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9.04.2008

Basketball Uniforms and Fashion


No team sport's uniforms seem to be more driven by or conversely affect general sportswear attire more so than basketball's. While one could argue the golf's tepid trends rule large over the “corporate casual” domain, for the youth (and young at heart)nothing compares to b-ball's domination of what drives fashion
(for young men in particular).

Think about it. Haven't the length of men's & boy's short --in general-- reflected the fashion of at or below the knee length shorts that first cropped up on the court?

True, for a while an little ways back, the football jersey in it's “throwback” form was fashionable. But so were basketball jerseys at the same time. Fortunately, both these trends, much to the chagrin of the fine folks @ Mitchell & Ness (a leading manufacturer of throwbacks). FYI: They're also based in Philly!

Baseball jerseys are cool to wear at the ballpark, but are suspect anywhere else. And the push to the ankles and beyond of recent baseball pant styles are even regretable in MLB. I may be getting old or just be old school, but when a new kid comes up from the minors and he's sporting traditional just below the knee pants, I find myself rooting a little extra for him.

Soccer suffers from several maladies in crossing over into mainstream sports wear "fashionability". The dominance of Adidas and it's ultra strict "3-stripe hegemony" renders --at least to American consumers-- virtually unwearable. I will say that in Europe, N. Africa and other locales, Adidas is enormously popular as "street" attire. It does not make it or those choosing to wear these jerseys any more fashion forward.

No. Basketball uniforms, both jerseys and shorts, play a significant yet little noted or appreciated role in the trend-setting of general sportswear. Let's all breathe a sigh of relief that competitive swimming's latest fashion trends will forever be relegated to the pool. "Love how you look in that Laser!" isn't going to be a catch phrase any time soon.


Sports Uniform Guy
TeamSportsPlanet.com

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