Saw a video breaking down all the new uniforms for this year, and although they aren’t brand new, I can say watching this current game that Georgia Tech’s uniforms are great - They’ve had a solid evolution from the Russel Athletic days.
My biggest issue with the vegas gold era at Pitt is they never leaned into it the whole way. Don’t get me wrong, the current gold (yellow) and royal blue is 100% better, but they should’ve went for it like Notre Dame and now Georgia Tech have done. Beige/tan isn’t gold - GOLD is gold. Seeing that shimmer from GT’s numbers and helmet is beautiful.
Maybe the team can figure out a cool alternate uni for night games in the future that has nice yellow-gold metallic numbers/helmet, although chrome helmets have dwindled in helmet style the last few years and it wouldn’t really work with pants so I would hate pairing metallic with plain of the same shade.
On a separate and more realistic note, it seems like the team is still using the nike alpha elite model instead of the new alpha pro model most teams have now transitioned to. I’m a bit of a uniform junkie, so that annoys me, but typically uniform contracts run for about 5-8 years and we’re in year 6 post rebrand. Hope there’s a refresh coming next year.
I think Pitt has great uniforms across all sports. I know there’s the camp that strives for plain block numbers at its simplest form, but the current font really screams “Pitt” for me now more than ever. I think the cathedral font is more subdue than some other techniques like the 2016-2018 Pitt unis and fonts like FSU, WVU, and even the Steelers currently use. I think there’s an argument that they could follow FSU and go back to white numbers outlined in gold. I don’t have a preference, but I am a big fan of gold in general.
I love when teams have a bunch of helmets at their disposal, and maybe it’s recency bias because I’m just happy the script is back in its true colors, but i’m a little fatigued with Pitt trying out new helmet colors. The white ones are cool as a one off for away games, but i’d lean into the gold almost permanently. If you want to add some artistic flair, use alternate facemasks for a few games like gold ala the 90s, and then use grey for homecoming, and then use those chrome blue ones from the ‘22 Brawl. Put that ancient panther from the Ditka era on the side of the helmets for a throwback game if you want too. If you want to see how a team should be doing alternate helmets, look at Illinois’ GAUNTLET of unis for their stadium heritage series this year. Mixing different logos/styles with the current colors is a great utilization. My point is don’t mess with the base color. I really couldn’t care less for a royal helmet like some people want, we don’t want to turn into Kentucky lol. Our gold makes us PITT.
Lastly, the cathedral stripe is phenomenal. Just a tremendous way to include something unique in an otherwise plain tool that’s used for almost any uniform in the sports world. I would argue that you don’t have to use it ALL the time though. For instance, I like the men’s basketball uniforms, even though they are also almost due for a refresh, but that stripe on the side is huge. The women do a better job IMO incorporating the stripe into the piping and collar on their uni, and allows more creative space on the shorts if you want to throw another panther head on there or do some more intricate stripes/piping like those old 80s/90s shorts. (While i’m at it please make the “PANTHERS” on the gold MBB jerseys into the script font and add a little more blue and they’re perfect)
This turned into a bigger rant than I intended, but I feel like there’s so many better things we can tackle with uniform style deeper than just arguing color and logos being used. Branding has never been stronger at Pitt nonetheless.
My biggest issue with the vegas gold era at Pitt is they never leaned into it the whole way. Don’t get me wrong, the current gold (yellow) and royal blue is 100% better, but they should’ve went for it like Notre Dame and now Georgia Tech have done. Beige/tan isn’t gold - GOLD is gold. Seeing that shimmer from GT’s numbers and helmet is beautiful.
Maybe the team can figure out a cool alternate uni for night games in the future that has nice yellow-gold metallic numbers/helmet, although chrome helmets have dwindled in helmet style the last few years and it wouldn’t really work with pants so I would hate pairing metallic with plain of the same shade.
On a separate and more realistic note, it seems like the team is still using the nike alpha elite model instead of the new alpha pro model most teams have now transitioned to. I’m a bit of a uniform junkie, so that annoys me, but typically uniform contracts run for about 5-8 years and we’re in year 6 post rebrand. Hope there’s a refresh coming next year.
I think Pitt has great uniforms across all sports. I know there’s the camp that strives for plain block numbers at its simplest form, but the current font really screams “Pitt” for me now more than ever. I think the cathedral font is more subdue than some other techniques like the 2016-2018 Pitt unis and fonts like FSU, WVU, and even the Steelers currently use. I think there’s an argument that they could follow FSU and go back to white numbers outlined in gold. I don’t have a preference, but I am a big fan of gold in general.
I love when teams have a bunch of helmets at their disposal, and maybe it’s recency bias because I’m just happy the script is back in its true colors, but i’m a little fatigued with Pitt trying out new helmet colors. The white ones are cool as a one off for away games, but i’d lean into the gold almost permanently. If you want to add some artistic flair, use alternate facemasks for a few games like gold ala the 90s, and then use grey for homecoming, and then use those chrome blue ones from the ‘22 Brawl. Put that ancient panther from the Ditka era on the side of the helmets for a throwback game if you want too. If you want to see how a team should be doing alternate helmets, look at Illinois’ GAUNTLET of unis for their stadium heritage series this year. Mixing different logos/styles with the current colors is a great utilization. My point is don’t mess with the base color. I really couldn’t care less for a royal helmet like some people want, we don’t want to turn into Kentucky lol. Our gold makes us PITT.
Lastly, the cathedral stripe is phenomenal. Just a tremendous way to include something unique in an otherwise plain tool that’s used for almost any uniform in the sports world. I would argue that you don’t have to use it ALL the time though. For instance, I like the men’s basketball uniforms, even though they are also almost due for a refresh, but that stripe on the side is huge. The women do a better job IMO incorporating the stripe into the piping and collar on their uni, and allows more creative space on the shorts if you want to throw another panther head on there or do some more intricate stripes/piping like those old 80s/90s shorts. (While i’m at it please make the “PANTHERS” on the gold MBB jerseys into the script font and add a little more blue and they’re perfect)
This turned into a bigger rant than I intended, but I feel like there’s so many better things we can tackle with uniform style deeper than just arguing color and logos being used. Branding has never been stronger at Pitt nonetheless.
