Illinois Football Uniforms

[Second and Chalmers]

How the term became linked to native american tribe is open to interpretation.

The word "Illinois" is itself derived from Native American sources.

As are the names of basically everything in the Midwest.

That's where this stuff really starts to break down, the history is what it is and should be remembered, but Native American language and culture has left an indelible mark on our own. Nobody would say they want to erase that, right?

To say that you don't want a non-NA person to dress up as one, that's a line that makes sense and that I can understand, even if a reasonable person may disagree. Caricatures as logos, I can also see on the same basis. But at a certain point you pull the thread far enough and more than you bargained for starts to fall apart.

 

[Illini_1979]

So, the Ducks released their new uniforms today. As we all know, they get the best of Nike's efforts. This year they are designed "...with an eye toward traditional school colors and clean, professional designs."

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2018/08/oregon_ducks_unveil_new_footba.html

https://goducks.com/news/2018/8/15/oregon-football-2-0.aspx

Any thoughts in comparison to our beloved?

 

[wILL-INI]

Im meh on them. The numbers are a little too big. But I like how clean they are. Ill always miss the old helmets with just the O.
Definitly on trend with ours in going simple and i think, trying to be more classic. We'll see if they stick around long enough to be.

 

[Illinnoying Orange]

So, the Ducks released their new uniforms today. As we all know, they get the best of Nike's efforts. This year they are designed "...with an eye toward traditional school colors and clean, professional designs."

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2018/08/oregon_ducks_unveil_new_footba.html

https://goducks.com/news/2018/8/15/oregon-football-2-0.aspx

Any thoughts in comparison to our beloved?

Those are freakin' hideous ... Oregon's "trendy" uniform combos jumped the shark a few years ago for me

 

[Second and Chalmers]

So, the Ducks released their new uniforms today. As we all know, they get the best of Nike's efforts. This year they are designed "...with an eye toward traditional school colors and clean, professional designs."

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2018/08/oregon_ducks_unveil_new_footba.html

https://goducks.com/news/2018/8/15/oregon-football-2-0.aspx

Any thoughts in comparison to our beloved?

Oregon used to be wearing jeans and sneakers with a sport coat in 1996, now they're still wearing jeans and sneakers with a sport coat and it's 2010.

This is the same stuff they've been doing for years, and it's a fine look, but by now it's what absolutely everyone else on earth is doing.

Look elsewhere for the next evolution in football uniform design. It could be us!

https://www.illinoisloyalty.com/Forum/threads/illinois-football-uniforms.24442/page-10#post-1403763

 

[ILL_INI]

100 times better than ours

Eh, maybe ten times better. Jerseys remind me of a web page and the helmet feathers are more reminiscent of a native American headdress than duck feathers. Put a block I on that and the Illini are banned.

 

[KrushCow31]

It could always be worse. We could have Notre Dame's Shamrock Series jerseys inspired by the New York Yankees.

https://www.si.com/college-football...hamrock-series-uniforms-photos-yankee-stadium

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

It could always be worse. We could have Notre Dame's Shamrock Series jerseys inspired by the New York Yankees.

https://www.si.com/college-football...hamrock-series-uniforms-photos-yankee-stadium

Oh ... wow.

 

[wILL-INI]

It could always be worse. We could have Notre Dame's Shamrock Series jerseys inspired by the New York Yankees.

https://www.si.com/college-football...hamrock-series-uniforms-photos-yankee-stadium

Nothing like taking one of the most iconic uniforms, not wear it at one of your more notable games, and then take a steaming dump on it... But hey, 'croots will thing its Fire Emoji and you'll get all the retweets. < uniform designers mantra

 

[Second and Chalmers]

But hey, 'croots will thing its Fire Emoji and you'll get all the retweets. < uniform designers mantra

As the evidence that they're wrong piles higher and higher.

Exclusive video of the Nike college football design process

 

[KrushCow31]

Nothing like taking one of the most iconic uniforms, not wear it at one of your more notable games, and then take a steaming dump on it... But hey, 'croots will thing its Fire Emoji and you'll get all the retweets. < uniform designers mantra

Well they wear a dumb uniform at every Shamrock series. It's like the "fun" game where they wear something other than the usual blue/white/gold/green. This one is just a particularly terrible one.

2017: https://www.sbnation.com/college-fo...rnate-uniform-navy-knute-rockne-shoes-helmets
2016: https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/notre-dame/notre-dame-unveils-2016-shamrock-series-uniforms
2015: https://gameday.nd.edu/news/shamrock-series-uniforms-unveiled/
2014: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sou...aw3DPO9JlOKHpIvTNABir-W2&ust=1534624691555516

 

[Selfcon4]

the helmet feathers are more reminiscent of a native American headdress than duck feathers.

I wondered why I felt offended when I first looked at the those helmets.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1031909468865536001

Those droplets you see are my tears.

 

[Hoppy2105]

Can they just trim off the orange border on the decal?

 

[Second and Chalmers]

Can they just trim off the orange border on the decal?

The rebrand-correct thing to do would be to make it blue. The one-color block I doesn't remove the outer border, it just makes the whole thing the same color.

But the real right answer is white; the real-real right answer is white and rotate the I properly, if you have to shrink the decal to do so, so be it; the real-real-real answer is to ditch the block I for the shield; and the REAL real-real-real answer is to do this: https://www.illinoisloyalty.com/Forum/threads/illinois-football-uniforms.24442/page-10#post-1403763

 

[wILL-INI]

Can I just plug this for a second? ... Correct block I , and the white facemask back. Becks was an idiot for changing the facemask in the first place. Its the last of his terrible lasagna stained legacy.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Holy cow, if they wear that damn helmet with the differing shade of orange trim ... wow, LOL.

 

[IlliniFisherman]

Holy cow, if they wear that damn helmet with the differing shade of orange trim ... wow, LOL.

I'll trade atrocious helmets for good football. Fingers crossed....

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

I'll trade atrocious helmets for good football. Fingers crossed....

Same here, friend, but ... well, we were both around the past several years, LOL.

As I said in another thread, though, I always enter September optimistic, and I will be until the season is "lost."

 

[Deleted member 2050]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1031909468865536001

Those droplets you see are my tears.

Whomever is in charge of applying the decals should be sanctioned. I'd hate to see the screen protector on their cellphone. Blek.

 

[krush02]

I love the Oregon helmets with the wings and the O on the back. We should try putting the block I on the back. Sidesteps the whole angle issue.

Also sign me up for team orange mirror.

 

[ChiefIllini]

Also sign me up for team orange mirror.

Orange mirror would be amazing given two things:1) We wear them only once or twice a season and 2) The orange is the same as the jersey. None of that burnt orange the metallic helmets were.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

We wear them only once or twice a season

I'll take what I can get, but the central premise of my idea is that the Oregon paradigm of remixing all the elements of the uniform every week has become super played out. Someone is going to come along and transcend that concept in a way that's cool and forward-looking rather than cranky and backward looking.

 

[Hoppy2105]

I’m on board with the metallic helmets all the way. Full season.

Let’s get this thing going harder than #Teamshield or the Keatts Hype Train!

(Would we have any alternate colors? Basically, would we have a blue version as well as the orange?)

 

[Second and Chalmers]

(Would we have any alternate colors? Basically, would we have a blue version as well as the orange?)

For the helmets? No. The idea is that the orange mirror becomes a representative icon in the same way the Michigan helmet is, or the Indiana basketball clown pants or whatever.

The insight behind the Oregon concept comes from Nike's expertise in shoes, where the fundamental design is in the pattern, and then you can break it down into all sorts of different colorways. You can have the classic all-white Air Force One, or you can have some special edition ostrich leather version in collaboration with some designer, or tye-dye or whatever. Bringing that concept to football uniforms was damn cool in 2006.

But as the years go by it starts to fall apart when first of all you're limited by your school colors in a way you aren't with sneakers. Those Oregon uniforms would probably look pretty cool in blue and gold or red and white or whatever, but that just doesn't work. And then when you're constantly switching up the template, nothing has the time and the breathing space to become a classic icon the way Air Force Ones or Adidas Superstars or various Air Jordans are.

So you wind up in a very limited palate just doing new for new's sake and it leads you into ridiculous places that are just ugly and trying too hard, and the novelty of being the new recruit or the new freshman class that gets to lace up the fresh new gear has completely worn off. No one is excited by this stuff anymore.

Like honestly, what on earth is this?

That isn't cool. At all. That just glows with effort.

I might be way off with my specific idea, but I'm certain that the next great innovation that gets the young people excited will leave the something-new-every-week "uni swag" behind.