Hornets unveil 3 new uniforms

ByDarren Rovell ESPN logo
Thursday, June 19, 2014

The Charlotte Hornets unveiled their new uniforms on Thursday.

The uniforms were designed in collaboration with Nike's Jordan brand, as Michael Jordan is the team's owner, even though the league's official apparel provider is adidas, which is still charged with producing the jerseys.

The home uniform is white with purple numbers and teal letters, while the away jersey is predominately purple with teal numbers and white lettering. Both jerseys have "Hornets" across the chest, feature a hornet silhouette on the waistband and a Hornet cell design on the side of the shorts.

The alternate jersey, which is to be worn 16 to 20 times, is teal with white lettering and purple numbers. It features "Charlotte" across the chest and the diving hornet logo on the shorts. All the jerseys feature a color accented V-neck, a tribute to the Hornets jerseys of old.

Before arriving at the designs, the team went through an exhaustive process, which included making sure the exact colors can be sourced and testing how the uniforms read on camera.

Per league rules, the Hornets had to change up designs and logos from their history, as those designs now fall under the league's retro Hardwood Classics program.

The design doesn't completely ditch the famous pinstriping that appeared on the team's original uniforms. It runs down the side of the uniform as compared to the old uniform, which featured symmetrical spacing of vertical lines throughout.

Fans can preorder the authentic jersey beginning in August, while the two other styles of replicas will be available in team shop and online in September.

The Hornets left Charlotte after the 2001-02 season to flee to New Orleans. Charlotte got an expansion franchise two seasons later. When the New Orleans franchise changed its name to Pelicans in May 2013, that opened up Hornets again for Charlotte. The team announced a return to the Hornets name two months later.

Since putting new Charlotte Hornets gear on sale in January, the team has set multiple franchise sales records. The team's original jerseys were designed by North Carolina native Alexander Julian, who said he received monthly shipments of barbecue in exchange for his work.

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