Why did every ’90s kid have a Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket?
The first time I saw a social media post asking why we all had Charlotte Hornets Starter jackets as kids in the 1990s, I was definitely confused.
Of course, my friends and had all the Charlotte Hornets swag, but I grew up in Fort Mill, South Carolina — the Hornets were our team, so it made sense.
So ... others outside the Charlotte area had them, too? Apparently, yes.
I sent this TikTok to my colleague Heidi Finley recently, telling her I had no idea this was a thing until I saw similar posts circulating over the past year or so. Heidi confirmed it with hard facts: “Even as a kid in Lincoln, Nebraska, those jerseys and jackets were super popular. That’s why all I knew about Charlotte was sports when I moved here!”
Another post on Instagram starts with “Why did every boy in America wear Charlotte Hornets?” Comedian Bridget McGuire then asks: “Did you guys just like the color teal?”
She said she was from the Chicago suburbs, and every kid on her playground was wearing Charlotte Hornets. “I’m going to go out on a limb, and I’m going to say ‘No one had ever been to Charlotte.’ And it’s crazy because the Chicago Bulls were on fire!”
A 5-year-old post about starter pullover jackets in the r/nostalgia Subreddit features a photo of a Hornets coat, with some commenters stating they had the exact one.
Wow! So let’s dig into this. Why did everyone wear Charlotte Hornets jackets?
- “I got it because of Muggsy Bogues,” one commenter wrote on that TikTok. “He was the same height as me. Plus, the Chicago one was way too expensive.”
- “Because they sold them at WalMart,” someone else said.
- Someone else said she was so young that she called it her “bee jacket”.
- An Instagram commenter pointed out the timing: “Charlotte became a team in 1988, around when Starter jackets got popular so it was a perfect storm!”
- And more than a few people stated definitively that it was the colors. This makes the most sense to me: Teal and purple were the vibe in the ’90s, for sure.
Other team’s Starter jackets seemed to be at least somewhat of a thing. For some it was a backup, though: One woman said she was stuck with a Miami Starter jacket because her mom couldn’t find a Charlotte one.
Aww. I love this team spirit for Charlotte! (So does Larry Johnson, it seems.) Did you have a Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket as a kid? If so, send me an email and tell me where you were living at the time and about what year it was.
Bonus points if you have a photo you can send us — we might include it in any future coverage!
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Charlotte region.
