South Carolina swaps Under Armour for Nike. Here’s what to know

South Carolina athletics officially transitioned from Under Armour to Nike last Wednesday, ending a 19-year apparel partnership. The switch is reshaping everything from jersey colors and NIL deals to what happens to old gear that’s piled up in equipment rooms.

Here are key takeaways:

• The new Nike garnet does not exactly match South Carolina’s official Pantone 202 shade, with the discrepancy most visible on garnet cotton T-shirts that look closer to Alabama crimson than traditional Gamecock garnet.
• Nike puts partner schools into color teams such as “Team Royal Blue” or “Team Scarlet University Red,” and South Carolina was likely placed in “Team Crimson” because no school among Nike’s existing teams exactly matches Gamecock garnet.
• The first round of Nike football jerseys looks nearly identical to the Under Armour versions apart from the swoosh, fabric and lighter garnet tone, with only about 10 months between the deal being signed last August and Wednesday’s launch.
• Under the contract running through 2036, Nike committed to a full redesign of at least three football jerseys by 2030, plus an alternate uniform as part of an energy program including more than 15 elite college football programs.
• Nike signed five Gamecocks to its Blue Ribbon Elite NIL program: football players LaNorris Sellers, Nyck Harbor and Dylan Stewart, along with women’s basketball players Joyce Edwards and Chloe Kitts.
• South Carolina joins LSU, Texas and rival Clemson as the four schools officially part of Nike’s Blue Ribbon Elite program, which has signed about 80 student-athletes total.
• South Carolina is donating approximately 25 pallets of leftover Under Armour gear to the South Carolina State Surplus, with items expected to go on sale in mid-August at the warehouse at 1441 Boston Ave. in West Columbia.
• Fans lined up at the on-campus Russell House starting at 7 a.m. on launch day Wednesday, and the biggest spender of the morning was Jessica Koumas, whose eight-item bill topped $500 as she shopped for family and friends.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.

This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 9:32 AM with the headline "South Carolina swaps Under Armour for Nike. Here’s what to know."