Adidas Continues to Provide Second-Rate, Crappy Uniforms to UCLA
by Bellerophon on Nov 8, 2010 5:00 AM PST
in Football
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PrintAs the regular BN readers know, I'm a regular reader of Paul Lukas' very good UniWatch blog. Obviously, uniforms are secondary to whether our teams are able to win, able to compete, and able to represent the university well on and off the field. That being said, uniforms and aesthetics are something that should be important to an elite athletic department, especially when it comes to building the UCLA brand and promoting the university to a national audience.
Think about iconic uniforms: the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Texas Longhorns. The Penn State Nittany Lions. No flashy gimmicks, no mismatched colors, no bastardization of the uniform by some half-ass shoe company.
UCLA? Yeah, we're stuck with garbage uniforms that look like they were borrowed from some Pop Warner football team.
Who is to blame? Adidas.
But not only have they totally bastardized our football uniforms, they've tweaked our classic basketball uniforms, with questionable results. Let's break it down after the jump.
So, what happened? Let's start with some images and break it down, beginning with the half-ass job Adidas did with out football uniforms. Compare the two images below:
Photo Credit: AP Images
Photo Credit: Lisa Blumenfeld, Getty Images
See the difference? First, let's talk about our iconic UCLA stripes. You know, those shoulder stripes that were developed under Red Sanders in 1954. At the minimum, they should run from the armpit around the top of the shoulder to the edge of the armpit, as illustrated in the second Rahim Moore image above. Now look at the first Rahim Moore image. In fact, let's look at a better angle:
Photo Credit: AP Images
That just looks terrible. They took something iconic with our uniform and bastardized it. Flat-out made it lame. Or as the fine folks at UniWatch said:
But the saddest part was the team’s UCLA stripes, which were severely truncated and often distorted. I mean, come on, people — this is UCLA, the school that invented UCLA stripes, and you’re gonna leave them with this? That’s just pathetic.
But that's not the only problems these new joke uniforms have.
Take another look at Taylor Embree above. Notice how small his 82 is on his sleeve? Yeah, that's right, Adidas went ahead and shrunk the side numbers as well. Compare Richard Brehaut against Oregon (the first game with these new garbage uniforms) and Brehaut against Stanford (when we still had our other uniforms). Notice how the number shrunk to the point it looks kind of ridiculous.
But what really takes the cake is the cheap, not-matching, screen-printed by some stoner drop-out at the mall, names on the back of the uniforms. Look up at Rahim Moore in the second image. Notice how his name matches the number on his back? Gold trimmed in navy blue, like the numbers. It matches and it looks good. Now take a look at Rahim Moore in the first image. Or Taylor Embree at the top. Notice something amiss about their numbers?
They're plain white. No gold. No borders. Just plain white letters, which don't match any part of the uniform. It looks cheap. It looks like the equipment manager forgot to put names on the jerseys, ran out of time, and took them all over to the nearest Westfield Mall and had some chump screen-print some names on real quick before kickoff. It's pitiful and just shows how lazy Adidas is when it comes to our program.
Actually, I'll again defer to UniWatch, since they sum it up so much better than I:
It’s a little hard to tell from the game photos, but the [name on backs] on UCLA’s super-stretchies looked like total shite.
Can't argue with that.
I used to be an ardent supporter of Adidas. After seeing these jokes, I'm now a full-on Nike man for this program. Obviously, seeing the way they've flashed up Oregon, Cal, and threw up those weird sports-bra looking Oregon State uniforms a few seasons ago, I was hesitant and worried that Nike would f**k up our classic uniform. But then again, they've done good work keeping U$C, Alabama, Texas, and Penn State true to their classic uniforms, so it can be done.
It's bad enough Adidas has totally butchered our football uniform, but they've tweaked the basketball uniform, with questionable results. As confirmed by the Wisconsin athletic department:
Today, adidas and University of Wisconsin teams unveil the lightest and most technologically advanced college basketball uniforms ever. Designed and developed by adidas, the uniforms are 30 percent lighter and dry twice as fast as previous uniforms to help enhance the Badgers' performance by keeping players cooler, drier and more comfortable on the court. . . .
. . . Along with Wisconsin, 11 other schools will debut the new uniforms this season, including University of Cincinnati, Indiana University, University of Kansas, University of Louisville, University of Michigan, University of Nebraska, North Carolina State University, University of Notre Dame, University of Tennessee, Texas A&M University and UCLA.
In addition to the NCAA teams wearing the new uniforms, all 30 NBA teams will wear Revolution 30 jerseys this season featuring similar adidas technology.
As we hashed out briefly here, these new Revolution 30 jerseys are more tight-fitting, but also Adidas tweaked the numbers and names on our classic uniforms. Last year, we were in our classic uniforms, befitting Wooden's program. Now (thanks to our fine readers who shared pictures from the Westmont game!), as you can see here, the font on our numbers has been tweaked (HT to rookism), the gold border is thicker, the shorts' waistband is now plain, and the numbers have gotten larger.
Take a look at everyone's favorite recent Bruin big man, Kevin Love here. Compare that to Tyler Honeycutt here, Reeves Nelson here, or Anthony Stover, Tyler Lamb, and Malcolm Lee here. As you can see, the names on the backs of the jerseys have gone from straight-across to arched. Not exactly a quality change, IMHO. And you can notice the font change as well as the change in the shorts' waistband (which makes our shorts' look cheap, if you ask me).
All-in-all, these new Adidas uniforms for our two marquee programs are pretty alarming, especially since we just decided to keep them as our supplier. If this is the best Adidas can do, then it's time for UCLA to seriously re-consider our decision and look into options like Nike or Under-Armor (Reebok is now owned by Adidas, so they're out as well).
Our guys look like crap and for an institution like UCLA to have such cheap looking uniforms is just sad. We're not some second-rate WAC team. We're the elite athletic program in the country and to be stuck with such second-rate uniforms is pathetic.
Another terrible effort by Morgan Center and the chumps at Adidas.
UPDATE (N): Added a poll on the frontpage. VOTE HERE to let us know whether you like or dislike the new uniforms. GO BRUINS.
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What Adidas did with the stripes really sucks
I am hoping Morgan Center is communicating the dissatisfaction that has been expressed around these uniforms from all corner of UCLA online communities. I was somewhat curious when they came out. I just want to go back to the classic look.
To be fair to Morgan Center though, I though the roll out of the classic unis last year (for the homecoming game) was awesome. I wouldn’t even mind permanent return to that look.
by Nestor on Nov 8, 2010 5:30 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
I LOVED those retro uniforms...
but wouldn’t that require dumping the “True Blue” color altogether? I wouldn’t even mind that, but for the difficulty we’ve already had making “True Blue” our de facto blue.
Liked The True Blue Numbers On White Jerseys From Last Year
Have to admit I’m not a huge fan of the current version from Addidas.
Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!
by Minnesota Bruinfan on Nov 8, 2010 10:41 AM PST up reply actions
It is just your opinion
I like the uniforms and they are really first class quality.
May be you are working for Nike.. hahahaha
next thing you will say that our losses are because of the uniforms.
Total BS:
Uh, No
It’s not just his opinion. It’s widely held.
I’ve been to 3 games this year and not one person in my immediate seating section likes the new uniforms, not one.
Maybe a poll would be in order.
sjh
Let's just say
That I personally love the technology, and the “super-stretch” material is fine, but the quality of the aesthetics (I.e) Stripes and tiny numbers and tiny names is basically piss poor. They should simply recall the jerseys- can we a free with that?
by Josh Schlichter on Nov 8, 2010 6:28 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
Can we?
It might not be possible to have the shoulder stripes on the stretchy jerseys in a non-distorted way.
by SuperBruinMan on Nov 9, 2010 12:37 AM PST up reply actions
Love the new technology, hate the smaller stripes and names
I agree with the notion of the recall, but if the tight jerseys improve the performance of the team even just by a little, I’ll wait until next season for aesthetic improvements. The stretch fabric is great because it reduces the grabbing of the jersey (as in the posted photo of Brehaut). Also, I haven’t see the shoulder pads come out of the neck opening of the jersey yet. It also gives the appearance that the shoulder and abdomen pads are a single piece of armor. That aspect of it is aesthetically pleasing.
BUT… The stripes and names are pathetic and outweighs the positives mentioned above, especially in the name of tradition. From an engineer’s perspective, I wonder if there’s some technological or manufacturing hurdle preventing the stripes from extending down to the armpit. If this was an unintended consequence of some error in the calculation of the fabric stretch, it goes to show how little Adidas respects the UCLA brand—especially if this oversight was thought of as passable and not worth fixing.
by solidgoldsound on Nov 8, 2010 10:40 AM PST up reply actions
Good point
Thats what I was thinking as well but c’mon! You’re Adidas! You’ve got millions of dollars to work with.
FIND A WAY.
Oh UCLA you sweet bitch, you've BRUINed me for anything else.
"Unsure" leads with 100% of the votes so far!
As DocMex would say, Definitely somethin’ bruin!
depends what he means
Correct: it is just your opinion
Incorrect: it is just your opinion
It is a question of aesthetics not analytics, even if there is a majority opinion about it.
Held off a couple weeks to absorb the new uniforms...
Yeah, they look worse than before. DG and friends need to get on top of this asap. I wouldn’t buy these to wear to games.
I agree with you on the new unies.
But I also want to see the original powderkeg blue colors brought back, especially for football. And if our players earn it during the first half of their game against the crosstown cheaters, I’d like to see them serpentine out of the huddle a couple of times in the second half.
Love the Serpentine......
My earliest memories of UCLA football are the Serptine huddle. To me that is something we need to reserect! Texas A&M has the 12th man we have the Serpentine!
I like the tight uniforms.
The stripes and names do need to be changed, but I like them otherwise. The white, small printed names don’t even bother me that much, but the stripes are ridiculous.
by AllHailMightyBruins on Nov 8, 2010 8:00 AM PST reply actions
I'm somewhere inbetween.
I don’t mind the new unis so much, but I think the UCLA stripe should have kept it’s size and dimension. I also think the names on the back are amateurish looking. As Bel said, I could silk screen those in my garage.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Old better
The new unis look like they don’t fit our guys. They look cheap. The classic ones were better.
Someone at Morgan has responded about the UCLA stripes...
when asked by a uniwatch reader and this is what they said (from the Uniwatch Blog):
Reader Chris Cruz was so upset about what’s happened to UCLA’s stripes that he sent a note to the school. He got the following response from Senior Associate Athletic Director Glenn Toth: "The decision to move forward with the uniform change was based on the players’ profound endorsement of the new material and cut. Like all changes, however, this one will be reviewed in full when the season concludes and a determination made as to function vs form. I am like you — a traditionalist — and have always revered the shoulder stripes as being one of the signature elements of our uniform. Don’t be surprised if there is an adjustment made in the future that takes both perspectives into consideration."
I just have to say
What a terrific response from Mr. Toth. Tells it like it is and how it came to be. Sympathises, and even agrees with, the complainer. Hints that there may be enough traditional-stripes sentiment to “takes both perspectives into consideration” in the future. Then, he puts his name on it. Bravo, Mr. Toth.
Contrast this response with most others that you’ve received in response to a complaint, assuming of course that you get a response from a real person, at all.
Are you
the original complainant? If so, way to go, Tasser. No doubt, Mr. Toth’s gracious and helpful reply was in response to a well-stated and nonhysterical complaint.
Or, are you Mr. Toth? If so, wow, a Morgan Center insider right here! Now, about those courtside season basketball tickets…
Ha!
No, I was referring to the emails you get from some reporters after writing them a nice, well-worded long email, only to get back a “Thanks for reading” message that doesn’t address anything in your email.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Ah, so
Your smiley face should have, but didn’t, clue me in that yours was one of those typical responses against which I was railing. Come to think of it, I’ve gotten quite a few “Thanks for…”s, myself. Thanks for replying.
Let’s see, now, is my appropriate face :-) or ;-| or ;-p or #@% or …?
Toth won't last through the season
No one in a bureaucracy, especially an educational bureaucracy, can survive by actually taking a position on something. There was no hemming and hawing – how is he going to disavow his statement if it should prove to be unpopular with his boss?
I salute you, Mr. Toth, no matter how short your stay will be.
I want what the players want
and if they endorse the new super stretchy material, then we should use it. But it must be done without compromising our style and within the parameters of tradition. The new “stripes” are a joke but to me the bigger issue is the common distortion of names/numbers as they stretch. I completely agree that these unis look cheap and need to be addressed. Hopefully they can adjust them so they players still get to use the material they prefer but with a better look.
As for basketbalI, didn’t see the Westmond game but from the linked photos, I don’t have a problem with the hoops unis. i kind of like the arched names (with somewhat smaller lettering) as some of the players with long names (like LRMAM or Honeycutt) always looked cramped in the past.
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Nov 8, 2010 8:49 AM PST reply actions
As I've stated before
I am NOT a fan of the new football unis. The basketball ones aren’t horrible, as they don’t look as wrecked as the football uniforms.
I can deal with the fit if the players like the fit better. Their comfort, overall, is important. However, I hate how tiny the numbers look on a larger player, and this past week, the cheap looking screen printing of the names on the uniforms really got to me. I was wonder why on earth the name didn’t look sewn on anymore, and why the unis looked like something I could get from a knockoff website.
At minimum, I hope Adidas tweaks the UCLA stripes, and the huge gaping holes in the armpit area, because that doesn’t look comfortable at all.
But the numbers on the basketball unis don’t look anywhere near as bad as some of the football unis Oregon has been trotting out – those numbers look like they were written by hand.
I was wondering aboout the name strips...
When I was watching the OSU game. I’m glad Bellerophon mentioned that. The names look much better in gold.
Great post and I couldn’t agree more. The new unis look awful.
I’m sorry to hear that they messed with the bball unis too.
I may work with the Waves, but I'm still a Bruin!
(Formerly "HoozierDaddy")
agree +1,000 with you Bellerophon
i have been bringing this up in every game thread lately but wasn’t sure many agreed with me, being ‘old-school’ and all…but honestly who is the idiot that ok’d these ugly jersey’s…i was always so proud of our uniforms…now all i see is the two colors when i look at our uniform jersey’s…and who ok’d reducing our shoulder stripes on the football jersey?…wtf!!!
I think we should use black basketball uniforms for big home games...
KIDDDDDIIIINNNNGGGG oh please don’t ban me.
I can't wait
for the Dirt from the Den when the Lizard rolls back into town. It’s gonna be epic!
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Please, somebody,
make sure that peggysue69 is there. I’d pay good money to see the confrontation. On pay-per-view TV, even.
New uniforms are trash
Also a longtime reader of Uni Watch, and maybe that’s the problem – I find myself frequently noticing things that some of my other friends don’t notice and aren’t bugged by. But jeez, these uniforms look terrible. I don’t care one way or another about the stretchy material, but the tiny TV numbers, the crappy stripes, the crappy name on back… ugh. Also, I’m pretty sure the numbers on the front are smaller than the numbers on the back, which is pointless and looks really stupid when you can see both angles at once.
When you look at the juxtaposed Rahim pictures
It makes for quite a contrast. I miss the old unis… did the stretchiness ever really make a difference in a game for us?
FB unis really need work
Full stripes needed, gold lettering on back better but let’s see if new names show-up better on tv long shot tests. There is a move to require names on all travel unis and some schools want them all the time. BB unis not all that bad and here I would seek input from players. The only thing I still hate is the pedal-pusher shorts.
Uniforms don't make the team
If they say the new uniform is supposed to help in performance, I don’t really care what they look like.
It is amusing to me that there are twice and many comments on this thread as the one today about the performance of the team.
I, too, and a stickler about uniforms and notice the details. My wife thinks that I am strange in that respect, but I think is is because of the classic nature of both our FB abd BB unis.
Like the functionality of the new FB unis but hate the aesthetics. Hopefully Adidas will improve on this next season. Didn’t really think much of the changes to the BB unis until I saw the waistband. Absolutely awful.
Highly disappointed
I don’t like the change in the basketball uniforms (arched names? Why mess with anything?), and the football jerseys just look mickey mouse.
by Westwood Wizard on Nov 8, 2010 12:00 PM PST reply actions
These Unis Are Terrible.
Lets go back to our 20 game win streak unis. Now there was a classy outfit. Love watching highlights of Rout 66.
by Strathmore&Gayley on Nov 8, 2010 12:48 PM PST reply actions
They may not look as good but
All the players will tell you that from a performance standpoint, the skin tight new jerseys are vastly vastly vastly vastly superior to loose jerseys
Losing the stripes and having smaller numbers/letters are just collateral damage
Unnecessary collateral damage
and it reflects poorly on the endorser and on the school.
Really? It’s too hard to have a bigger font on the numbers and letters? And it’s too hard to get the stripes right?
The Patriots seem to have gotten it right:
p.s.: sorry Pats haters…not endorsing the team, just like those unis.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Exactly
Reebok is Adidas owned and Reebok went to the new material, tighter-fitting uniforms last season and their shoulder UCLA stripe and numbers look good.
If it’s really the same company (and ostensibly the best material since it’s the NFL), then why the hell did we get stuck with pee wee Pop Warner quality bullshit uniforms?!
Sometimes progress isn't progress
It’s a disgrace, and I’ve already vented about it here.
Our unis have always been regarded as among the best in college FB, even by most of our rivals. Now we look like we’re wearing knockoff jerseys we bought from some 99-cent store bin.
The stretchiness is bad enough, it makes us look like some over-40 flag football league, but if that’s what the players want, so be it. But it adds to the complete failure of design: The names (which should always be in gold) look like the corners will start peeling off any minute, the pathetic little side numbers and the press-on epaulets that they call “shoulder stripes.” look artificial and unincorporated into the uni It’s like we’re wearing tuxedo T-shirts instead of real tuxes.
In addition, the blue is far too bright, which I think adds to the cheap look, and in combination with the rubbery fabric, makes the players look like they’re wearing pool tarps. I know it isn’t fashionable now, but a little subtlety would be nice, would add some class, and would better resemble “true blue.”
I also wouldn’t mind the returm of the Clarendon font, but I guess that’s too much to ask .
I hope and pray they make some changes fast, but I have little faith in Adidas: they’re state-of-the-artless.
Agree!!!
Agree. It seems like Adidas want to save money on our jerseys by using less…tight fit, light material, and the shortening of the stripes. But hey if the players like them, that should come first.
Lame idea to arch the last names on the BB unis since there are different length last names. People with short names dont get the benefit of the effect. It looks lame on Malcolm Lee’s and Taylor Lamb’s. Of course I have to point that out since my last name is as short as Malcolm.
Nike blows. Period.
Yes, addidas is f-ing up, but nike? Be careful what you wish for.
I disagree with the majority of you..
because I feel that our “old” uniforms are just that, old and tired. They really needed to be changed and at least this is a first step in the right direction. Also, the stretch material (I beleive) is a few pounds lighter and less susceptible to being grabbed and held. These facts alone do it for me because they should translate into better performance by the players. Finally, I don’t care for the strips and don’t see why they are needed. A lot of teams (Oregon for example) have abandoned older uniforms for newer and (sometimes) better versions. Recruits care about this stuff and because we live and die, in part, on our ablity to bring in quality recruits, a change was long overdue.
I disagree with your take,
but had to chuckle at your screen name.
There’s no reason we can’t have unis that are both new and high tech, yet preserve traditional aesthetics. Put another way. If the designers, or whatever they’re called, at Adidas can’t create a uniform that satisfies all of those, such as you, who are calling for something new, those, such as us, who are calling to retain traditional looks, and recruits, then those designers are grossly overpaid. Whatever they’re making.
I’d bet that there are a dozen or more people on this site, alone, who could come up with just such a design. Not necessarily me, you understand, but somebodies.
Alabama, Texas, and U$C...
…are all Nike schools with traditional uniforms that haven’t changed in decades (especially the Tide) and yet, they seem to have no problem getting top-tier recruits.
If a recruit cares about the uniform only, then he’s not the kind of recruit we need at UCLA.
It’s not like our recruiting is suffering. Our brand is, though, and that’s directly due, in large part, to the lack of a consistent shade of blue and shitty uniforms.
by Bellerophon on Nov 8, 2010 7:34 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
High-tech jerseys
How heavy were the jerseys to begin with? I don’t think it’s like they were weighing our guys down before, and I don’t think that we have looked faster since busting them out. We busted them out against oregon with their regular uniforms and we did not look fast at autzen. an average jersey weighs like 12 ounces – they brag that the new ones are like 30% lighter, thats not even 4 ounces lighter.
Nike’s got the same deal going on with their “pro combat” uniform sets, but this whole “lighter/tighter” thing just seems like a whole lot of effort (and a lot of money) for very minimal improvements, to me.
The only counter-argument...
…is that the players like it and it makes them harder to tackle.
You know what would make them really hard to tackle?
Being good.
Maurice Jones-Drew wore the old uniform. Kid had no problem being tough to tackle.
Hell, Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders wore loose hanging uniforms that were much older and heavier and they still would break the ankles of most of these youngsters with their tight fitting uniforms and all that jazz.
It’s not the uniform folks, it’s the players. But since we’re going to have uniforms, they should at least look good.
Perhaps its a mental thing
They are told that the new uniforms offer all these advantages, and they think about that when they say that they like them, even if they can’t tell any difference.
Agreed with all of your points, though.
by Westwood Wizard on Nov 9, 2010 11:47 AM PST up reply actions
Please save us Nike
I like the names in white but adidas screwed up the stripes and the numbers on the shoulders are way too small, they might as well not put them on.
Can we cancel adidas today!!!!!!!!!!!!
ADIDAS SUCKS, UCLA gear needs a fashion overhaul
Have you been to a mall or sporting goods store on the westside of LA recently? Besides being outnumbered by Turd-jan gear by almost double, our UCLA stuff looks like hand me down crap for the Junior Varsity team for a junk high school. NIKE makes the best gear for all teams, and it pisses me off that those Turds from SC get cool looking gear and the latest technical innovations in athletic wear.
ADIDAS SUCKS!!! The only reason the NBA stuff looks good is because teams won’t let them screw up their classics. Even then, Nike still did a better job.
Check out Under Armour and some UCLA gear they made for us:
http://store.cstv.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=117&dept_id=7645&product_id=176599
Still Looks better than any crap on the sidelines the players on the bench wear, or any fan gear. I already drew a lot of compliments when sporting this @ Pauly for a game and @ the gym. Everyone is like, “where did you get that?”
Adidas, stop making us look like a mid-major school. Give us the Michigan treatment, or at least copy Nike! Your gear is awful!
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