Here’s an unsolicited hot take for you: Sports fans are an overly passionate bunch at best, and outright maniacs at worst.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we’ll offer some compliments. Lovers of athletic competition tend to be very enthusiastic, loyal people. They often develop admirable ties to towns, cities and states due to the fervor with which they follow local athletes or teams. And, above all, they love to have fun.
See? We’re not always negative here at Promo Marketing, which leads us into today’s story.
In an effort to reap the benefits of nostalgia—and, presumably, to boost jersey and merch sales as well—the Anaheim Ducks have decided to introduce a third, or alternate, jersey design for the 2018-19 NHL season in celebration of the team’s 25th anniversary.
Reminder: These @AnaheimDucks beauties are coming back, @adidashockey style. https://t.co/L1BcWsU8FP
— NHL (@NHL) July 23, 2018
To the delight of Anaheim fans, anyone born in the ’80s or ’90s and lovers of retro looks alike, the design is a throwback to the team’s iconic Mighty Ducks style uniforms, worn by franchise (and all time) greats Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne.
Plenty of folks are excited about the new jerseys. The retro look is on point, in our opinion, and plays sufficient homage to a storied tradition and pop-culture phenomenon without looking bland or outdated.
Circling back to out initial cynicism, however, it is apparent that some fans are upset that the jerseys diverge too greatly from the older editions, especially due to the fact that the jersey relies heavily on black as a base color and doesn’t lend enough space to purple as the originals did.
Another criticism stems from the fact that the jerseys aren’t white, which is pretty particular, and largely unappreciative of the fact that alternate jerseys are typically worn at home in the NHL, a league in which away teams wear white almost exclusively.
That being said, it’s impossible to make everyone happy, especially when it comes to designing throwbacks. We’ll have to see how these jerseys sell before passing any real judgment, but if they do poorly because of a slight revamp, we’d be surprised.
In retro design, it’s crucial to strike a balance between merely mimicking the old and completely reinventing it. In our opinion, these Mighty Ducks throwbacks do just that, but who are we to judge? It’s not like this is our job or anything.
