As a self-proclaimed fashionista the already exciting start of football season is, in my opinion, made even better by alternate uniform reveals. It’s also made more exciting by the usually passionate disapproval of Irish fans who tend to be very comfortable with the traditional and status quo.

Watching the meltdowns is Twitter GOLD. 

It’s important to preface this write-up with the fact that Notre Dame’s uniforms have often been, well, traditional and the same. Navy jerseys, gold pants, gold helmet.

Tradition.

This adherence to tradition makes it a bit difficult for those tasked with designing alternate, or throwback, jerseys to do their job. After all, is it really a throwback if your uniform never really changes?

That being said, having seen the uniforms for Notre Dame’s Senior Day matchup against Boston College I do think Under Armour took a bit of a lazy shortcut on their throwback uniform design. At first glance, the uniform isn’t awful. In fact, it’s pretty good…if it were marketed as their everyday-home-uniform.

It’s not. It’s an alternate. 

The idea behind the uniform is for it to be a nod to the jerseys worn during the 1988 season by the team that would go on to win the national championship. Super cool idea (who doesn’t love the idea of mixing old and new and giving a nod to a successful team of the past!?), poor execution.

As I mentioned, Notre Dame’s uniforms are iconic and haven’t undergone many major changes, so it was crucial for Under Armour to highlight the most defining elements of the 1988 uniforms, and I think they missed the mark. The 1988 uniforms were mesh, the numbers were squared off and boxy, the ND logos on the shoulders were two defined letters, not an intertwined design, where the “N” was outlined separately and pasted on top of the “D”, the pants and helmets were a bit of a different gold then they are now, and the cleats were back.

Let’s evaluate. 

Under Armour tried to hit the highlights with black cleats and a mesh number–well, mesh look-alike–it’s not mesh at all, it’s an overlay that looks like mesh, and a lighter gold pant. Nice try, good effort but huge opportunities were missed in my eyes.

The entire jersey not being mesh seems like a huge miss as well as the different font and design of the ND logos on the shoulders. Of course, throwbacks are supposed to be a nod to the old and not an exact copy, so I’d be fine with either a similar numeric font style or the same old ND logo, but going rogue on both makes them seem almost too similar to the modern day Under Armour designed uniforms to call them a throwback.

I expect the fact Under Armour didn’t stray too far from the usual will please most fans (as will the sideline gear), but I’m definitely hoping for a bit more creativity and excitement from the Shamrock Series uniforms. Green jerseys circa 1977, anyone? *crossing my fingers* 

The post Notre Dame Throwbacks: A Fashion Review appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

New white game jerseys from @UAFootball for next year showed up today #GoIrish #inventory pic.twitter.com/cAH3M0S3wF

— Ryan Grooms (@ryangrooms22) April 12, 2016

Per the tweet above from head equipment manager Ryan Grooms, the 2016 road jerseys arrived on campus today. Grainy pictures are great for wild speculation so here are my UFO sartorial takes. If the tweet ends up getting deleted, I’ve posted a copy of the source image below:

From Ryan Grooms @NDFBequipment on Twitter

Sleeve monograms are now monochrome

It appears Under Armour has dropped the gold outline on the sleeve monogram. This marks a shift from 2015 (and previous years), where the sleeve elements (be they numbers or monograms) directly mirrored the front/back numerals. I’ll have to see this in the wild, but I think this is good addition by subtraction.

UA logo is off the right chest probably on the left where it has always been

EDIT: In 2015, the Under Armour logo was near the left collarbone. It’s either obscured or missing in this photo. Is it on the left chest? Is it gone altogether? Did the uniform manufacturer force Notre Dame into wearing UNDERARMOUR as team nameplates on the back? This seems like a curious move, although the lack of a maker’s mark offers a sweet throwback look (that, admittedly, probably will not happen).

No sewn-on numbers

The new numbers don’t appear to be fabric as they have been in recent years. Bookstore replica jerseys used screened numerals, but the issue apparel looks to be some sort single-piece heat-bonded material that will be 2.458% lighter (approximately).

New template, probably

Each year, manufacturers strive for lighter material that’s breathable and more durable. This appears to have fewer seams, and should have the effect of being more difficult to hold…which isn’t a problem for Stanford since their offensive linemen always play like proper genteel Shaw proteges.

The post New Football Road Jersey Details Revealed appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

All images via Under Armour’s official Twitter account (“@UAFootball”)

Today was the day! If you asked, “What day!?” Just hop on twitter and scroll through your timeline and I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough. Today was the day that *drum roll, glitter cannons* Notre Dame unveiled this year’s Shamrock Series uniforms! Like anything involving Notre Dame and fashion, I was all over it.

I love guessing what the uniforms will look like from year to year and I’ll admit I had some pretty grandiose off the wall ideas for this year’s uniforms. Black and metallic gold! Glow in the dark! LIGHT UP CLEATS! (Would that even be legal? Yeah, probably not). Turns out however, they aren’t quite as alternative as I was imagining (deep breaths, gold seaters!)

The overall design can best be described as well, green. I guess the head to toe green look is pretty darn fitting seeing as the Irish will take on Boston College in this year’s Shamrock Series game at Fenway Park. Get it? Fenway Park? Green monster? Green uniforms!? Oh, Under Armour you’re clever.

While green is definitely the overwhelming majority of this look, stripes are a close second. There are stripes on the shoulders, stripes above the knees, stripes down the sides of the pants, stripes down the middle of the helmet, and stripes on the gloves. Oh, wait! I found more; Stripes in the bottom corners of the numbers. In the words of Oprah…You get a stripe! And you get a stripe! EVERYONE GETS A STRIPE! But wait, there’s more!

Not only does this uniform have a lot of stripes, it’s actually like some sort of stripe inception if you look closely. Many of the stripes, the ones on the back of the helmet for example, are divided or slashed further into 11 separate stripes. 11? What’s significant about 11? (Please tell me you know this…) 11 is the number of national championships boasted by the Irish. Now, don’t get me wrong! That’s a pretty cool nod to Notre Dame’s achievements and I’m usually super into that hidden gem sort of stuff. I just think this uniform chose to drive that point home a little too much. If it were just represented in the stripes on the back of the helmet or the stripes at the shoulders, I would have been totally on board. That’s really a minor complaint, however. Overall I like this look. (I did have a thing for the green Power Ranger as a child, though so perhaps I’m a bit biased)

The helmet, which is a gold base featuring a metallic gold leprechaun face, is absolutely on point. Be sure to take a closer look at the facemask, too. I missed it the first time, but after some staring and head tilting it hit me; they’re not navy, they’re not green…they’re both! The dual colored split facemask isn’t something I love or hate, but it is something I will give props to UA for incorporating. That’s bold my friend.
What’s also bold is that we have some logo mixing. The base layers feature shamrocks on the arms, the center of the jersey has a script “Irish”, and the pants feature a full body leprechaun. Throw in the profile of the leprechaun on the helmet and well, gang’s all here! I like that, though. This uniform does have a lot going on, but I feel like you have to do a lot of looking to find it. In other words, it doesn’t all hit you over the head and clash all at once. At least, I don’t think so.

Basically, we have a green uniform, a really green uniform, accented with some navy and gold stripes and enhanced with a nod to Irish tradition and history. I think this uniform will do a good job of pleasing almost everyone (I mean, we’ve come a looonnnggg way since 2012) and, although not as cool as the all white uniform (cue swooning) I’m really digging the monochromatic look.

I’d give them a solid 8/10. I would have given out another point or two if the stripes had been used more conservatively. Sometimes less is indeed more…except when it comes to championships. Here’s hoping they will have to cut another slash into those stripes next year! What are your overall thoughts? What does your dream alternate uniform look like? Chime in below!

The post Shamrock Series Uniform Review appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

https://storify.com/IrishElvis/notre-dame-football-shamrock-series-uniforms-hlsre

The post Notre Dame Football Unveils 2014 Shamrock Series Uniforms: A Twitter Summary appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.