Charlotte Hornets finally heard the message about pinstripes. These uniforms are overdue
The Charlotte Hornets needed a do-over. This time, they made it right.
I was stunned in June of 2014 when the first uniforms in the Bobcats-to-Hornets re-brand didn’t more resemble Alexander Julian’s iconic look. I know that trademarks and NBA rules kept them from precisely duplicating the 1988 pinstripes-and-pleats. However, the 2014 look — broad stripes down one side of the jersey and shorts — was so unlike what fans anticipated, it missed an opportunity.
The whole point of the re-brand was to market nostalgia. The Hornets adjusted, unveiling uniforms Monday that have jersey pinstripes on both white and teal primary threads.
A confession: I miscalculated how valuable switching from Bobcats to Hornets could be, once the Benson family chose to rename the New Orleans NBA team “Pelicans.” I’m a substance-over-style guy, and felt the only thing that really mattered was winning (which they have yet to accomplish).
What I undervalued was how the love of the colors could mitigate the bitterness Charlotte NBA fans felt about the original Hornets leaving in 2002. And how Bob Johnson was an unpopular owner, and Adam Morrison was a high-pick bust.
The re-brand promised relief from all that. It just didn’t go far enough.
Vintage
My son, a teenager in the mid-2000s, educated me. He searched out vintage Hornets clothing, and he sure wasn’t alone. There was a time when you could walk through Paris or Hong Kong, and not be surprised to see a teal pinstripe Larry Johnson jersey. Long after Johnson retired and the team was in New Orleans, that look still registered and charmed back in Charlotte.
Michael Jordan understood that after he bought control of the team from Bob Johnson in 2010. He recalled the electricity nightly at Charlotte Coliseum when he played there, and needed a connection to it.
Jordan authorized spending millions of dollars to resurface basketball courts, design new logos and change out signage all over the city. That’s what made it shocking to me that the uniforms — the centerpiece of any sports brand — so deviated from the look fans adored.
People complained to me frequently, whether by email, voicemail or on Twitter, about the absence of the pinstripes. When the Hornets announced three years ago they would wear the original uniforms a handful of times each season, I knew it would drive change.
Listen to your customers
Under NBA rules, the Hornets had to stick with the 2014 models as primary uniforms at least five years. In 2017, they started exploring a re-brand. Monday’s Back-to-the-Future look was the inevitable outcome.
To his credit, Hornets senior vice president Seth Bennett acknowledged as much.
“We really had our ear to the ground listening to our fans’ comments, many of which through social media,” Bennett said of the love for the classic uniforms.
“We definitely used that to inform the process.”
Late, but not too late. This time, they finished the play.
