Major League Baseball and Fanatics are admitting their mistake.
At the beginning of baseball season, the talk wasn’t about rookie prospects or even generational talents further strengthening World Series favorites.
It was the pants.
People – mostly professional baseball players – really hated what Fanatics and Nike did with uniform pants, essentially taking away the players’ fit options in favor of the new Nike Vapor Premier design, a one-size-fits-all option that pitchers especially felt hindered their motion.
There was also the fact that they were sort of see-through, so teams that wore white pants looked like they were wearing diapers when they had their jerseys tucked in.
Throw in the fact that teams like the Cubs didn’t match the blue on the uniforms to the club’s historic hue, and the name and number patches were suddenly smaller, and you had a cause that united both players and fans who were paying a decent chunk of change for a replica uni.
But now, as October is here and the postseason is underway, the league and its apparel partners announced that they would make the change, though not immediately.
Road Gray(ish)
One of the biggest complaints about the new uniforms was in regard to the teams’ gray uniforms, commonly worn during away games and referred to as “road grays.” The gray material for the shirts didn’t always match the pants, and fans noticed.
In April, the league originally said it would fix these issues “at the latest” by the 2025 season. The grays are on schedule, with the league stating that they’ll be ready by Spring Training next year, but the rest of the changes would have to wait. In the league’s announcement this week, it said that production holdups would delay other new uniform adjustments until the 2026 season.
Those adjustments are things that promotional products decorators and distributors can relate to: larger numbers and names on the back of jerseys, as well as embroidered sponsor patches on the sleeve, which are now the norm across the league. Starting in 2016, the league used a more athletic, rubberized “Chromaflex” material, at least for the MLB logo patch.
Lessons in Fundamentals
For promotional products distributors, the primary takeaway here is that, even if you’re one of the biggest sports leagues on the face of the earth or one of the most recognizable names in athletic apparel, lapses in judgment and mistakes happen. Though the public outcry was probably more than the average distributor or end-buyer would face, you can still glean a few key insights:
- Think about what your end-users really want, especially for apparel. One-size-fits-all options might not really be the answer.
- Your customers’ brand colors are part of their brand identity. Even a slight variation will be noticeable and weaken the overall promotion.
- Decoration matters on apparel and hard goods. It’s part of the tactile experience and is just as important as the visual aspect.
- If your customer has a complaint, try your best to fix it as quickly and as cost-efficiently as possible.
