Those where fun to hunt near my hotel. The Seibu one was actually found in a second hand store, the others are from the capsule machines. I also found machines offering small devices making a hit or catch sound and a comment from the game when you press the button, pretty fun.
I tried imagining what would be my ideal NPB branding, and redrew the uniforms for each team to present it. The idea was to pick any uniform in each team's history, as a home, away or alternate option, no more, while trying to give every one of them a unique color scheme. This is about answering the question : "If all the teams had to keep only three uniforms to make their set for a long period of time, what would they be ?". Of course, this is only my choice so it is very subjective. I'll give the reason behind each choice though :
YOMIURI GIANTS :
-The home choice is their classic and well known look. Nothing needs to be different. No supplier logo, of course.
-The away choice must say Tokyo, I went with the grey one with orange and black piping because I'd like the Giants to "own" the color orange in the league.
-For that reason, I went with the orange uniform as their alternate option.
HANSHIN TIGERS :
-Pinstripes are mandatory on the home uniform. I picked the 1975 version with a diamond pattern on the cuffs to give the team a unique feature, since other teams use pinstripes as well.
-From the same era, I picked the light blue uniform with the same diamond pattern, as I think the colors look good together.
-For the same reason I insisted with orange for the Giants, I'd like the Tigers to be the yellow team of the league, so I picked what I think is the best yellow uniform they ever had as their alternate option.
YOKOHAMA DeNA BAYSTARS :
-The owner's name doesn't have to appear on the uniform in my opinion, I went with their classic clean look featuring blue pinstripes.
-To match the home option, I went with the classic blue uniform from the same era, since I find it pretty unique in its display, and the logos match the home one.
-To complete the set with something different while using the same logos, I picked the 2011 summer uniform. It features actual stars on the sleeves and the gold accents look pretty nice. It's a personal favorite, I must admit.
HIROSHIMA TOYO CARP :
-Their previous home uniform looks the best to me. It doesn't show on the picture but this is the one without the red stripe on the back, which is not needed in my opinion.
-Carp is the bright red team of the league, so the away option is a red one. Went with the white wordmark and not the red on red one, as it's more practical to read the team's name.
-As an alternate option, the 1996 grey jersey does the job of offering a different color with a classic look, while featuring bright red bits.
TOKYO YAKULT SWALLOWS :
-Current home and away uniforms are great as they are, red pinstripes for one, navy blue and lime green for the other, pretty unique, no need to change.
-A lime green alternate uniform is also unique and very modern, it's good to keep it that way. Went with the 2018 version, featuring navy sleeves, I think it looks good.
-All three options feature the words Tokyo, Yakult and Swallows in different places, all the styles match.
CHUNICHI DRAGONS :
-Tough one. The dragons used a lot of different color schemes in their history but red and blue seem to be the one they used the most. Problem is, several teams are also using those colors. So, to give Chunichi its own proper identity with original shades of red and blue, I picked the 1974 home-away set.
-As an alternate option, I went with the 2017 royal blue uniform, as the Chunichi wordmark matches the 1974 one and the sleeves' design is identical.
-That way, the team would not look like a Dodgers wannabe.
SEIBU LIONS :
-In terms of looks, 1980 is what defines the Lions the most in my opinion, with the classic King Leo logo and the blue-red-green color scheme. That's what I went with as the home and away options.
-As an alternate, I found that the slightly lighter blue of the 1996 uniform did the job, while staying true to the 1980 branding and logos.
SOFTBANK HAWKS :
-The Hawks are my least favorite team of the NPB... and their current identity doesn't help much. It's mainly because of that yellow on white combo which I think is one of the worst color combination possible. Plus I think yellow should stay the Tigers' color. So I thought, the Hawks have some history in green. Not a glorious one, sure, but at least it would be unique in the league and the wordmark from 1978 was more interesting. I picked the home and away uniforms from back then, while updating the name on the away jersey to match the current owner.
-In 1980, the Hawks used pinstripes in the same colors. Seems like the prefect alternate option.
HOKKAIDO NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS :
-It was an easy one : Shohei Ohtani made that uniform from 2011 popular, even overseas. I'd like to see the Fighters stick with it, plus the downgrade after their current rebranding was brutal in my opinion.
-The gold away uniform from 2011 is something no other team tried, I find it interesting to make this a Fighters thing.
-The 2016 "Hokkaido Shinkansen" altenate option was picked because it's always cool to see at least one team use teal, from time to time.
ORIX BUFFALOES :
-After the fusion, the team didn't use many uniforms as the Orix Buffaloes. The home and away ones from 2019 are classy enough to me, to be their standard look.
-As an alternate option, the 1991 "Blue Wave" pullover jersey would be interesting to use, as a nod to Ichiro's legacy with the team. It's quite popular and the colors nicely pop out. The name would have to be updated of course.
CHIBA LOTTE MARINES :
-The current home shirt is perfect for Chiba, very clean with the pinstripes and the black and silver M logo.
-To keep the same vibe, I picked the 2020 away uniform. It features the team's full name, same sleeve logos as the home uniform, and subtle grey on black pinstripes.
-As the alternate option, the "zigzag" uniform from 2005 is a good pick, it's pretty popular and very unique while keeping the same M logo with an additional touch of red.
TOHOKU RAKUTEN GOLDEN EAGLES :
-Big fan of the Eagles wordmark and the crimson and gold combination, I picked the team's current home uniform.
-For the away uniform, I didn't want a jersey only featuring Rakuten's standard company logo... so the 2013 crimson and yellow uniform was picked.
-I went with the 2011 "rainbow" jersey for the aternate option. Since I really like the Astros' Tequila Sunrise jerseys, I'm happy to see it used in the NPB and the colors goes well with the Eagles' identity.
There you have it. I hope you enjoyed this project. Feel free to comment what would have been your own choices.🙌
Talk about regularity.😁
Releasing these days in Japan !
I had those for a looooong time, and considering how the inside tags look, I always assumed those were used by the Glide.
After all, Yokohama is the city of Pokemon.
Very fond of the player, very fond of that color scheme.🤩
I've been comparing many versions of the NBA jerseys through the years, and I often come to the same conclusion : the most interesting designs and the most sustainable jerseys, outside of the authentic ones, are the Champion Europe replicas. Sewn on logos, fully sublimated graphics that don't fade with time, a series that lasted from the early 90s all the way up to the late 2000s, designs closer to what the players wore than the US replicas from the same brand... there is much to love in those.
I grew up during the 90s. Needless to say, a lot of my favourite designs are from that era. So I kept collecting them in the Champion Europe style, and ended up with at least one jersey per team. My rules were : adult sized fully sublimated versions with the classic tag only. Had my bit of fun adding some info and logos on each picture, so here is the result. Hope you like them.😊
By the way, it's unfortunate that the only Jazz jersey available with the classic mountain design was this player's, sorry about that.. 😑
Anyway, if you wanna know which team was the hardest to find, it was the Bucks.😂
Might be a weird opinion for many, but back in the late 2000s it was my favorite set in the league, the white one in particular looked so clean to me. Then again I usually like uniforms featuring pinstripes. I also remember loving the Adidas swingman jerseys as they were fully sewn with good quality mesh (I realized the wordmarks and numbers could fade after repeated washes since, so I don't wear those to keep them in good condition). The team was terrible but it's good memories to me.
Well, both those teams are under the spotlight nowadays, so I pull those out of the closet for the occasion. They're both customised versions I ordered from the NBA store back in 2011.
I know most Islanders fans despise those, but eh, I like the colors and the wave.🤭
That Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes jersey and that Ducks jersey (from some university I guess) were found in a thrift shop.
Last trip to Japan ended up looking like a hunt for those little guys, it was pretty fun.
Looks really good, slightly different fabric from the original (the inside is nearly white on the reissue), but the look is very faithful.