The NBA League has experienced 76 years of development since its establishment in 1946, of which jerseys have also unconsciously completed a unique cultural accumulation.
The primary evolution of basketball jerseys.
The development of basketball jerseys has changed from no jerseys to "sweaters and cotton pants" to small vests and small shorts to unified customization by manufacturers, and the fabric is gradually improving, and its elements are constantly enriched.
When James Naismith invented the game in 1891, he probably never thought it would become what it is today. There were no jerseys at all, and players could wear whatever they wanted.
In 1920, before the establishment of the NBA, basketball had an official professional league of other organizations, which had the first set of standardized jerseys. According to wild history records: the earliest jersey is made by our well-known veteran basketball brand Spalding, the upper body is wool knitted sweatshirt, the lower body is cotton shorts, how does it sound to feel so advanced, even so extravagant! But I don't know what it feels like to wear it as a tracksuit. Wool? Cotton cloth? Will it be warm? This is unknown, but history is developing, so it can be judged that this sportswear has its limitations and drawbacks.
When the NBA League was founded, the NBA jersey came into being, initially, the role of the jersey is to distinguish between the two teams on the court, not to cause confusion because of the confusion between the enemy and me. At that time, the jersey shape was solid color, slim body, narrow shoulder small vest, bare legs small shorts, simple but not simple!
With the development of The Times and basketball, the jersey has also changed a lot. First of all, the material changed from wool and cotton to nylon and polyester fiber, and by the 1950s, synthetic materials were favored and became the main raw materials of the jersey, which only had simple English letters and numbers on the jersey at this time.
Then in the 1960s, the basketball league tended to be regular, more elements were added to the jersey, the team name, the team logo, the main color of the team, the player's name and other information have appeared on the jersey, and the monotonous jersey has gradually become three-dimensional. At this time, each team will give their own jerseys to the manufacturer.
Then in the 1970s, the NBA began to cooperate with the well-known basketball apparel manufacturer Sunnett, but did not expect to dry the apparel manufacturer.
Second, the advanced evolution of NBA jersey.
At this stage, the production of jerseys has a professional design, innovation and improvement, and everything is developing in the direction of personalization, comfort and The Times.
Along with the development of the basketball league, the NBA has gradually become famous. In the 1970s, the NBA ushered in the first jersey strategic partner Sand-Knit (Sunnat), this brand in the NBA jersey evolution history is the first ancestor of existence.
Sand-Knit was a Chicago-based sportswear brand that from 1960 to 1980 focused on professional basketball equipment for professional basketball players. In 1969, he sponsored the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA. In 1975, it became a unified supplier to 24 NFL teams, nine NBA teams, three ABA (American Basketball Association) teams, and two MLB (Major League Baseball) teams. (The iconic jersey is the Houston Astros rainbow jersey). In 1980, Sunett innovated and developed cotton-polyester blended fibers on basketball sports clothing fabrics, and developed a "net hole" textile process on the fabric structure, which can well help players sweat.
Sennett has been working with the NBA since 1970, initially only providing jersey production services for some teams. In 1986, at the official invitation of the NBA League, Sennett obtained the exclusive agency of the NBA for five years (1986-1990), becoming the first NBA brand in NBA history. The historic opening of the NBA league single-brand exclusive sponsor model, the historic realization of the first uniform design of all NBA teams in the field of ball clothing, this cooperation also prompted the NBA LOGO for the first time appeared on the ball uniform.
NBA development so far, in addition to Sennett, but also with several other companies have the title of the entire NBA team cooperation, among which the more famous are Champion, Reedbook Reebok, Adidas Adidas, Nike Nike.
At that time, Sand-Knit was the leader of franchise team clothing, but unfortunately in 1990, it was badly managed and bankrupt, and was lost to history. However, during this period, the shape of the jersey has gradually evolved from the initial fixed narrow shoulder small vest, bare legs small shorts version into a personal design that can provide personalized tailoring for players, which can be widened and lengthened. (1970-1990s)
With the bankruptcy of Sennett, the famous sports brand Champion has won the favor of the NBA with its more outstanding design!
Like the classic design of the Magic team blue white black silk jersey, the Raptors purple Tyrannosaurus jerseys are from the hands of the Champion.
Through innovation and improvement, Champion has developed the relatively conservative appearance of the 1980s into an avant-garde bold shape and a variety of color schemes, which has attracted not only players but also fans. The most classic is the MAGIC team jersey at that time, above the "magic" "A" and "i" dots were replaced by stars, which also coincides with the magic team logo!
With its excellent design, Champion dominated the 1990s of the minor decade 1990-2000.
However, the sweetness of one dominant is short-lived. At the end of the last century, the NBA jersey sponsorship market formed a "three-point world" situation. In addition to the Champion (champion) at that time, with the beginning of the 1997-98 season,Nike (Nike) and Starter (tide) also entered the NBA, officially forming a three-way.