The 2014 Illini Nike Uniforms and Rebrand

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#1,326      
mattcoldagelli
IntenselyOrange said:
Perhaps it's my dislike for the shield, but I read the write-up as, it's OK and it's certainly less bad than everything else Nike has done recently. That's a far cry from it being good.
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And an even farther cry from GHD's assertion that not only would other fanbases laugh at it, but anyone viewing it even halfway objectively would be forced to admit it was a design dumpster fire.
 
#1,328      
quhawks12
Man...you guys are still going at it here over jersey's...phew...not sure how you guys do it. Keep at it I'll check back in a few weeks. :thumb:
 
#1,329      
pizzaman
STL FANATIC said:
I know. And mediocre is just my opinion. I'm outvoted. That's one of the reason I'm becoming apathetic. It's a futile fight.
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And the "new and improved" uniforms will change again in a few years. After about 50 years of being a fan, there have been numerous uniforms I liked and numerous ones I disliked. The years since we lost the chief have been the worst IMO and the new look is an improvement.

Kind of like the weather, wait a while and it changes.
 
#1,330      
STL FANATIC
Oh no doubt, pizza man. I think the reason I don't take much solace in that is that I don't care for the logos or fonts either, and those are supposed to be for the long-term. Oh well.
 
#1,331      
IlliniByProxy
HsvIllini said:
I thought that was the whole reason they just painted it on until the re-brand - wait until the branding is done, then replace it with something permanent. I would think they will need to do something with whatever is on the 50-yard line anyway which is going to require replacing portions of the turf, so I would think they could do it all at the same time. It's just a matter of do they wait until they get a new turf to do it all.
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The way I understood it was that the individual letters will be cut into the end zone turf and sewn in so replacing the whole end zone would not be required. The reason they painted the old logo in was so that they wouldn't have to change out the entire end zone. Who knows if they will actually stitch in the new word marks though. My guess is the 50 yard line doesn't change until we re-turf and the end zones get painted in. Which would be a bummer because I think the painted endzone letters look cheap.
 
#1,332      
HsvIllini
Kams Bathroom said:
So, bummer for me, I dawdled on buying my shield merchandise, and now there's nothing available in a normal size anywhere. :(
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illinicb said:
Me too. I bought a shirt the next day for my son and as it turns out, he wants a different one and his size isn't available. Obviously they will be again, just hoping it isn't months away.
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If you want to order online, fanatics.com has at least the blue shield shirts in normal sizes in stock...
 
#1,333      
HsvIllini
IlliniByProxy said:
The way I understood it was that the individual letters will be cut into the end zone turf and sewn in so replacing the whole end zone would not be required. The reason they painted the old logo in was so that they wouldn't have to change out the entire end zone. Who knows if they will actually stitch in the new word marks though. My guess is the 50 yard line doesn't change until we re-turf and the end zones get painted in. Which would be a bummer because I think the painted endzone letters look cheap.
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That very well could be. And I agree with the painted endzone looking cheap.
 
#1,334      
Groundhogday
tiburon said:
The rebrand finally got a mention on Brand New today, which is, as far as I know, the most popular site dedicated to brand identity on the web. They didn't give Illinois a full review like they did with FSU and Arkansas, but they did write up a couple words.
...
Overall though, the consensus seems to be that the rebrand as a whole is a success. I'm really happy to see Illinois featured on the site, and even happier that the rebrand seems to be well received by the design community. :thumb:
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The consensus is that the uniforms are an improvement. But most of the commentators point out that the badge is flawed. Some can live with it, warts and all because it is a shield (er... not really). In a nutshell, if Nike had designed a nice shield it would have been a big hit. Instead they actually backed into a victory badge that looked sort of like a shield and will have to revise it in a year or two to get rid of the bomb fins.

But the real bottom line:
It's completely underwhelming. The fact that it's Nike's best recent work isn't a great compliment to Nike at all. Many details are overlooked and trends fallen back on. The good news is that every uniform other than the basketball uniforms aren't garishly ugly, but as an identity, this one is extremely lacking in creative thought and attention to detail.
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#1,335      
Soxfreak64
Groundhogday said:
The consensus is that the uniforms are an improvement. But most of the commentators point out that the badge is flawed. Some can live with it, warts and all because it is a shield (er... not really).

But the real bottom line:
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GHD, I just think it should be noted that the comment you quoted is from our very own STL Fanatic.

Just saying.
 
#1,336      
Groundhogday
Soxfreak64 said:
GHD, I just think it should be noted that the comment you quoted is from our very own STL Fanatic.

Just saying.
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Didn't realize that, but I don't get a sense anyone else on there disagreed.

At this point, Nike is going through the motions. They have to come up with something new every 10 years or so to sell licensed merchandise, and have probably figured out it doesn't make much difference what they do. If there is something new, the fans will line up to buy it just like teenagers in the 70's falling in love with disco shirts. And truth be told, our new uniforms are better than many, so I'm really glad we didn't get something garish.
 
#1,337      
Kams Bathroom
Just a thought: could the "no blue next year" be referring to the blue helmets? It just struck me that none of the Nike promotional materials featured the blue helmet, the only time we have seen it was on Cvijanovic's head at the unveiling. And that would certainly make more sense, as a brand new set of helmets is a much more significant cost outlay than just a new set of uniforms which are usually mostly turned over year-over year anyway.
 
#1,338      
Groundhogday
Kams Bathroom said:
Just a thought: could the "no blue next year" be referring to the blue helmets? It just struck me that none of the Nike promotional materials featured the blue helmet, the only time we have seen it was on Cvijanovic's head at the unveiling. And that would certainly make more sense, as a brand new set of helmets is a much more significant cost outlay than just a new set of uniforms which are usually mostly turned over year-over year anyway.
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Given all the TV money rolling in, it is hard to believe we couldn't come up with $30k for the blue helmets.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2010/09/how-much-does-it-cost-to-outfit-a-college-football-team-just-about-200k/1#.U2Ppn_ldVLY
 
#1,339      
HsvIllini
#1,341      
Groundhogday
HsvIllini said:
True, but all the TV money rolling in has to be split a whole lot of ways. SFC renovation, new uniforms for several sports, new volleyball court, etc.
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There are a lot of places to cut a corner, why do it so visibly in a way that makes the DIA look cheap so publicly?
 
#1,343      
classof2016
Groundhogday said:
Given all the TV money rolling in, it is hard to believe we couldn't come up with $30k for the blue helmets.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2010/09/how-much-does-it-cost-to-outfit-a-college-football-team-just-about-200k/1#.U2Ppn_ldVLY
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I don't understand why this is an issue for us at all, but I was told by an equipment manager that there would be no blue jerseys, so he would know I assume.

Also, thatguy92 confirmed it didn't he? He seems to be in the know.

Either way, it sucks if it's true.
 
#1,345      
Groundhogday
Soxfreak64 said:
Does the DIA even pay for uniforms? I thought they were all furnished by Nike.
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That right. They don't get all the uniforms for free, but I thought football unis were free in return for the effective marketing and the sale of all the licensed Nike apparel, etc..
 
#1,346      
HsvIllini
Groundhogday said:
That right. They don't get all the uniforms for free, but I thought football unis were free in return for the effective marketing and the sale of all the licensed Nike apparel, etc..
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I don't think football unis are free, but rather count in the allotment. Here is a Daily Illini link that contains a PDF of the actual contract.
 
#1,347      
OrangeAndBlue217
I dont even care if there is no blue helmets. I like the other two much more. I kind of feel like we need to just eventually narrow it down to one of the white or orange helmet and stick with it.
 
#1,348      
Kams Bathroom
Groundhogday said:
That right. They don't get all the uniforms for free, but I thought football unis were free in return for the effective marketing and the sale of all the licensed Nike apparel, etc..
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The helmets aren't Nike. They are contracted for separately.

And we already had two sets which will presumably only need to be repainted. The third set is the one which would need extra money.
 
#1,349      
thatguy92
None of the uniforms are made yet. All we saw at the rebrand were samples. It could all be changed when we see it. And I don't believe that the school didn't order their full allotment of free gear in 2013. There will be no blue because of a lack of the money in the budget.
 
#1,350      
illini1
Illinois gets a certain dollar amount in Nike merchandise each year. This includes uniforms, practice wear, clothing for staff, etc. Since the school is rebranding, they are replacing uniforms for more sports than normal next year, so there might not be enough money to get the blue uniforms next year without the school having to pay for them. Considering the school wouldn't pay for blue pants for the last uniforms and the boosters had to pay for them, I don't see the school paying for uniforms now.
 
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