want to look like a professional football team. The only way yellow pants would work is if they wore a yellow or navy blue helmet.

Powder blue and the Chargers don't have that long a history. Revisionists will say they're a powder blue team, but overall they've worn a royal or navy blue for an overwhelming majority of their time in football. They should wear navy. That, and powder blue is one of my least favorite colors in sports.

Also, that number font is so unattractive.

Agreed. The custom font they currently use is terrible.

The Chargers should dress like this:

I love this look. It mixes the best aspects of the 1974-84 look with the best aspects of the 1988-2006 look.

The Chargers, in my opinion, looked best in 1987...

Just match up the collars and maybe add a set of blue pants to be worn with the white jersey and you're done.

Now I do love the powder blue AFL set they wore for the NFL's 75th and the AFL's 50th, but I never want to see that combo with yellow/gold pants. I just don't think it looks right.

[guest23]

and it's just ass ugly. The blue is too bright, the yellow is too bright, and the application and execution of the colors together is horrible. Yellow pants? I know they wore yellow pants and white helmets in the past, but it looked silly then too. If you're going to wear a white helmet then you have to have white pants if you want to look like a professional football team. The only way yellow pants would work is if they wore a yellow or navy blue helmet.

Powder blue and the Chargers don't have that long a history. Revisionists will say they're a powder blue team, but overall they've worn a royal or navy blue for an overwhelming majority of their time in football. They should wear navy. That, and powder blue is one of my least favorite colors in sports.

Also, that number font is so unattractive.

The Chargers should dress like this:

or this

or this

but never this

it looked silly then and it'd look even sillier now.

I'll take the fouts look with navy masks.

[BlueSky]

and it's just ass ugly. The blue is too bright, the yellow is too bright, and the application and execution of the colors together is horrible. Yellow pants? I know they wore yellow pants and white helmets in the past, but it looked silly then too. If you're going to wear a white helmet then you have to have white pants if you want to look like a professional football team. The only way yellow pants would work is if they wore a yellow or navy blue helmet.

Powder blue and the Chargers don't have that long a history. Revisionists will say they're a powder blue team, but overall they've worn a royal or navy blue for an overwhelming majority of their time in football. They should wear navy. That, and powder blue is one of my least favorite colors in sports.

Also, that number font is so unattractive.

The Chargers should dress like this:

or this

or this

but never this

it looked silly then and it'd look even sillier now.

I'll take the fouts look with navy masks.

I like the look above better overall but would be perfectly happy with the unis in the top Fouts pic. In fact, when I was about 15 I had that exact style and color jersey with Fouts' #14. They weren't easy to get back then, either. Wish I still had it (though it damn well wouldn't fit anymore).

Of course Nike would reduce the white shoulder ring to a 6" by 3" rectangle and put a bolt the size of a fountain pen in it.

In fact, if they went powder blue, UCLA provides what I'd bet would be a pretty close example to what it would look like.

Compared to:

Really, Nike? You can make materials that turn athletes into video game heroes but you can't figure out how to put a simple panel all the way around the shoulder of a jersey?

I know they weren't the first to truncate it but who knew the term "UCLA stripe" would ever become so heartbreakingly ironic?

[Lights Out]

and it's just ass ugly. The blue is too bright, the yellow is too bright, and the application and execution of the colors together is horrible.

In my mind, the color combo would look like this on the field, just with yellow pants:

I definitely didn't pick the right shade of powder blue in hindsight.

Powder blue and the Chargers don't have that long a history.

That color has, however, been worn either as a primary or as an alternate by some of the greatest teams in Charger history: the AFL champions, the Super Bowl team, and the 2006, 2007 and 2009 division champions. The fans prefer powder blue to navy for the most part. The boring, bland navy uniforms are yet another symbol of how tonedeaf and out-of-touch the Spanos family has been during their ownership of the franchise. The Chargers only wear navy because the Spanoses like it, and that's that.

They should wear navy.

I think the NFL, and pro sports as a whole, would survive with one less boring-ass navy team. Navy is the most overused, overrated color in sports.

Also, that number font is so unattractive.

Disagree: I think it's one of the strongest parts of their current uniforms. The jaggedness of the number font goes well with all the lightning bolts on their uniforms.

[TheOldRoman]

Really, Nike? You can make materials that turn athletes into video game heroes but you can't figure out how to put a simple panel all the way around the shoulder of a jersey?

It's not a matter of them not being able to figure out how to do it. They know how to do it. So does Reebok, Adidas, Russell, et al. They are just unwilling to do so because it would require a few extra stitches, probably 2 minutes more work and maybe $1 more per game jersey. Instead of going through that work, they just shove the stripes into an existing template, say "we did the best we could!" can call it a day.

Disagree: I think it's one of the strongest parts of their current uniforms. The jaggedness of the number font goes well with all the lightning bolts on their uniforms.

THEY DON't NEED TO TIE ANYTHING INTO THE BOLTS! THEY'RE :censored:ING LIGHTNING BOLTS!

Like I have said before, the previous Chargers and Bengals jerseys were great because they took something obsurd (tiger stripes, lightning) and put them into a traditional striping pattern. They weren't "modern", they were pretty traditional jerseys, just with the striping area filled with something a little crazy. That made them unique while still classy. Lightning bolts are fine on their own. They are visually strong enough to powerfully represent the brand while appearing only six times on the uniforms. But when you throw a terrible font on a jersey just because it mimics lightning bolts, that's when you go from professional design to "they should make the Bears' uniforms out of fur so they look like real bears."

[Sport]

and it's just ass ugly. The blue is too bright, the yellow is too bright, and the application and execution of the colors together is horrible.

In my mind, the color combo would look like this on the field, just with yellow pants:

I definitely didn't pick the right shade of powder blue in hindsight.

No Thank you

Powder blue and the Chargers don't have that long a history.

That color has, however, been worn either as a primary or as an alternate by some of the greatest teams in Charger history: the AFL champions, the Super Bowl team, and the 2006, 2007 and 2009 division champions. The fans prefer powder blue to navy for the most part. The boring, bland navy uniforms are yet another symbol of how tonedeaf and out-of-touch the Spanos family has been during their ownership of the franchise. The Chargers only wear navy because the Spanoses like it, and that's that.

Fans are stupid. Case in point, many of the Bengals fans I know like their current uniforms. Also, boring, bland? You don't see the 6 lightning bolts all over the uniform? What do you want them to do? Wear The old Tampa Bay Lightning alternates?

They should wear navy.

I think the NFL, and pro sports as a whole, would survive with one less boring-ass navy team. Navy is the most overused, overrated color in sports.

The Chargers have used navy for a majority of their history. It's theirs. If anyone should dump it it's those buffoons in Seattle. I think it may be overused, but overrated, NO. Save those buffoons in Seattle, it looks good on almost everybody in sports.

Also, that number font is so unattractive.

Disagree: I think it's one of the strongest parts of their current uniforms. The jaggedness of the number font goes well with all the lightning bolts on their uniforms.

It distracts from the centerpiece of the uniform, the bolts, and it's just really f***ing ugly.

[slats7]

I always liked the paler shade of blue.

This version was sharp as well.

[sportstar1212]

All the Chargers need to do is make the powder blue alt the home jersey, flip the navy and powder blue on the road jersey, and call it a day. I'd be perfectly okay with the navy jersey being worn once or twice a year.

[Chawls]

What do we consider to be the Chargers' rightful helmet color: white or navy blue? The answer to that will influence the rest of our ideal Chargers uniform for sure.

[fouhy12]

1347486445' post='1879122']

All the Chargers need to do is make the powder blue alt the home jersey, flip the navy and powder blue on the road jersey, and call it a day. I'd be perfectly okay with the navy jersey being worn once or twice a year.

+1

If they did that, plus add numbers to the helmet, make navy the alternate jersey, and make powder blue pants to wear on the road sometimes, they would have one of my favorite looks in all of sports.

[Crash]

ANOTHER ANECDOTE OF THE NIKE FIT:

I finally got down to the mall and tried on a Nike jersey. I tried on both the limited and game styles in both L and XL. Both were San Francisco jerseys, as I estimated those would be closest in construction to the Buccaneers.

Caveat: I am 5'11. I am not an overly athletic person. My gut is slightly larger than my chest. If I am asked to choose a category for body type, it's "average." Not fat, not muscular, not huge, not small, etc.

They fit me terribly. The very specific cut seems to be only meant for highly athletic men or those wearing shoulder pads to the neighborhood bar. The sleeves are connected to the body at a very low point, making the armpit area fit very strangely. Despite falling several inches below my waist with my arms at my sides, lifting my arms caused a 6 inch travel for the bottom hem, meaning that it fell lower than I liked with my arms down and much higher than I liked with my arms up. Other than the lack of mesh, the material felt much like that of the Reebok jerseys I own. The "silicon printing" was likewise much the same in appearance and feel to the screen printing on the Reebok replicas, though the "highly flexible twill" was noticeably thinner and less stiff than on my authentics.

Overall, it just seemed to be designed absolutely to be skin-tight, meant to move as it stretches, not as a normal shirt. Perhaps I was meant to fit into a medium, by Nike's estimation, though I've not worn a medium shirt of any type since I was 13, and the large was barely long enough as it was.

I ordered a Reebok authentic "dress" when I got home, as they fit like a shirt, which, frankly, is what I'm using my jerseys as. I'm not playing (competitive) football in these things. I'm eating wings and drinking beer and throwing my arms up in celebration and distress on game days.

My advice is to try them on before you buy, even if you usually order yours online. I'm sure they fit some people better than the Reeboks ever did. But I would have never worn mine if I'd ordered one and it fit like the ones at the store. Bullet dodged.

BACK AT AN EARLIER TOPIC:

While I think that a lot of the new Nike sleeves look absolutely silly for no frickin' reason (I'm looking at you, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh) after a whole game presumably in full game look, I love how the Bucs' sleeves look. For the first time in years, the secondary ship logo (my favorite) was visible on every last one of the players. It appeared to be screened on, not a sew-on patch (there weren't many side-on closeups), but no one's ships were folded under or cut off. The Leisurewire looked silly for the most part, but when they just make the whole collar the color of the body of the jersey, it will look fine. Here's hoping for only minor tweaks for the Buccaneers.

BOLTS, BOLTS, AND MORE BOLTS:

The contrasting bolt panels are a disaster, especially because of the random panel ends and that the panels are all different colors, depending on which part of the uniform you're looking at. The Chargers (and 49ers) are the most obvious examples of what I think the problem with the NikeFL is: They didn't design 32 teams worth of jerseys. They designed one and then jammed the old designs into them. They didn't make jerseys on which the bolt panels or triple stripes would work, they made jerseys and then slapped on the identifying parts for each team, with a few exceptions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I guess I vaguely understand how much easier this is, using a fairly strict template. On the other hand they paid HOW MUCH for the right to do this and then phoned it in? It's not as if Nike is 2 designers and a huge factory here. Even with the fairly short amount of time, it's no unreasonable for them to have designed cuts and templates for each team that would work for the aesthetics of each team.

[PhlyBoy]

And There is the best Chargers uniform of all time and what they should wear now. Take off the helmet numbers maybe too and thats b-e-a-utiful