Wednesday, September 1, 2010

So Simple, It's Perfect

This morning, Nike unveiled its new slate of special "Pro Combat" uniforms for the college teams they outfit. Among the standard hyper-futuristic designs on display is this 1967 throwback for the Oregon State Beavers:

Most notable are the sleeve stripes, which have been moved to the compression shirts:

What a novel idea, preserving 1960s design with twenty-first century technology. If Oregon State can do this, then why can't the Packers?



UPDATE: Paul Lukas posted more pictures of the uniform on ESPN.com as part of his coverage of the unveiling:

The undershirt looks pretty good in its own right. I can easily imagine a green-and-gold version for sale at the Pro Shop:

Here's Paul's take (emphasis mine):
Surprisingly old-school, no? ... Hard to believe this is the same school that wore that sports bra design a few years back. ... A few minutes before the unveiling, a guy from Nike introduced himself to me, pointed at this design, and said, "I worked on all of these, and this is the best one of the bunch." Hard to disagree. ... Matte-finish helmet is interesting. ... Putting the sleeve stripes on the undersleeves, instead of on the actual jersey, is probably the future of football striping.
We can certainly hope so.

2 comments:

Tom Farley said...

I wonder if someone at Nike watches UniWatch as part of their job ...

This is actually great news, don't you think Chance? Nike's influence, which cannot be reasonably disputed, might actually put the sleeve stripes back on the sleeves.

Chance Michaels said...

I do think it's great news, but I'd be happier if this was more than just a one-off.

Still, the Oregon/Oregon State "Civil War" game is pretty high-profile, so maybe the design will get some attention.