DETROIT RED WINGS. THIRD JERSEY PROPOSAL.
I was tasked to lead a design of a new third jersey for the Red Wings. The ask was…daunting. It would be like asking "Hey John come up with a new uniform for the New York Yankees." Uh…sure, but I was hoping to live past 30! Some things are simply untouchable.
"If we are really gonna do this we had better have our shit together!" I thought. So I dug into some deep research of the team.
I compiled this design direction book aimed at two audiences. I wanted to show the folks at Nike that we had a deep tradition to respect, that innovation and change may come slowly to this organization. It was also to show the Red Wings organization that we understood them, we weren't just gonna come waltzing in waving the Nike magic wand.
I discussed the history of the team leading up the then present day. At the time the Red Wings were getting really really good.
I went through the franchise and uniform history. The team mentioned one odd bit of direction for me, "We wouldn't mind using some blue." Why? I thought…ahhh turns out the earliest version of the team was based in Victoria, BC and they wore a gold a blue uniform.
One of my pitches was to revive one of the old Detroit uniforms from before they had become the Red Wings.
The logo for the team was inspired by fancy automobile hood ornaments. I also showed that the "never changing" winged wheel logo actually went through several subtle changes.
Market comparables. These were some of the third jerseys in rotation at the time. I noted that the New York Rangers and Boston jerseys, which we had no hand in, had received a great deal of derision. We didn't want that, we wanted innovation to be sure, but more so we wanted authenticity.
If we didn't go the classic route we wanted to emphasize speed, fluidity and minimalism.
BUT we wanted that speed to have some blood and classic hockey grit.
I presented materials we were exploring.
I made a big point that we were really gonna push to get the team into the new ventilated mesh jersey that we had successfully tested in the 1998 Olympics.
And I went through a few graphic directions.
So…what happened. We presented my book to the team, they loved the work I put in to the direction! But after several rounds of discussions with the Red Wings, we decided that it would be best to stand pat with the current uniform. So many voices and passions and competing agendas started to mix with a few terrible ideas. We were not going to "committee" together a patchwork solution, ultimately we felt it best not to mess with a classic. This embroidered appliqué is the only surviving physical remnant I have of the design process. Yup silver was being considered!