Report: NBA and Nike May Get Rid of Sleeved Jerseys

[Big Bid'Ness]

From:slamonline
 

 
Report: NBA and Nike May Get Rid of Sleeved Jerseys

 


Could the era of the sleeved jersey soon be coming to an end?
 
Nike, the NBA’s official uniform provider, is reportedly putting the kibosh on the sleeves.
 
Replica jerseys will be sold on the NBA’s online shop, while those worn by players on the court will be found at the Swoosh’s retail partners.
Per The WSJ (via Uni Watch):
 The National Basketball Association will cease distributing its lowest-priced jerseys to sporting-goods chains beginning next season, the latest shift as sportswear makers aim to sell directly to consumers.
 
Replica NBA jerseys currently made by Adidas AG cost about $70, while swingman jerseys are priced at $110, and the on-court jerseys fetch $300. The NBA said pricing under the new arrangement hasn’t been finalized.
 
Nike, meanwhile, is expected to present its initial NBA jersey designs to retailers beginning this week. The company said it doesn’t plan to produce sleeved jerseys, a style debuted by Adidas in 2013 that received mixed reviews from players and fans.


Read more at http://www.slamonline.com/nba/report-nba-nike-may-get-rid-sleeved-jerseys/#ltkH8MYYdSUsgdZt.99

 
Report: Nike Not Planning to Make Sleeved NBA Jerseys

Ever since the NBA announced that Nike would be taking over from Adidas as the league’s uniform outfitter in the fall of 2017, one of the recurring questions on people’s minds has been, “Will Nike do anything about the sleeves?”
 
We may now have an answer. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal included an article about the league’s plan to stop selling lower-priced replica jerseys at brick-and-mortar shops next season (which, as you can imagine, doesn’t matter to me one little bit), and buried within that article was the following tidbit:
 
The full article is here, but it’s behind a paywall, so I’ve uploaded the text for you here. (After a good back-and-forth in today’s comments, I’ve disabled that link.
The link to the original article may still work for you, however — the paywall appears to be inconsistent. Give it a try.)
 
Nike, meanwhile, is expected to present its initial NBA jersey designs to retailers beginning this week. The company said it doesn’t plan to produce sleeved jerseys, a style debuted by Adidas in 2013 that received mixed reviews from players and fans.
 
I saw a few people on Twitter yesterday trying to parse the Journal’s wording (“They don’t plan to do sleeves, but that doesn’t mean they won’t do sleeves”), but come on — the clear implication there is that the sleeved jerseys are on the way out.
 
If so, that will be a major shift. By my count, at least 19 of the 30 NBA teams currently have a sleeved jersey. That includes the Jazz, who introduced a sleeved alternate just this season. Will they really scrap it after only one year? Sleeves are required on “pride” jerseys, and the Cavs rode their sleeved black alternates all the way to the way to the NBA title last season (reportedly at LeBron James’s request).
 
Then again, the league will be introducing lots of uniform changes next season: Maker’s marks and advertising patches are already a certainty, new tailoring and fabrics haven’t been announced but are a given, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that several teams will have fairly bold redesigns. So why not scrap the sleeves too while they’re at it? After all, even at the college level, the sleeves were always an Adidas thing, not a Nike thing.
 
I’m sure most fans will be happy, or at least not heartbroken, to see the sleeves go. Me too, for the most part. But I think the real letdown with the sleeves is that they never used them to their full potential. No patches, no stripes, no patterns, no nothin’. What a waste.
Meanwhile, if any of you retailers out there have feedback on the new Nike designs you’ll be seeing this week, you know where to find me.

 

[elcheato]

And now introducing the new long sleeved jerseys

 

[buzzy]

Wade would wear it, dude's already playing in scuba gear

 

[Pugz]

i hope they replace them with track pants

 

[Paulius]

Should just play in practice gear , save some money