Change-Up Pitch: MLB, Nike Will Address Dress Issues With Player Uniforms
Friday, May 3, 2024 at 06:03PM By Barry Janoff
May 3, 2024: Following weeks of admonition from the Major League Baseball Players Assn., MLB and Nike, the official uniform supplier for MLB, said that “adjustments will be made to all club uniforms following conversations with players, clubs, and their equipment managers.”
The issue concerns on-field Nike Vapor Premier uniforms for the 2024 season that many players and others complained about regarding fit, quality, sub-par moisture-wicking and looking unprofessional.
Nike Vapor Premier was introduced during the 2023 MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard in Seattle.
“Player and club feedback is extremely important to us,” commissioner Rob Manfred said today via the league. “Together with Nike, we listened to our players and as a result, we are addressing their concerns.”
He said for the 2025 season, Nike-designed MLB uniforms will include larger lettering on the back of jerseys with individual pant customization made available to all players.
According to MLB, Nike is also “working on a solution to address the slight color differences between the jerseys and pants of some clubs’ gray road uniforms, as well the discoloration that can occur due to perspiration in certain instances.
“Once the solution is finalized, adjusted gray uniforms will go on field as soon as the second half of this season."
“We will continue to work with Nike to make adjustments with the goal of delivering a uniform that looks good and helps MLB players perform at their best,” said Manfred.
Nike signed a ten-year deal with MLB for uniforms in 2019, valued at more than $1 billion by industry analysts,
They replaced Majestic Athletic, which had been MLB’s on-field uniform manufacturer since 1982.
Uniforms are made by Fanatics, with specifications set by MLB and Nike, in the factory in Easton, PA., previously owned by Majestic, as part of a deal in 2017 in which Fanatics acquired the sportswear manufacturing operation from VF Corp.
MLBPA earlier this week issued a memo to its members blaming Nike for the uniform issues, according to ESPN.
"After weeks of conversations — including this past week between Nike and MLB — we are finally beginning to receive indications that changes will be made to both uniforms and pants no later than the start of the 2025 season," ESPN said the MLBPA wrote to its members.
"This has been entirely a Nike issue," the memo read, per ESPN. "At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn't need to be innovated."
"We cautioned Nike against various changes when they previewed them in 2022, particularly regarding pants."
Fanatics initially also received blame for the issues but was absolved by MLBPA.
"Fanatics recognizes the vital importance of soliciting player feedback, obtaining player buy-in and not being afraid to have difficult conversations about jerseys or trading cards," the memo read, according to ESPN.
"Our hope is that, moving forward, Nike will take a similar approach."
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