Memorabilia: Uniform Edition

Today’s look at Northwestern memorabilia focuses on uniforms. As someone who finds uniform designs interesting to analyze, I really enjoyed when Northwestern use to have their athletic garage sale to sell off used equipment. My parents bought much of what you see below at those events.

When I think about Northwestern’s uniforms over my lifetime, I suppose the biggest criticism I have for both football and basketball that they haven’t been particularly consistent. Below, you see uniforms which were purple, black, and grey. I think this lack of a clear brand probably hurts NU when it comes to be a recognizable team. I mean everybody knows Michigan’s winged helmets or North Carolina’s powder blue. I’m well aware that NU fans debate whether the ‘Cats should wear purple or black home uniforms for football. Personally, I must admit I really did like the black, but right now I’d stick with purple the majority of the time. It is, after all, the school color. Still, I would love to see the ‘Cats come out of the tunnel in classic throwback black for the Penn State game in October. If NU were ever to return to the black jerseys, though, I would want them to be a true throwback to the 95-96 era with the Northwestern strips and the N-Cat logo. The black jersey below is actually from the 1993 season.

NU’s current basketball jerseys are among the best I’ve seen the ‘Cats wear. They are simple, yet clearly interesting and I think memorable enough that should the team win they would be a solid brand which fans would want to buy and wear. The basketball jerseys presented today come from the 95-96 season. The purple is very similar to the current road jersey, but it doesn’t have the black stripping (which I really like) that the current jerseys have along the side. The grey Evan Eschmeyer jersey below might have belonged to one of NU’s best players, but grey is not a good color for an NU home jersey. When your schools colors are purple and white it doesn’t make much sense to wear a grey jersey. Some schools which don’t use white as a school color might want to change things up and not wear traditional home whites, West Virginia has a nice grey jersey, but in NU’s case I’m glad they choose to put the grey uniforms aside and stick with the white. Overall, I think what Northwestern wears currently for both football and basketball are among the best jerseys NU has wore in my lifetime, but I still would love to see throwback 1995 football jerseys just once this season.

For more on NU uniforms visit Hail to Purple: http://hailtopurple.com/features/unis1.html

A black with purple numbers 1993 NU football jersey

The 1993 jersey featured the famous Northwestern strips

Northwestern wore these grey basketball jerseys briefly during the 95-96 season