Adidas gets NHL jersey deal. Starts 17-18. Advertising on jerseys poss

[MadDog2020]

Twitter...

Blake Wheeler

"An NHL uniform is a scared thing and it's an honor to wear one. Putting corporate sponsors on the front would tarnish that. Don't do it."

Preach it Blake!

[mfitz804]

Twitter...

Blake Wheeler

 

"An NHL uniform is a scared thing and it's an honor to wear one. Putting corporate sponsors on the front would tarnish that. Don't do it." 

 

I'm hoping this sentiment wins out. 

[Devlin]

I'm hoping this sentiment wins out.

If not they should just put a picture of Run DMC on the jerseys. :-p

Sent from my TAB2 using TapaTalk

[thecoffeecake]

Here are my top two concerns. First, I' worried we'll end up like MLS, every team wearing the same jersey in different colors. Although the NHL operates under the same model, and all the teams are simply franchises of the league, in MLS, you feel like you're consuming a brand instead of supporting a sports team. Now, I'm not stupid, I know everything we spend money on is a brand we're consuming,  but putting every team in the same template just gives it a more clear level. I much prefer the models in Europe and college sports where teams are independent members of leagues, and can determine things like uniform sponsor.

 

Secondly, this is a transition we really needed to have happen under Lou. As much as I love what's going on without him, I think it's a slim chance our jerseys survive something like this under new management.

[Satans Hockey]

I don't think the adidas stripes will happen though. MLS didn't have the history behind it that most NHL franchises have. MLS needed that partnership. Just really makes no sense to make teams have stripes but then again it won't surprise me because the league is run by morons.

[DevsMan84]

I really don't get the big fuss right now. People are getting bent out of shape by the company that already owns the brand the jerseys have been made under since the 2005-06 season, just now they are slapping a new logo onto the back instead of reebok.

Also the ads on jerseys was just speculation by the author. I doubt it will happen.

[mfitz804]

I really don't get the big fuss right now. People are getting bent out of shape by the company that already owns the brand the jerseys have been made under since the 2005-06 season, just now they are slapping a new logo onto the back instead of reebok.

Also the ads on jerseys was just speculation by the author. I doubt it will happen.

I agree with this. It's not like a new company is taking over. It's the same company, they are just switching brands. There's no reason to believe there will be any change other than the logo.

[2ELIAS6]

I agree with this. It's not like a new company is taking over. It's the same company, they are just switching brands. There's no reason to believe there will be any change other than the logo.

hopefully you are right on with minimal changes.. i just think alot of us see this as an opportunity to really rail in some big bucks if the league decided to do this.. but i guess only time will tell what will happen.

[Derek21]

It died for me a long time ago. The NHL overcharges for jerseys and continually rips off its fans. Besides, I prefer CCM or Starter over any of these big sneaker companies.

[devilsfan26]

I agree with this. It's not like a new company is taking over. It's the same company, they are just switching brands. There's no reason to believe there will be any change other than the logo.

Reebok owned CCM when that jersey switchover happened too, so I'm not optimistic about this.  I fully expect them to come out with new designs for most teams once again because the fans' desire to have the team's current jersey (or a jersey of a new player) will always win out unfortunately.  People hated the Reebok Edge jerseys, but Reebok still made a ton of money off of them.  Sadly, this is a time and age where the manufacturers seem to have more of a say in professional teams' identities than the actual teams have.  Even in college sports where the teams can choose their manufacturer, we still see complete abominations on a regular basis, especially in college football.

[DevsMan84]

It died for me a long time ago. The NHL overcharges for jerseys and continually rips off its fans. Besides, I prefer CCM or Starter over any of these big sneaker companies.

 

Starter was also known to make mistakes on their jerseys as well such as on the Rangers Liberty jersey.

 

But yeah jerseys blank shouldn't be $100.

[DevsMan84]

Reebok owned CCM when that jersey switchover happened too, so I'm not optimistic about this.  I fully expect them to come out with new designs for most teams once again because the fans' desire to have the team's current jersey (or a jersey of a new player) will always win out unfortunately.  People hated the Reebok Edge jerseys, but Reebok still made a ton of money off of them.  Sadly, this is a time and age where the manufacturers seem to have more of a say in professional teams' identities than the actual teams have.  Even in college sports where the teams can choose their manufacturer, we still see complete abominations on a regular basis, especially in college football.

 

Reebok bought CCM in 2004 and in 2005-06 and 06-07 season were using CCM 6100 jerseys just with the Reebok vector logo slapped on in place of the CCM logo.  Reebok made no bones about wanting to change the uniform when they bought CCM but it took a few years for them to develop and market the Edge jersey template when it finally came out in 2007-08 season.

 

I think the statement of people hating the Edge jerseys is untrue.  Yeah the players hated it and they were already switching over to the Edge 2.0 template by the middle of the 07-08 season.  Hell the Edge 2.0's outside the cut of the jersey still have a lot in common with the old CCM 6100 jerseys, so not a whole lot has changed.  If you are talking about fans hating it, just by a quick scan at arenas I see more people wearing the new Premiers which are based off the Edge 1.0 jerseys than I do see people wearing the old CCM 550 replicas. I even see more of the Edge knockoffs than I see the old 550 lately, so people must like them enough.  The only thing Reebok needs to work on is the price points and getting rid of the Indo-Edges.

 

Finally while Reebok does have a say with designs, it doesn't have the final say.  There is an article I will have to go find about the design process when Dallas re-did their jerseys a couple seasons back.  Reebok and Dallas pretty much had equal say with the Dallas executives having the final decision.  I doubt that process will change.

[devilsfan26]

Reebok bought CCM in 2004 and in 2005-06 and 06-07 season were using CCM 6100 jerseys just with the Reebok vector logo slapped on in place of the CCM logo.  Reebok made no bones about wanting to change the uniform when they bought CCM but it took a few years for them to develop and market the Edge jersey template when it finally came out in 2007-08 season.

 

I think the statement of people hating the Edge jerseys is untrue.  Yeah the players hated it and they were already switching over to the Edge 2.0 template by the middle of the 07-08 season.  Hell the Edge 2.0's outside the cut of the jersey still have a lot in common with the old CCM 6100 jerseys, so not a whole lot has changed.  If you are talking about fans hating it, just by a quick scan at arenas I see more people wearing the new Premiers which are based off the Edge 1.0 jerseys than I do see people wearing the old CCM 550 replicas. I even see more of the Edge knockoffs than I see the old 550 lately, so people must like them enough.  The only thing Reebok needs to work on is the price points and getting rid of the Indo-Edges.

 

Finally while Reebok does have a say with designs, it doesn't have the final say.  There is an article I will have to go find about the design process when Dallas re-did their jerseys a couple seasons back.  Reebok and Dallas pretty much had equal say with the Dallas executives having the final decision.  I doubt that process will change.

Yeah I remember Reebok owning CCM for a few years before switching the jerseys, I still don't see why that is different than what is going on now though.

 

It wasn't necessarily the materials that fans hated about the Edge jerseys, it was the fact that most teams suddenly had new designs, and a lot of them were hideous (Nashville, Colorado, Florida, etc.)  while others were just the exact same jersey as another team but with different colors (Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Tampa Bay).  I specifically remember there being a ton of backlash on here, HFBoards, and the IceJerseys forum when those designs were revealed.  Your point that you see more people wearing Edge jerseys than the 550s fits exactly with what I'm saying.  People will hate the designs, but the manufacturer doesn't care because the fans are suckers and will buy them anyway because (1) fans want to wear their team's current jersey, (2) fans want to buy jerseys of their new favorite player, and (3) the previous models are no longer in production, so it takes some digging to find them compared to walking into any sporting goods store or the arena to buy the new one.

 

I don't know who has how much say, but it isn't a coincidence that the Lightning, Senators, and Penguins all ended up with identical jerseys.  Clearly Reebok had cookie cutter templates they were pushing.  There was a rumor that the Original Six teams would get to keep their jerseys, but they wanted everyone else to come out with something new.  Also, despite being Original Six teams and getting to keep their designs, I'm sure the Red Wings weren't happy about having to move the C and A's to the other side of the jersey, and the diagonal "Rangers" on those jerseys is off-center now too because of the way the jerseys are cut.  Someone on here posted a quote from Lamoriello after a fan club meeting around the time the Edge jerseys were revealed, and he said, "You have no idea what we had to go through to keep our jerseys."  If it was that much of a battle for Lou Lamoriello to prevent our jerseys from being changed, there must have been a lot of pressure from Reebok and/or the NHL.  Maybe Reebok gave the Stars some more say in the final design of their jersey because they weren't trying to keep the same design they previously had.  Regardless of what new design they came out with, the fans would have bought it.

[Jerzey]

Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

[DevsMan84]

Yeah I remember Reebok owning CCM for a few years before switching the jerseys, I still don't see why that is different than what is going on now though.

 

It wasn't necessarily the materials that fans hated about the Edge jerseys, it was the fact that most teams suddenly had new designs, and a lot of them were hideous (Nashville, Colorado, Florida, etc.)  while others were just the exact same jersey as another team but with different colors (Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Tampa Bay).  I specifically remember there being a ton of backlash on here, HFBoards, and the IceJerseys forum when those designs were revealed.  Your point that you see more people wearing Edge jerseys than the 550s fits exactly with what I'm saying.  People will hate the designs, but the manufacturer doesn't care because the fans are suckers and will buy them anyway because (1) fans want to wear their team's current jersey, (2) fans want to buy jerseys of their new favorite player, and (3) the previous models are no longer in production, so it takes some digging to find them compared to walking into any sporting goods store or the arena to buy the new one.

 

I don't know who has how much say, but it isn't a coincidence that the Lightning, Senators, and Penguins all ended up with identical jerseys.  Clearly Reebok had cookie cutter templates they were pushing.  There was a rumor that the Original Six teams would get to keep their jerseys, but they wanted everyone else to come out with something new.  Also, despite being Original Six teams and getting to keep their designs, I'm sure the Red Wings weren't happy about having to move the C and A's to the other side of the jersey, and the diagonal "Rangers" on those jerseys is off-center now too because of the way the jerseys are cut.  Someone on here posted a quote from Lamoriello after a fan club meeting around the time the Edge jerseys were revealed, and he said, "You have no idea what we had to go through to keep our jerseys."  If it was that much of a battle for Lou Lamoriello to prevent our jerseys from being changed, there must have been a lot of pressure from Reebok and/or the NHL.  Maybe Reebok gave the Stars some more say in the final design of their jersey because they weren't trying to keep the same design they previously had.  Regardless of what new design they came out with, the fans would have bought it.

 

I think I remember reading a lot of the changes in designs were actually be necessity due to the fact that the Edge template was cut/assembled differently.  If you compare an old CCM 6100 jersey to an Edge jersey you will see that an Edge has more panels that make up the design.  When the Edge first came out in 2007, one of the challenges was that it was actually a bitch to manufacture the bottom striping pattern.  Teams like Colorado who had the mountain design for the bottom striping of their jerseys had to change to the apron-string style.  Over the years Reebok was able to overcome this and now they can make designs that are similar to the old styles.  I also remember hearing that one of the reasons why when the Devils started having retro night they wore Edge jerseys on the ice but the replicas were of the old CCM 550 cuts was due to the bottom hem striping issue.  It is much cheaper and easier to replica that striping pattern on the old CCM's than it is on the Edge's and even the replica's so they decided to go this route.

 

As for the three reasons why fans keep buying the Reebok jerseys, reasons 1 and 2 you gave are legit reasons but 3 isn't IMO.  Yeah the old cuts are not available in stores but there is a crapload on eBay, with most being in the $20-40 range.  That's much cheaper than buying a Premier replica but people still buy the premiers.  I think people really do like how they are.  I personally don't care much for them, but I have heard others say they like the Premier's softer material and they also like how the arms and body are cut closer to the body so they are not like wearing a tent like on the 550's.  I can see those as being valid reasons.

 

In the end the teams do have the power to veto anything Reebok designs, and it is not unique to the Stars.  It is really up to the team and how much they push back.  Look at the Stadium Series jerseys when Lou pushed back against going to the chrome and when they switched over to the current Edge template.  The thing is most GM's and teams don't want to push back, they want to sell more jerseys to their fans.

[mouse]

Too bad. I was pulling for Bauer. Hockey history, and Nike does a better job on soccer jerseys than Adidas. If I'm gonna get a Greene jersey, I'll be doing it sooner rather than later.

[devilsfan26]

Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Haha.  How much longer until that movie is a documentary?

 

I think I remember reading a lot of the changes in designs were actually be necessity due to the fact that the Edge template was cut/assembled differently.  If you compare an old CCM 6100 jersey to an Edge jersey you will see that an Edge has more panels that make up the design.  When the Edge first came out in 2007, one of the challenges was that it was actually a bitch to manufacture the bottom striping pattern.  Teams like Colorado who had the mountain design for the bottom striping of their jerseys had to change to the apron-string style.  Over the years Reebok was able to overcome this and now they can make designs that are similar to the old styles.  I also remember hearing that one of the reasons why when the Devils started having retro night they wore Edge jerseys on the ice but the replicas were of the old CCM 550 cuts was due to the bottom hem striping issue.  It is much cheaper and easier to replica that striping pattern on the old CCM's than it is on the Edge's and even the replica's so they decided to go this route.

 

As for the three reasons why fans keep buying the Reebok jerseys, reasons 1 and 2 you gave are legit reasons but 3 isn't IMO.  Yeah the old cuts are not available in stores but there is a crapload on eBay, with most being in the $20-40 range.  That's much cheaper than buying a Premier replica but people still buy the premiers.  I think people really do like how they are.  I personally don't care much for them, but I have heard others say they like the Premier's softer material and they also like how the arms and body are cut closer to the body so they are not like wearing a tent like on the 550's.  I can see those as being valid reasons.

 

In the end the teams do have the power to veto anything Reebok designs, and it is not unique to the Stars.  It is really up to the team and how much they push back.  Look at the Stadium Series jerseys when Lou pushed back against going to the chrome and when they switched over to the current Edge template.  The thing is most GM's and teams don't want to push back, they want to sell more jerseys to their fans.

How much did Reebok actually change the construction of the jerseys though after the initial Edge release (aside from the materials)?  Some teams seemed to be able to keep their bottom stripes, either straight across like the Devils have, or contouring to the cut of the jersey like Minnesota used to have on their white jerseys.  Meanwhile, a ton of other teams ended up with bizarre vertical piping instead.  I feel like that may have just been an excuse.  Plenty of teams had to ditch their bottom striping, I'm sure Reebok could have figured out a way to construct the jerseys to keep the bottom striping present, but they wanted to reinvent the wheel with vertical piping instead.

 

I completely agree with you that the 550s are a much better buy than the Edge jerseys and have purchased a bunch on eBay myself, but I don't think most people are like us, especially not casual fans at least.  You can find older jerseys on eBay, but I think for some people they don't want to put in the extra effort and it's just easier to buy a jersey at the arena or at their local sports store.  We know that picking up a 550 on eBay is better, but not everyone is a jersey enthusiast who posts on a hockey forum.

 

You have a point about the teams having the final say, but why does it need to be such a struggle?  I would think it should be easy for a team's upper management to just say, "No, we are keeping our jerseys as is," but obviously that's not how it is with these manufacturers anymore.

 

I hope you are right and that this won't be a complete disaster, but I'm preparing for the worst.

[Marshall]

They'll do something like on the IIHF WC jerseys.

[thecoffeecake]

How many teams still use that vertical striping? Off the top of my head, I can think Calgary, Colorado, and St. Louis. I guess Buffalo's homes too. I know there are more. I'm shocked it's lasted this long.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Thinking about it they will have to come up with a different way of attaching things to the jerseys.

You can't have 3 different sponsors patches stitched onto the jersey with the crest and the numbering, it's just going to add weight. Are they going to have to start printing onto the jerseys? Jersey sublimation? That would be horrible.

[DevsMan84]

Haha.  How much longer until that movie is a documentary?

 

How much did Reebok actually change the construction of the jerseys though after the initial Edge release (aside from the materials)?  Some teams seemed to be able to keep their bottom stripes, either straight across like the Devils have, or contouring to the cut of the jersey like Minnesota used to have on their white jerseys.  Meanwhile, a ton of other teams ended up with bizarre vertical piping instead.  I feel like that may have just been an excuse.  Plenty of teams had to ditch their bottom striping, I'm sure Reebok could have figured out a way to construct the jerseys to keep the bottom striping present, but they wanted to reinvent the wheel with vertical piping instead.

 

I completely agree with you that the 550s are a much better buy than the Edge jerseys and have purchased a bunch on eBay myself, but I don't think most people are like us, especially not casual fans at least.  You can find older jerseys on eBay, but I think for some people they don't want to put in the extra effort and it's just easier to buy a jersey at the arena or at their local sports store.  We know that picking up a 550 on eBay is better, but not everyone is a jersey enthusiast who posts on a hockey forum.

 

You have a point about the teams having the final say, but why does it need to be such a struggle?  I would think it should be easy for a team's upper management to just say, "No, we are keeping our jerseys as is," but obviously that's not how it is with these manufacturers anymore.

 

I hope you are right and that this won't be a complete disaster, but I'm preparing for the worst.

 

I will just do bullet points to make it easier to read for everyone and it is easier for me to type lol

 

1) When they switched over to Edge 1.0 to 2.0, they changed the play-dry material that was on the front, shoulder and arm panels to traditional air-knit.  They also loosened the body and the sleeves while also shortening the sleeves.  The Premier replicas still to this day actually mimic more of the 1.0 than the 2.0 so that's why the Premiers have goofy long sleeves in my opinion.  They kept the Edge material (Edge mesh) on the armpits quarter-chest panels and back panel.

 

2) I counted quickly the number of panels on a couple of gamers I have between the Edge 2.0 and the old Reebok 6100 that was last used in 2006-07 season.  The 6100 had 9 panels while the Edge 2.0 had 32 panels by my count.  This includes the fact that on the 6100's the bottom and arm stripes were sub-laminated ("painted) on while the Edge 2.0 the strips are all separate pieces of material.  This is why teams like Colorado could no longer do the mountain theme.  It was easy to do when the stripes were painted on while the Edge template they would have to be separate pieces of material, which is nearly impossible.  I do know that since then Reebok has gotten better at working with the Edge template and can accommodate more radical designs.  The vertical striping actually runs up the seams of the front panel with the front/chest quarter panels near the armpits and this was a compromise they used due to the absence of bottom striping.  I think Reebok encouraged a lot of teams to remove the bottom striping when the switch was made in 2007 due to the increased cost of materials since again those stripes were each now another piece of material.  Even a team like Toronto went without bottom striping for a couple years after the switch.

 

3) I agree that there will always be a segment of fans who either don't care enough or just plain don't know enough to buy a jersey through another means other than the team store or at a brick and mortar store or a website like NHL.com.  However, there are still plenty of people I see who spent enough time online to find a Chinese knockoff site to buy one of those horrific $30 knockoffs and wear it proudly at the arena.  I think these days I see about the same amount of official jerseys as I do knockoffs.  I think for a lot of fans it's really all about getting current players and building up a collection of jerseys on the cheap.  I have actually seen online guys bragging about owning 200 jerseys and pretty much all of them are cheap knockoffs.  The best thing about 550's is that you can get them on eBay cheap blank and then have it customized with a "forever" Devil like Brodeur, Stevens, Elias, Daneyko, etc. and no matter what those jerseys will never look goofy or out of place.  But again people just want the latest and greatest and like I stated before there are a good number of people who actually prefer the Edge look/feel/fit.

 

4) Teams do have the final say but they are certainly heavily encouraged by Reebok to go with their designs/recommendations.  Most of the team executives are not marketing people (they hire a people to do that) and the biggest thing Reebok pushes is the bottom line.  Reebok will push for the cheapest jersey available and usually seduce the teams with this POV by telling them their bottom line will look better.  Not only that but ugly standard and 3rd jerseys are nothing new.  Examples of ugly 3rd jerseys from the past are the Wild Wing and the Burger King jerseys.  Example of an ugly standard jerseys are the Islanders Fisherman jerseys.  These things will always happen when teams and designers have extra time on their hands and want extra $.

[devilsfan26]

I will just do bullet points to make it easier to read for everyone and it is easier for me to type lol

 

1) When they switched over to Edge 1.0 to 2.0, they changed the play-dry material that was on the front, shoulder and arm panels to traditional air-knit.  They also loosened the body and the sleeves while also shortening the sleeves.  The Premier replicas still to this day actually mimic more of the 1.0 than the 2.0 so that's why the Premiers have goofy long sleeves in my opinion.  They kept the Edge material (Edge mesh) on the armpits quarter-chest panels and back panel.

 

2) I counted quickly the number of panels on a couple of gamers I have between the Edge 2.0 and the old Reebok 6100 that was last used in 2006-07 season.  The 6100 had 9 panels while the Edge 2.0 had 32 panels by my count.  This includes the fact that on the 6100's the bottom and arm stripes were sub-laminated ("painted) on while the Edge 2.0 the strips are all separate pieces of material.  This is why teams like Colorado could no longer do the mountain theme.  It was easy to do when the stripes were painted on while the Edge template they would have to be separate pieces of material, which is nearly impossible.  I do know that since then Reebok has gotten better at working with the Edge template and can accommodate more radical designs.  The vertical striping actually runs up the seams of the front panel with the front/chest quarter panels near the armpits and this was a compromise they used due to the absence of bottom striping.  I think Reebok encouraged a lot of teams to remove the bottom striping when the switch was made in 2007 due to the increased cost of materials since again those stripes were each now another piece of material.  Even a team like Toronto went without bottom striping for a couple years after the switch.

 

3) I agree that there will always be a segment of fans who either don't care enough or just plain don't know enough to buy a jersey through another means other than the team store or at a brick and mortar store or a website like NHL.com.  However, there are still plenty of people I see who spent enough time online to find a Chinese knockoff site to buy one of those horrific $30 knockoffs and wear it proudly at the arena.  I think these days I see about the same amount of official jerseys as I do knockoffs.  I think for a lot of fans it's really all about getting current players and building up a collection of jerseys on the cheap.  I have actually seen online guys bragging about owning 200 jerseys and pretty much all of them are cheap knockoffs.  The best thing about 550's is that you can get them on eBay cheap blank and then have it customized with a "forever" Devil like Brodeur, Stevens, Elias, Daneyko, etc. and no matter what those jerseys will never look goofy or out of place.  But again people just want the latest and greatest and like I stated before there are a good number of people who actually prefer the Edge look/feel/fit.

 

4) Teams do have the final say but they are certainly heavily encouraged by Reebok to go with their designs/recommendations.  Most of the team executives are not marketing people (they hire a people to do that) and the biggest thing Reebok pushes is the bottom line.  Reebok will push for the cheapest jersey available and usually seduce the teams with this POV by telling them their bottom line will look better.  Not only that but ugly standard and 3rd jerseys are nothing new.  Examples of ugly 3rd jerseys from the past are the Wild Wing and the Burger King jerseys.  Example of an ugly standard jerseys are the Islanders Fisherman jerseys.  These things will always happen when teams and designers have extra time on their hands and want extra $.

1)  I remember them doing this, the idea of wearing an Edge jersey with a pair of Dockers Stain Defenders to be completely spill-proof was sadly short-lived...  Anyway, I guess what I meant to ask was did these changes really make a difference regarding bottom striping since some teams still had bottom stripes anyway?  The current Edge jerseys are still assembled the same way as the original ones, meaning where each piece is connected to each other, right?

 

2)  I understand why Colorado couldn't keep their mountain pattern, but other teams just had straight horizontal stripes.  Some teams were able to keep them while others were not.  Maybe because of increased cost of materials, but why couldn't they just sublimate the lines onto the Edge jerseys like they did with the 6100s?

 

3)  Right, for those people it is more about having the current design or current player.  Those are probably bigger reasons.  I tell people the same thing about the 550s and getting a player that won't go out of style.  I hear the old ones are more durable than the Edge jerseys too, although I never bought an Edge jersey so I can't speak from my own experience on that.

 

4)  It's nothing new, but seeing that almost the entire league had to come out with a new design makes me think the team execs might have had a lesser say than they should have.

[DevsMan84]

1)  I remember them doing this, the idea of wearing an Edge jersey with a pair of Dockers Stain Defenders to be completely spill-proof was sadly short-lived...  Anyway, I guess what I meant to ask was did these changes really make a difference regarding bottom striping since some teams still had bottom stripes anyway?  The current Edge jerseys are still assembled the same way as the original ones, meaning where each piece is connected to each other, right?

 

2)  I understand why Colorado couldn't keep their mountain pattern, but other teams just had straight horizontal stripes.  Some teams were able to keep them while others were not.  Maybe because of increased cost of materials, but why couldn't they just sublimate the lines onto the Edge jerseys like they did with the 6100s?

 

3)  Right, for those people it is more about having the current design or current player.  Those are probably bigger reasons.  I tell people the same thing about the 550s and getting a player that won't go out of style.  I hear the old ones are more durable than the Edge jerseys too, although I never bought an Edge jersey so I can't speak from my own experience on that.

 

4)  It's nothing new, but seeing that almost the entire league had to come out with a new design makes me think the team execs might have had a lesser say than they should have.

1) They still are assembled the same way, but there are more panels.  Plus they are actually working with 3 different types of materials while the older 6100's was fully one type of material (air-knit).  The Edge 2.0 has the airknit, Edge material (Edge Mesh) and a solid ultrafil-like material for some of the stripes.  I actually have a 1.0 and I once spilled water on it.  The water didn't even soak into the material, it just beaded up and I wiped it off like I was wearing a plastic poncho.  The materials used in the play-dry is a company secret, but they did reveal one of them is spandex (which accounts for its elasticity).

 

2) I think it came down to cost of manufacture/materials.  They probably encouraged teams to forgo the strips on the bottom as they would have to cut more materials and sew more panels on.  As to why couldn't they just print the strips on, who knows.  It's just the template they came out with and there could be another manufacturing reason behind it or just a simple way to justify charging more.  If I remember correctly the premiers the stripes are all together one panel (so 1 panel for the entire stripe colors for each arm and body), but I would have to go home and check on that as it has been a while since I put on one of my premier jerseys.

 

3) I agree the Premier jerseys are not built as solidly as the old 550's.  One thing I will say is that I like the fit of the Premiers better minus the long sleeves.

 

4) I don't think they had a lesser say, but execs see another jersey to market so they rush these out as they have $ in their eyes.  The 3rd jersey program started in around 1996, and only a few teams participated back then.  It's just a natural evolution of things where execs are now seeing more and more dollar signs with another issuance of another jersey. 

[Lateralous]

How many teams still use that vertical striping? Off the top of my head, I can think Calgary, Colorado, and St. Louis. I guess Buffalo's homes too. I know there are more. I'm shocked it's lasted this long.

 

 

I know I'm in the minority on this but I loved the vertical piping that came out when Reebok first revamped the league.  I occasionally buy random jerseys just to use at open hockey and almost all of the ones I've bought over the last decade have had the vertical stripes including the original Reebok Oilers and Blues designs as well as the current Sabres blue with the gray piping.  I also bought the current Michigan St jersey that has vertical stripes similar to all the Nike jerseys from the 2006 Olympics. 

 

A lot of the traditional jerseys are also beautiful but IMO younger franchises like the Lightning should have a more modern look and not pretend to be the Red Wings.       

Edited August 21, 2015 by Lateralous

[thecoffeecake]

I will just do bullet points to make it easier to read for everyone and it is easier for me to type lol

 

1) When they switched over to Edge 1.0 to 2.0, they changed the play-dry material that was on the front, shoulder and arm panels to traditional air-knit.  They also loosened the body and the sleeves while also shortening the sleeves.  The Premier replicas still to this day actually mimic more of the 1.0 than the 2.0 so that's why the Premiers have goofy long sleeves in my opinion.  They kept the Edge material (Edge mesh) on the armpits quarter-chest panels and back panel.

 

2) I counted quickly the number of panels on a couple of gamers I have between the Edge 2.0 and the old Reebok 6100 that was last used in 2006-07 season.  The 6100 had 9 panels while the Edge 2.0 had 32 panels by my count.  This includes the fact that on the 6100's the bottom and arm stripes were sub-laminated ("painted) on while the Edge 2.0 the strips are all separate pieces of material.  This is why teams like Colorado could no longer do the mountain theme.  It was easy to do when the stripes were painted on while the Edge template they would have to be separate pieces of material, which is nearly impossible.  I do know that since then Reebok has gotten better at working with the Edge template and can accommodate more radical designs.  The vertical striping actually runs up the seams of the front panel with the front/chest quarter panels near the armpits and this was a compromise they used due to the absence of bottom striping.  I think Reebok encouraged a lot of teams to remove the bottom striping when the switch was made in 2007 due to the increased cost of materials since again those stripes were each now another piece of material.  Even a team like Toronto went without bottom striping for a couple years after the switch.

 

3) I agree that there will always be a segment of fans who either don't care enough or just plain don't know enough to buy a jersey through another means other than the team store or at a brick and mortar store or a website like NHL.com.  However, there are still plenty of people I see who spent enough time online to find a Chinese knockoff site to buy one of those horrific $30 knockoffs and wear it proudly at the arena.  I think these days I see about the same amount of official jerseys as I do knockoffs.  I think for a lot of fans it's really all about getting current players and building up a collection of jerseys on the cheap.  I have actually seen online guys bragging about owning 200 jerseys and pretty much all of them are cheap knockoffs.  The best thing about 550's is that you can get them on eBay cheap blank and then have it customized with a "forever" Devil like Brodeur, Stevens, Elias, Daneyko, etc. and no matter what those jerseys will never look goofy or out of place.  But again people just want the latest and greatest and like I stated before there are a good number of people who actually prefer the Edge look/feel/fit.

 

4) Teams do have the final say but they are certainly heavily encouraged by Reebok to go with their designs/recommendations.  Most of the team executives are not marketing people (they hire a people to do that) and the biggest thing Reebok pushes is the bottom line.  Reebok will push for the cheapest jersey available and usually seduce the teams with this POV by telling them their bottom line will look better.  Not only that but ugly standard and 3rd jerseys are nothing new.  Examples of ugly 3rd jerseys from the past are the Wild Wing and the Burger King jerseys.  Example of an ugly standard jerseys are the Islanders Fisherman jerseys.  These things will always happen when teams and designers have extra time on their hands and want extra $.

You jersey people are ridiculous. You sound like the brats who were mad at your parents on Christmas for getting you the wrong brand of the thing you asked for. Who do you guys think you are to criticize the things people wear to games? If you want me in an authentic jersey at the arena, PM me for my address, and I'll gladly take one from you. Until then, I'm going to continue wearing the knock off Brodeur jersey my Flyers fan buddy got me for my birthday a few years ago.