The 2014 Illini Nike Uniforms and Rebrand

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#3,476      

Fillory

F
4th Floor Grainger
Fillory
Second and Chalmers said:
Bama's uniforms look like winning. They look like all the college football I have watched from the time I was in short pants.

Randomly throwing back to a time period virtually no one remembers accomplishes neither of those things. Illinois has played in a constellation of different uniforms over the course of history and has more often than not done so poorly.

Boring uniforms don't make you Alabama. Winning national titles across five different decades always in the same boring uniforms makes you Alabama.

And Auburn's uni's are better anyway.
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Well said. I have struggled to illustrate that point as well as you have. When you win in the uniform you are wearing, you are less likely to make a huge change. There's a reason the Chicago White Sox will always wear those pinstripes and why the Cardinals never change their look. The Bulls will never change their look. Once you win with a certain look, that certain look is associated with winning.
 
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#3,477      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
Fillory said:
Well said. I have struggled to illustrate that point as well as you have. When you win in the uniform you are wearing, you are less likely to make a huge change. There's a reason the Chicago White Sox will always wear those pinstripes and why the Cardinals never change their look. The Bulls will never change their look. Once you win with a certain look, that certain look is associated with winning.

We don't have
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Yup.

You know whose uniforms are, from an objective design point of view, horrible, bland, and hopelessly stuck in the late-90's/early 00's way of thinking about sports uniforms? The Patriots.

But it doesn't matter. You see those jerseys and they look like the Super Bowl.
 
#3,478      

Fillory

F
4th Floor Grainger
Fillory
Second and Chalmers said:
Yup.

You know whose uniforms are, from an objective design point of view, horrible, bland, and hopelessly stuck in the late-90's/early 00's way of thinking about sports uniforms? The Patriots.

But it doesn't matter. You see those jerseys and they look like the Super Bowl.
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And honestly our unis are leaps and bounds better than anything from the late 90s.
 
#3,479      

Sybok

S
Sybok
Second and Chalmers said:
Bama's uniforms look like winning. They look like all the college football I have watched from the time I was in short pants.

Randomly throwing back to a time period virtually no one remembers accomplishes neither of those things. Illinois has played in a constellation of different uniforms over the course of history and has more often than not done so poorly.

Boring uniforms don't make you Alabama. Winning national titles across five different decades always in the same boring uniforms makes you Alabama.

And Auburn's uni's are better anyway.
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Gimmicks don't win games either, nor do four different jerseys, 3 helmets and 4 pants making a ridiculous amount of combos, thus hampering brand identity.
 
#3,480      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
Sybok said:
Gimmicks don't win games either, nor do four different jerseys, 3 helmets and 4 pants making a ridiculous amount of combos, thus hampering brand identity.
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It's all just colorways of the same style, man. Not gimmicky at all.

Anyway, reasonable people can have different opinions on fashion. This isn't physics we're talking about here. All I can say for sure is that I have had the Illini game on around several people that have no particular association with the school that have told me, unprompted, "wow, I really like those uniforms". Several different people.
 
#3,481      

Fillory

F
4th Floor Grainger
Fillory
Second and Chalmers said:
It's all just colorways of the same style, man. Not gimmicky at all.

Anyway, reasonable people can have different opinions on fashion. This isn't physics we're talking about here. All I can say for sure is that I have had the Illini game on around several people that have no particular association with the school that have told me, unprompted, "wow, I really like those uniforms". Several different people.
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I was going to say, our look is "modern classic". There's nothing gimmicky about them. They have multiple colorways because that's what Nike does based on their own market research.
 
#3,482      

Sybok

S
Sybok
Second and Chalmers said:
It's all just colorways of the same style, man. Not gimmicky at all.

Anyway, reasonable people can have different opinions on fashion. This isn't physics we're talking about here. All I can say for sure is that I have had the Illini game on around several people that have no particular association with the school that have told me, unprompted, "wow, I really like those uniforms". Several different people.
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Outside of a throwback game in the NFL, they only have home and away. When you see highlights on ESPN, you want recruits/viewees to instantly recognize Illinois, not ambiguous, ever changing combos of colors. This is coming from a person who likes the color combos and the Galloping Ghost unis.
 
#3,483      

lstewart53x3

lstewart53x3
Scottsdale, Arizona
lstewart53x3
Do other fan bases argue about their uni combos or is that just an #illini thing?
 
#3,484      

Fillory

F
4th Floor Grainger
Fillory
Sybok said:
Outside of a throwback game in the NFL, they only have home and away. When you see highlights on ESPN, you want recruits/viewees to instantly recognize Illinois, not ambiguous, ever changing combos of colors. This is coming from a person who likes the color combos and the Galloping Ghost unis.
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I'm pretty sure making the Illini look like the Bears would make this worse.

The Orange, Blue, and White unis are all awesome looking, and that's what matters most if you don't have a winning program. The I on the helmet clues them in, anyway.
 
#3,487      

Sybok

S
Sybok
Fillory said:
I'm pretty sure making the Illini look like the Bears would make this worse.

The Orange, Blue, and White unis are all awesome looking, and that's what matters most if you don't have a winning program. The I on the helmet clues them in, anyway.
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You're pretty sure making the Illini look like the Bears would be worse? Ok, Fillory.
 
#3,490      

ILLSauce

ILLSauce
ILLSauce
Just bring back the uniforms we played Eastern Illinois in for a throw back.
 
#3,491      

Sybok

S
Sybok
Second and Chalmers said:
There's nothing worse than uniforms that are just blatant copies of uniforms of better teams. Looking at you Duke, Iowa and Iowa State.
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What NFL team is tied to Duke, Iowa or Iowa State? As for the tie in, while I love the white helmet, I'd use the navy almost exclusively. White pants. Navy or white jersey depending on home/away. Break out the orange jerseys for some special game and always have a Grange game with the grey's. That's plenty. It ties in and it isn't a copy. It's like people have never seen Lovie in orange and blue in this forum. :D
 
#3,492      

Ransom Stoddard

Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Ransom Stoddard
Sybok said:
What NFL team is tied to Duke, Iowa or Iowa State? As for the tie in, while I love the white helmet, I'd use the navy almost exclusively. White pants. Navy or white jersey depending on home/away. Break out the orange jerseys for some special game and always have a Grange game with the grey's. That's plenty. It ties in and it isn't a copy. It's like people have never seen Lovie in orange and blue in this forum. :D
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We're the only team in the B1G that has Orange. Let's use it, a lot. There were uni combos last year with a major orange element that looked good--I can't remember which, however.
 
#3,494      

Kramer

Kramer
Des Moines, Iowa
Kramer
Fillory said:
I was going to say, our look is "modern classic". There's nothing gimmicky about them. They have multiple colorways because that's what Nike does based on their own market research.
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Modern classic, I like that, great description. I did not like the previous brand. I think the orange helmets are very sharp. I think the orange is just different enough from the other college teams orange.

I went to the Iowa vs Illini at Kinnick Stadium last fall, Iowa fans actually said they really like the Illini uniforms. The rebrand might be the best thing Thomas did.
 
#3,495      

Kramer

Kramer
Des Moines, Iowa
Kramer
Sybok said:
What NFL team is tied to Duke, Iowa or Iowa State? As for the tie in, while I love the white helmet, I'd use the navy almost exclusively. White pants. Navy or white jersey depending on home/away. Break out the orange jerseys for some special game and always have a Grange game with the grey's. That's plenty. It ties in and it isn't a copy. It's like people have never seen Lovie in orange and blue in this forum. :D
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When Hayden Fry got to Iowa be replicated the Steelers uniform to change the mindset of a winner by players, fans, media.
 
#3,496      

dgcrow

dgcrow
Kelso, WA
dgcrow
Kramer said:
When Hayden Fry got to Iowa be replicated the Steelers uniform to change the mindset of a winner by players, fans, media.
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I loved what Fry said when those Iowa uniforms were introduced. Something like, "We'll look like the Steelers. At least until we snap the ball."
 
#3,497      

CoalCity

C
St Paul, MN
CoalCity
Kramer said:
Modern classic, I like that, great description. I did not like the previous brand. I think the orange helmets are very sharp. I think the orange is just different enough from the other college teams orange.

I went to the Iowa vs Illini at Kinnick Stadium last fall, Iowa fans actually said they really like the Illini uniforms. The rebrand might be the best thing Thomas did.
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I like the orange helmet too. Very distinctive. The big white :illinois: tells us all we need to know. Agree with the sentiment that orange should be prominent on any uni we wear. We DO refer to it as the Orange and Blue.

I kind of like the look of the orange helmet, blue jersey and orange pants.

:chief:
 
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