Rugby Team Wows the Crowd…on Their Shirts
The French Rugby team Stade Français has a new rugby jersey, and its not striped or color-blocked. “The Crowd” will debut at the August 14th match. The uniform will inevitably scramble a few television camera and is certainly atypical for a sporting team. Part of it harkens back to the days of 70s photo prints on button-down shirts, albeit far more cartoonish. T
here is a method to the madness. It’s all about merchandising. The team hopes to rope in sales from design aficionados, rather than strictly Rugby fans. This kind of potential shark jumping also gets the team a lot of press.
There was a study years ago that suggested sometimes the color of a uniform made a difference in the mindset of a team. What does having 70 people on a uniform do? Give the athlete the impression they are being cheered on by a crowd, or jeered at? Time will tell, and certainly sales figures will tell once the design is made available to the public at large.
What do you think? Brilliant marketing or a an ill-fated move?
designers, modern fashion, sports | Comment (0)Logos A Go-go
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PacSun. All opinions are 100% mine.
Pacsun has recently rolled out the Ken Block Gear, which is a collaborative effort between Ford Motor Company, DC shoes, and, of course Ken Block. Oh yeah, Monster is in on it too. Motor and racing related gear has a special type of style all of its own. In other words, its the standard ratio of logos to square inch of fabric. Once the golden ratio is executed correctly, a desirable shirt or hat is born. Now, you can’t have 40 tiny logos on it or otherwise folks will think they are polka dots. Polka dots and fast cars don’t go together unless your sponsor is Wonder Bread or you are restoring a Clown Car. On the other hand, it can’t be TOO big. If the logo swallows up one arm and 3/4 of one’s torso, it wraps around and no one can read it.
To demonstrate my theory, feast your eyeballs on the right side image. I mean left. Whoa, I am mighty dyslexic today. Or is that spacial orientation difficulties? I digress. Watch the hand placement of Ken Block emphasizing the primary and secondary logos. The width is harmonious, and in addition, for creative folks, it appears that the Monster “M” is about to land on the Ford Blue Oval landing pad. That could be tentacles or landing gear. I am not sure. The secondary logos are cautiously bystanding. The white font allows them to be read clearly, yet not scream for competition. Bonus: Skull on the back. Skulls right now are still bigger than Hello Kitty.
And there you have it. The perfectly proportioned logo-rific racing shirt. It is a true balancing act between white space (or dark space), logos, and graphics and squiggles. Good fit doesn’t hurt either.
Oh, yeah, you didn’t come to read about racing related items to not see some fast cars. Here’s the money shot:
1974: Sansabelt Slimmed and Trimmed
Ah, Sansabelt.
Today Sansabelt is at the butt of some jokes, portrayed as the fashion detail for folks who are looking for extra room in their drawers at turkey time. Did you know that back in the day, Sansabelt pants were considered pretty fashionable? What, no belt? Are you crazy? In fact, Jaymar offered the feature on their stylish windowpane plaid dacton trousers. There were oodles of celebrity endorsements, including one by Tom Shaw. At the time of this 1974 advertisement, he was the youngest touring professional golfer. In other words, they were pitched as pants for an active lifestyle. Or at least one that including walking, then stopping, then walking, then stopping.
The pants’ “exclusive hidden waistband never ceases to slim him, trim him, keep his shirt tail in and provide an incredible feeling of comfort around the middle.” Brown plaid is not your thing? “Sansabelt Slacks with Dacron polyester come in virtually every cut, color and pattern, each designed to look lavish, yet made to wear and wear.” And wear they do. I have found dozens of examples of the pants that look like the day they came out of the factory.
They were also known as the slacks seen on NBC, not that anyone was squinting at their 12″ black and white searching to see if anyone was wearing a belt.
I am just glad that Tom Shaw was a relatively conservative dresser. At the time, plaid pants were a little more de reguer than they are in 2010. I am not sure if you remember my post about 40s golder Tommy Goodwin and his fashion choices that kind of creep some folks out. (Click to see purely at your own risk).
1970s, 1974, sports, vintage ads | Comments (2)What Does a Seahawk Taste Like?
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have always liked Jones Soda for several reasons. The bottles give me that old fashioned feel and the flavors are innovative. There was old fashioned vanilla cream soda and a lot of funky fruit flavors. Sometimes, however, I worry about the folks at Jones, after the Tofurky and Gravy Thanksgiving offering.
Now, Jones has combined affinity products with original flavors to create the Seattle Seahawks soda. I am sure that no matter what it tastes like, fans will be stocking the shelves. Truth be told, I am sitting with my hands covering my eyes. Like a little kid, I am peeping out between my fingers as I am frightened but strangely intrigued by what the new beverages could taste like. I was very relieved to find that the flavors available were Cream Soda, Green Apple and Berry Lemonade. What a relief. I was figuring it would be Locker Room Luau, Pigskin, Beer, and Ben Gay (or Icy Hot).
The Limited Edition-ness of the soda extends to the packaging and labeling. They come in special commemorative four packs featuring intriguing art work. Now, you can drink it all, or you can hide it away just in case it is going to be worth big bucks some day. You just never know. My brother may still have a bunch of Arizone Iced Tea and Absolute bottles that he is saving for posterity from a number of years ago. Why not add more breakables to the back of the closet? Mom was plenty happy one night when she heard a thundering crash after he moved out.
The four packs are available for a very limited time on the Jones websites. If you are a fan of exotic non alcoholic libations or are a football fan, buy them now before they disappear. Then get another one for your great-great grandchildren.
I Know Why Hank Aaron’s Record Was Broken
I now know why Hank Aaron’s home record was eventually beaten. It is not because Hank Aaron isn’t one of the most amazing athletes of all time, and I might add, he and his wife are genuinely very nice people (I met them!). It is not because of steroids nowadays. It is because there were baseball players like Dick Allen, pictured, and many others, whose ilk prevented hank Aaron from hitting 1,000 more homers because they were polluting his baseball experience with cigarette smoke. Sure, there were more baseball players back then who chewed tobacco or may have smoked in their private time, as not all folks were in tune to the dangers.
However, it seems to me that baseball players, in the arena of their athletic expression, where they needed to rely on the most lung power, were stifled by the presence of the dugout and field NOT being a “No Smoking” area. How insane is that? You may not have been aware of it as you only see highlight reels form then, nowadays, on ESPN classic. Also, usually pitchers didn’t have a smoke on the field because they needed their hands free to throw the ball. So no highlights with smoking in them. Just wait until the camera is off of them or they go to the dugout…the pitcher, catcher, and everyone else are foggy it up like chimneys.
So, dear Hank Aaron, we know if it wasn’t for your rude team mates, you would have hit so many home runs that no one would have beat your record until a special ball hitting superrobot came out of Japan (and only when they also invented the SuperRobot Pitcher to go along with it).
sports, useless information | Comments (2)Dior Receives Recognition for Iconic Logo
Almost one year ago, I reported that it was the 40th anniversary of the The Major League Baseball Logo. Jerry Dior, who worked for Sandgren and Murtha at the time, created it to commemorate the 100th anniversary of of the league back in 1968.
According to MLB.com:
Chosen by a committee that included ex-Yankees president Mike Burke and former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Dior’s vision was unveiled that fall. Framed by the words “100th Anniversary,” it appeared on uniforms for the first time during the 1969 season.
Dior never received royalties or recognition during the past four decades. Many designers, as required by terms of employment understand that aside form a byline, the company they are hired to work for own the rights to the work. It is possible that they may never be recognized by name for an image or a design. On Tuesday, the MLB announced their acknowledgement of his contribution. Dior even appeared at Yankee Stadium and was introduced to the fans. It appears that Dior was never seeking any sort of compensation, just the legacy for his children and grandchildren to tell stories to future generations about what their grandfather did.
1960s, sports | Comment (0)Backyard Baseball
Sports competitions, and casually knocking around in the backyard with a ball have been the subject of film from the time the very first reel of was placed in a camera. Looking at old films gives us a real glimpse into how people lived. We get a look into how they dressed everyday, as in golden age Hollywood movies, actors were dressed to promote designer clothing to the people eating popcorn. Luckily, a lot of old sports clips were converted into sports videos and dvds so they are more stable and better preserved.
I was looking around on the SportsVids site and came across this casual gem from the 1920s. They always say people dressed more formally in decades past, which is true, but I have a feeling that this game just spontaneously broke out in front of someone’s house:
I hope more people will go to SportsVid, an online sports videos site, and share the gems that have been languishing. Maybe they had their camera ready at a historic match up of famous athletes, or perhaps someone somewhere has footage of a lost sport that we just don’t play very often today. You may just have an important piece of the past for someone to jog a memory or to research a time past.
1920s, history, sports | Comment (0)
