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Inside Access: 25 Years of NCAA Uniform Innovation

With March Madness right around the corner, Nike gives us some Inside Access on the innovation of NCAA Uniforms for Nike sponsored programs over 25 years. Its always fun to see how things change and improve over time, looking back at some of the early uniform designs you have to ask your self, how did they ever play in those? While some of the tech involved in previous uniforms may seem primitive to us know, back then it was the latest and greatest in uniform technology.

You can check out part of the article below, but be sure to head over the Nike INC for the entire article.

The road to the college basketball championship has been a fitting showcase for Nike’s  Basketball uniform innovation evolution – and revolution – through the years.   A legacy that began 25 years ago with three Division 1 college teams continues today with more than 300 of men’s and women’s programs, as the madness of March begins.

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Inside Access: 25 Years of NCAA Uniform Innovation

Since 1989-1990, Nike Basketball’s aim to set high performance standards on the hardwood has also extended beyond university arenas and field houses. On-court innovation has catalyzed the latest style trends, evolving basketball’s impact in the streets and pop culture. From loose-fitting heathered cotton T-shirts, compression baselayer and shooting sleeves to black socks – now a common sight but once head-turners — collegiate athletes have brought defining looks to the game James Naismith created. 

1990: Time of the Trendsetters:

Short shorts and heavyweight pro mesh jerseys were the norm when Nike entered college basketball and the calendar flipped to the 1990s. Underlayer options were limited to T-shirts and underwear. Georgetown University’s Twin Towers wore loose-fitting gray or navy blue cotton T-shirts under the jersey, which led to kids across America adopting the T-shirt-under-jersey trend. The Hoyas received Nike’s first full uniform revamp in 1992, debuting a modified jersey and shorts with a more streamlined look. Although relatively subtle, the look established Nike’s intentions to dominate basketball design and establish a new path.

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1992: Tackle Twill and Shorts with a Swoosh:

Debuting new design elements, jersey patterns and game-changing fabrications, Nike Basketball expanded rapidly in the mid-1990s. Through bold, confident patterns and one of the nation’s most exciting players, Nike’s jerseys — embellished with tackle twill and expanded pattern inserts — set a fresh standard for game apparel. Shorts challenged tradition by getting looser and longer. The Swoosh logo, now a standard element in uniforms, appeared at the left hip for the first time on game shorts.

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4 comments
  1. bought and paid for. all about money and revenue for the NCAA and corporations like Nike. when Nike and the NCAA ensures that players, ahem, i mean student-athletes, are guaranteed fully paid-for scholarships that last as long as any player wants, whether it take five, six or ten years to graduate, and pays the revenue generators, ahem, student-athletes, a significant stipend since they are defacto employees of the university, then something like this wont leave such a bad taste in the mouth.
    btw…the only version of the Nike uniforms that look okay are the one’s that were true to the school’s colors and logos, etc. All these new versions (the white ones for example) look so….uniform. Completely generic and not special at all. But that’s what you get when you sell out. For a price, the NCAA will let Nike do whatever they please. How much of the uniform revenue will go toward ensuring the “empolyees/players” get the extra academic help they need? Oh right, half of them won’t be at whatever Nike colors they’re made to wear in a year or two so, who cares?
    Enjoy March Madness!

  2. WHAT, an article like this and No Cincinnati Bearcats are referenced????!!!! NO Maryland Terrapin!!!!! No UCON uni’s!!! no St Johns!! Dopest Uni out now is the Louisville Cardinals 2015, sounds like a filler article

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