The apron jersey trend

tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
86,615
143,965
Bojangles Parking Lot
I wonder why the other teams jersey seams are vertical but Calgary's seams are all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in comparison.

Following the seams of the new side panels, in a manner similar to the Sabres’ infamous “pit stains” design

img-2130591-f.jpg


The Sabres franchise alone has made some astonishingly poor jersey choices over the past 30 years or so.
 

Nogatco Rd

Pierre-Luc Dubas
Apr 3, 2021
2,846
5,336
So from the jersey above, you get the Edge-ified Blues:

47f395f8fa88c0b8868f95af68ad3a09.jpg
Great post. The Blues’ were especially brutal. The awkward shape in the chest/shoulders immediately reminded me of the ‘jerseys’ they used in that ladies football league that Mark Rypien’s daughter played in:

IMG_6276.jpeg
 
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senseimike

Registered User
Dec 6, 2015
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38
This is pulling from old memory so I may have some details wrong, but:

I believe the design actually started with the athletic purpose of the jersey, and the determination that a traditional hockey sweater’s seams weren’t ideal for athletic movement. If you look at where the seams go in the Edge template, they’re in ergonomic places to accommodate the twisting and stretching that happens during a hockey game.

Edge.png


That template in and of itself created issues, because traditional hockey jerseys usually have straight lines over the shoulders (either that, or no lines at all). So for example, St Louis relied heavily on the visual effect of straight lines running from collar to shoulder, and this was no longer practical from a production standpoint:


517ed22bfc25620fba159c7e86aab4b8.jpg



So that production problem got passed along to the design teams for a solution, which is where things really went off the rails. Having been given license to follow the new template, they set about the creation of a new visual profile for the NHL. Of course this was basically a license to force new jersey sales leaguewide, so it’s not like the league was pushing back on them.

So from the jersey above, you get the Edge-ified Blues:

47f395f8fa88c0b8868f95af68ad3a09.jpg


Of course, they made up some marketing BS about this being a tribute to the Arch, but it was a straightforward matter of needing the shoulder stripes to follow the curving seams near the collar.

BUT, it got even dumber. Because again — production problem without a good design solution. Look at Oshie’s jersey above, if he gains the captaincy where do you put a letter?

Well…

akjflakf.png



So from what started as a simple matter of trying to make the jerseys less bulky and restrictive, we ended up in the theater of the absurd from a design standpoint. Nobody in their right mind would deliberately set out to create the visual mess you see in that last picture, but the train had left the station from an engineering standpoint.

Some teams had it a lot worse than others. Florida went from this:

olli-jokinen.jpg



To this:

image-asset.jpeg



And Calgary went from this:

detroit-goaltender-miikka-kiprusoff-of-the-calgary-flames-defends-his-net-against-the-detroit.jpg


To this:

calgary-flames-goaltender-henrik-karlsson-takes-a-break-during-the-second-period-of-the.jpg



And maybe the worst of all, poor Colorado going from this:

2295_c.jpg



To this:

colorado-avalanche-rookie-center-matt-duchene-warms-up-before-facing-the-vancouver-canucks-in-the-first-period-of-an-nhl-hockey-game-in-denver-on-tuesday-march-9-2010-ap-photodavid-zalubowski-2NE4262.jpg



So in short, they came up with a solution for something that wasn’t really a problem… painted themselves into a corner where form and function could no longer co-exist… and ended up torching the visual identity of the league for a while.
What a thorough and awesome reply! Thanks for the intel!!
 

Hisch13r

Registered User
May 16, 2012
35,131
35,817
NJ
Pajama jersey is referring to the jerseys without a stripe on the bottom hem. This gave them a "floating" look. I believe the New Jersey Devils are the only and last team to still have this styling.

september-30-2014-san-jose-sharks-defenseman-taylor-doherty-77-in-action-during-the-nhl-hockey-game-between-the-los-angeles-kings-and-the-san-jose-sharks-at-the-sap-center-in-san-jose-ca-the-kings-defeated-the-sharks-4-1-damon-tarvercal-sport-media-cal-sport-media-via-ap-images-2P459MR.jpg




BNG-L-SHARKS-0516-311.jpg


940427948.jpg.0.jpg




2010-11-st-louis-blues-graham-mink-number-52-game-issued-white-jersey-dp12299_ss2_p-13455611+pv-2+u-obvtid1pnxyz9ybiplop+v-jsamtvbqylleyaibrksv.jpg


Taylor Hall Scores His First NHL Goal - The Hockey Writers - - NHL News,  Analysis & More

Yeah I f***ing hate these Devils jerseys
 

Evergreen

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Sponsor
May 22, 2008
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Ugh I hate the apron jersey trend. the problem is that each of these new manufacturers feels they need to reinvent the wheel somehow. Reebok with the piping, Adidas with the oversized collars.

The best-looking jerseys in terms of fit were in the late 80s/early 90s. They also look the best to wear outside of hockey.
 

Figgy44

A toast of purple gato for the memories
Dec 15, 2014
13,888
9,202
Following the seams of the new side panels, in a manner similar to the Sabres’ infamous “pit stains” design

img-2130591-f.jpg


The Sabres franchise alone has made some astonishingly poor jersey choices over the past 30 years or so.

While still gross, I feel like changing the armpits to yellow might actually look better than the white pit stain look. Basically any dark color would have been at least passable. Yeesh.
 

hirawl

Used Register
Dec 27, 2010
3,371
1,465
Don't you just love when a thread title is great but you just have absolutely zero idea what it's going to be about before opening it. Christmas morning kind of vibes.

Yeah those were some of the worst designs ever in the league history.
 
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F L Y E R S

Orange & Black
Aug 27, 2009
1,976
141
Philadelphia, PA
He’s talking about the Reebok Edge jersey template that had seams along the sides of the torso, that a lot of teams highlighted as piping.

image-asset.jpeg



IMO, these designs were hot burning garbage that violated basic principles of what a hockey jersey looks like. I was hoping they would at least age well but they have not.

The piping is dreadful, but they should've never changed that logo
 

senseimike

Registered User
Dec 6, 2015
106
38
Any of you guys have any comparison shots of the jersey template with the seams locations and such of the Edge jerseys vs now?
 

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