Tuesday: Adidas Close-Up

Hello again, and welcome Hockey Fans, to this Tuesday's post! 

Well I'm moving in to college soon... Like Friday, soon. So being the hockey fanatic I am, I headed down to the Xcel energy to pick up a couple of things for my dorm. I was going to get a poster of a Wild player for my wall... Except they told me that posters were giveaways, so they don't sell any. I then looked around and couldn't find anything else interesting for my dorm. So I asked if they had player lanyards, so I could replace my Pominville one. Well, it turns out that they don't have any of those left from the past year and that they'll get them soon. So the whole day was pretty much a waste, except, that's when I saw them just laying there on the counter! The brand new Wild jerseys! 

A lady came up and helped me, and she let me get a look at the jerseys, including some pictures which I put in today's post! Now neither of us were sure if it's the Adidas Authentic (Which will supposedly be similar to the Reebok replicas, and are rumored to have plastic heat pressed patches and numbers) or the on ice jerseys. (Which are what the players will be wearing). The Adidas Authentics are supposed to have a round Adidas dot on the hem, and the Fanatics replicas (Which Ryan talked about yesterday) will have the jock tag on the hem. These were also made in Canada, and do not have any of the above mentioned branding elements by the companies. So I'm think that these are the on Ice jerseys, and not the Adidas "Authentics". 

Here's a good look at the home jersey! You can kinda see how the logo fits onto the chest stripe, as well as see some of the other elements. 

Here's a close-up of the logo, show how Adidas was able to use material similar to the jersey in the logo, and not the smooth material that was used in the past. This is supposed to make the crest lighter. However the wheat outline is still made of the smooth material, and all of the edges of a color are sewn. The North Star and Moon are also stitched as well. 

The Wild trainers claim that they started the trend of Faux tie-downs. The Wild's Edge jerseys had real tie-downs, but the trainers re-strung, tied, and then cut them into a faux tie-down. The Wild will now have permanent faux tie-downs. Another interesting detail about the laces, besides the diamond pattern in them, is the fact that the laces are sewn down to the jersey. It's a rather odd thing to do for faux tie-down laces, and quite frankly it makes them even more useless. 

Here we have the shoulder patches. The brand-new "M" parch is a real stitched patch, and even has the smooth material featured on previous crests. Now if this is the Adidas Authentic, this is great! It'll mean that the patches won't be heat-pressed plastic. But if these are the on ice jerseys, then everything will be like we expected. 

A close-up here on the AdiZero pentagon and the NHL shield gives us an idea of how Adidas is going to prevent counterfeiting. The shield is chrome, and definitely suited up more than the previous jersey shields. 

This also shows how unnecessary the AdiZero pentagon is. It's stitched over the collar, meaning that the collars would look more traditional if they were to ditch them, for example the Habs and Hawks, whose collar's were ruined by AdiZero. 

Here's the road jersey which, other than the collar is the same as last year's, including the Hanger effect logo on the inside of the collar. I'm excited for this, as I wasn't sure if this would be included or not! 

Don't forget, we have our regular COTW voting, and we have the Walleye competition just getting underway! So don't forget to vote, and work on those concepts! 

COTW Aug 11-17 vote

Toledo Walleye entries due Sep 1

On to the concepts! 

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Anthony C.- Winnipeg Jets (NHL)

Anthony starts us off today with his Jets concept!

Good-

• I really like the patten, and the chest stripe!
• I also like the added red. The Jets should use it more often
• Good execution! 
• I LOVE the three color collar! 
• Equipment looks good! 

Bad-

• The back numbers should have a red outline as well. The outline might disappear, but it will look similar to the Habs, and look much better than what you have currently. 

My rating: This is a great concept for the Jets, and a great use of the Red in their color scheme! 9.5/10 and my COTW NOMINEE!!!!

FC M.- Edmonton Oilers (NHL) 

Next up is FC's Oilers concept! 

Good-

• I like the orange outline on the logo of the blue sweater!
• The striping pattern also looks good
• The Oil Drop logo on the helmets is a great element! 
• Decent execution 

Bad-

• Where's the white jersey? If you're going to make a home and road jersey set, one of them has to be white...
• The sleeve-length yoke also looks outta place, and doesn't really fit the Oilers. 
• Same goes for the font. I know that they've used this font before, but it was weird for them then too... 

My rating: The execution and presentation was good, as well as a few of the elements, but everything seems mashed up, and there's just to many things that don't work together here... 6/10

Jets96- Iowa Wild (AHL)

Jets gives us our third concept of the day, as we jump down to the Minors

Good-

• I really like the pattern based off Minnesota's sweaters and the colored upper-sleeve combo. Very clever! 
• I really like red as the base color for the IA Wild! It helps separate them from their Parent team. 

Bad-

• The recoloring of the logo for the wheat jersey doesn't look the best. A green base with red lettering and the Stars would have looked nicer. 
• I also don't like the recoloring of the Star above the "i". It pretty much disappears on the red jersey. 
• The hem stripes thickness doesn't match the  socks and arm stripes
• Concepts need to be realistic. And most teams like to keep the equipment of their Parent team, especially when they have the same color scheme, so the equipment should look like the Minnesota Wild's gear. The cream helmet would also not be allowed for every game, and white helmets would look awful with the cream jerseys. They should be white jerseys. 

My rating: A decent looking set, but a few execution errors are holding this back... 7/10

John E.- Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)

Our next concept goes to John and his Bolts concept! 

Good-

• I LOVE the lighter Hawaiian blue! 
• The return of Victory stripes is fantastic! 
• The striping pattern is fantastic! 
• I like the shoulder yoke on the front too
• The numbers work really well here! 

Bad-

• The breezers and socks should have the bolt pattern used everywhere else. The socks look a little thin with out it
• The NHL shields in the collar inserts shouldn't be blue, they should be black and silver. 
• I'm also not sure why you have St. Louis on here... Unless this was an older concept, in which case, it should say "Reebok" under the back collar. 

My rating: A great update for the currently bland Bolts look, but there's a few flaws in the consistency of the branding you created. 9/10

Lucas D.- Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL)

Our next concept is Lucas's entry in the Grand Rapids Griffins contest, for an 80's faux-back! So I'll be judging based off that detail. 

Good-

• I like the white sleeve-length yoke! That really seems to fit the 80's motif. 
• The chest stripe pattern looks good too! 
• The logo also would fit right in with other simple 80's logos

Bad-

• While the logo is simple, it looks like it says CR and not GR. 
• The half colored collar is certainly not a design element of the 80's... That didn't really start until a couple of years ago... 

My rating: A pretty good jersey for the contest, but a couple of execution errors, along with incorrect design elements hold this back... 8/10

Sebastian B.- Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) 

Sebastian finishes off the day with a Thrashers concept! 

Good-

• I like the inclusion of brown in he striping pattern 
• I also like the baby blue as the base

Bad-

• The brown is too over powering in the stripes, brown should just be a small part of the stripes
• I don't understand why the Braves road script is on the front of each jersey... As well as a front number. Sometimes a script logo can work for a team, but this has nothing to do with the Thrashers, other than saying Atlanta. It doesn't really fit their branding. 
• While you have the T-Bird logo on the shoulder, it doesn't match anything else on these jerseys...
• The number font that you used belongs to the Winnipeg Jets, the former Thrashers, and this would be a slap to the face to any Thrashers fans still out there (Like our own TC Moore). 
• The numbers could also use an outline... 
• And text should NEVER EVER EVER run over a jersey or any element in your concept. Your links don't need to be that long either, especially since you got everything from websites where it wouldn't be too hard to find the elements you used. You could just say "Logos from sportslogos.net" and we'd be able to find the logo you used. 

My rating: Everyone has to start somewhere. Don't give up, and don't be discouraged by all of this feedback. It takes a while to learn the small details and the little elements about hockey jerseys, and what to put in, and what to leave out. You'll get better, as long as ya stick to it! 5/10 

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Well, that's all from me, your Tuesday writer, Chase! Come back for more!