College Football 2013 Season

[ManCalledAmp]

Disney dropped the agreement after they determined Oregon's mascot was not Donald Duck. Nike in turn designed the new Puddles logo which has since been used. The old Donald through the block O logo still carries the Disney agreement though. It's not used anywhere though.

Thanks for the clarification. Solid.

[FiddySicks]

Those VaTech helmets are just horrible. It's an interesting idea because up close the pattern looks somewhat realistic, but even on HDTV it's impossible to make them out. They're actually hard to watch because the helmet reminds me of my parents 1970's drapes.

[Lights Out]

Did anyone not stop to think that the Georgia Tech uniforms are purposely that way because that's how they were back in the 50s and 60s? Many times in the past, football jerseys with sleeves were different in design, depending on the cut. The Falcons had uniforms with different sleeve stripes back in the day, depending on the size of the jersey. Georgia did too. Those are just two others from the same place on the map that I can think of off the top of my head.

It's Russell. The most likely explanation is pure laziness and lack of quality control on their part.

[TGroce]

"Yup, it's me again."

hahahaha

[St Louis Cardinals]

Meh. Just looked like camo to me

[bigwalk]

Did anyone not stop to think that the Georgia Tech uniforms are purposely that way because that's how they were back in the 50s and 60s? Many times in the past, football jerseys with sleeves were different in design, depending on the cut. The Falcons had uniforms with different sleeve stripes back in the day, depending on the size of the jersey. Georgia did too. Those are just two others from the same place on the map that I can think of off the top of my head.

It's Russell. The most likely explanation is pure laziness and lack of quality control on their part.

Most likely explanation, sure, but I'm fairly confident that Tech's jerseys had different stripes depending (to an extent) on position.

[Burkell007]

I watched the Tulsa-Iowa st Game and I love tulsa's jerseys with the stripes but the font and pants stripe just seem off.

[gdu]

Did anyone not stop to think that the Georgia Tech uniforms are purposely that way because that's how they were back in the 50s and 60s? Many times in the past, football jerseys with sleeves were different in design, depending on the cut. The Falcons had uniforms with different sleeve stripes back in the day, depending on the size of the jersey. Georgia did too. Those are just two others from the same place on the map that I can think of off the top of my head.

It's Russell. The most likely explanation is pure laziness and lack of quality control on their part.

Most likely explanation, sure, but I'm fairly confident that Tech's jerseys had different stripes depending (to an extent) on position.

Yup, looked like the linemen all had 3 together and everyone else had 2 plus the navy cuff.

[Lights Out]

What's sad is that Russell used to be up there with Nike as one of the best manufacturers in football. They were by far the best at using patterned trim to add detail and visual interest to a uniform without going overboard.

I wonder what made them go off the rails to the point of offering the ugliest templates in football, giving Southern Miss those hideous half-and-half pants, not even being able to use the same striping pattern on a full set of throwback uniforms, etc.

[guest23]

What's sad is that Russell used to be up there with Nike as one of the best manufacturers in football. They were by far the best at using patterned trim to add detail and visual interest to a uniform without going overboard.

I wonder what made them go off the rails to the point of offering the ugliest templates in football, giving Southern Miss those hideous half-and-half pants, not even being able to use the same striping pattern on a full set of throwback uniforms, etc.

Customized trim was Russell's last stand at being relevant as they are basically a legacy manufacturer from the days before the shoe companies got into the uniform game much like Champion, Wilson etc. It seems that for decades those companies were content to do little to no innovation in terms of materials and design. Nike/Rbk/Adi basically forced out all of those traditional manufacturers but Russell having been one of the better ones has stuck around but has essentially been playing 3rd tier role.

My best guess is that Russell simply does not have the design and financial resources to compete so they are effectively running a knock-off & price point strategy these days. The company is a Berkshire subsidiary so I assume they are profitable but just not a glamorous sportswear company.

[Chawls]

Those Hokie Stone helmets should have had a matte finish. Gems notwithstanding, stones don't reflect light.

[lahaye7]

I watched the Tulsa-Iowa st Game and I love tulsa's jerseys with the stripes but the font and pants stripe just seem off.

their chrome domes (as well as everyone elses) look so much better during the day. The nighttime darkness makes them look like the top of their heads have been loped off.

[Mr. Krabs]

Does Northwestern still use the 'N' Cat logo? I hardly see it anymore now as even TV graphics only have the fancy 'N' instead of the cat.

[TimEOBrien]

Does Northwestern still use the 'N' Cat logo? I hardly see it anymore now as even TV graphics only have the fancy 'N' instead of the cat.

The NCat logo is barely used in the football program but is still the center court logo in basketball and appears on things like tickets and souvenirs.

[Ted Cunningham]

Did anyone not stop to think that the Georgia Tech uniforms are purposely that way because that's how they were back in the 50s and 60s? Many times in the past, football jerseys with sleeves were different in design, depending on the cut. The Falcons had uniforms with different sleeve stripes back in the day, depending on the size of the jersey. Georgia did too. Those are just two others from the same place on the map that I can think of off the top of my head.

Could you provide a picture of what you're talking about? I think I follow. But if I understand you correctly, then it's not a good argument. Just because there were inconsistencies on the original jerseys does mean that there should be inconsistencies on the throwbacks. That's akin to saying "Well, they only used two-bar facemasks back then so for authenticity's sake, we should do that in 2013 as well!" They should have taken an un-altered, most complete version of the jersey they were throwing back to and then come as close as they could to that on a modern template. I really think the inconsistencies were just showing that Russell was being lazy.

[nuordr]

here's a picture or two of the mis-matched sleeve stripes:

[BRice16]

What's sad is that Russell used to be up there with Nike as one of the best manufacturers in football. They were by far the best at using patterned trim to add detail and visual interest to a uniform without going overboard.

I wonder what made them go off the rails to the point of offering the ugliest templates in football, giving Southern Miss those hideous half-and-half pants, not even being able to use the same striping pattern on a full set of throwback uniforms, etc.

Customized trim was Russell's last stand at being relevant as they are basically a legacy manufacturer from the days before the shoe companies got into the uniform game much like Champion, Wilson etc. It seems that for decades those companies were content to do little to no innovation in terms of materials and design. Nike/Rbk/Adi basically forced out all of those traditional manufacturers but Russell having been one of the better ones has stuck around but has essentially been playing 3rd tier role.

My best guess is that Russell simply does not have the design and financial resources to compete so they are effectively running a knock-off & price point strategy these days. The company is a Berkshire subsidiary so I assume they are profitable but just not a glamorous sportswear company.

Many of those traditional manufacturers like Wilson, Ripon, Betlin, Champion/ACO and Sports Belle actually found it more profitable to manufacture jerseys for Nike/adidas/Reebok, etc. and then use those templates to sell similar jerseys to high schools than it was to use their own branding to accomplish the same end. Poor resource management (adidas paid their tab once a year) ended up closing down Betlin and Sports Belle.

Russell once had an offer in the 90s to become the manufacturer of all of Nike's collegiate on-field/on-court stuff. They declined, preferring to go it on their own, and it cost them their company (at least that version of it, they've gone under twice since). Powers Athletic took the contract and has ridden it to unbelievable levels of success.

[guest23]

What's sad is that Russell used to be up there with Nike as one of the best manufacturers in football. They were by far the best at using patterned trim to add detail and visual interest to a uniform without going overboard.

I wonder what made them go off the rails to the point of offering the ugliest templates in football, giving Southern Miss those hideous half-and-half pants, not even being able to use the same striping pattern on a full set of throwback uniforms, etc.

Customized trim was Russell's last stand at being relevant as they are basically a legacy manufacturer from the days before the shoe companies got into the uniform game much like Champion, Wilson etc. It seems that for decades those companies were content to do little to no innovation in terms of materials and design. Nike/Rbk/Adi basically forced out all of those traditional manufacturers but Russell having been one of the better ones has stuck around but has essentially been playing 3rd tier role.

My best guess is that Russell simply does not have the design and financial resources to compete so they are effectively running a knock-off & price point strategy these days. The company is a Berkshire subsidiary so I assume they are profitable but just not a glamorous sportswear company.

Many of those traditional manufacturers like Wilson, Ripon, Betlin, Champion/ACO and Sports Belle actually found it more profitable to manufacture jerseys for Nike/adidas/Reebok, etc. and then use those templates to sell similar jerseys to high schools than it was to use their own branding to accomplish the same end. Poor resource management (adidas paid their tab once a year) ended up closing down Betlin and Sports Belle.

Russell once had an offer in the 90s to become the manufacturer of all of Nike's collegiate on-field/on-court stuff. They declined, preferring to go it on their own, and it cost them their company (at least that version of it, they've gone under twice since). Powers Athletic took the contract and has ridden it to unbelievable levels of success.

That's great info. My follow up question is that what happens to Powers should nike pull their supplier agreement? Unfortunately for many companies that end up becoming suppliers for market share leaders your company's life is now dependent on a single contract.

[WSU151]

here's a picture or two of the mis-matched sleeve stripes:

The navy-white-gold stripes are awesome, vintage Georgia Tech and classic. The three (or five) stripes on the linemen, while "vintage", look bad. Looks too much like Army's old stripes.

This uniform would improve greatly with a GT on the helmet.

[BRice16]

That's great info. My follow up question is that what happens to Powers should nike pull their supplier agreement? Unfortunately for many companies that end up becoming suppliers for market share leaders your company's life is now dependent on a single contract.

They would probably be screwed royally. But nobody else has the capacity to do all they do, they're sort of at a point where Nike has to use them. That's what happened to Sports Belle, they went so heavy on doing adidas work that they slowed way down on their team sales. Wilson low bid them for the football contracts in 2002 and adidas ended up moving all of their business to Betlin by 2003.

Same thing then happened to Betlin/Athletixx in 2005 when adidas bought out Reebok and began using Ripon, who was Reebok's primary supplier.