Different sports have different aspects of them that will be well-known to even those outside who have never really watched the sport before. There is little question that the American football shirt, which is usually referred to as a ‘jersey’ by those that know the sport, is amongst the most iconic uniforms in the world of sport.
Whilst each team has its own colour as well as overall design, the general look of a jersey is something that people will know from the likes of films and TV shows about American football, as well as from watching actual matches in the sport itself.
The Early Jerseys
Although we know the people behind American football nowadays to be the National Football League, that wasn’t always the case. The organisation began in 1920 when the governing body was the American Professional Football Association, becoming the NFL two years later. Back then, the equipment used was significantly more primitive than the kind of thing that we’ve come to know and expect today. There is a solid argument to be made that the jerseys worn by the players are the best example of that, being little more than simplistic wool ones that were not nice to wear.
Generally uncomfortable on the players and significantly heavier than what we see the players wear in the modern game, they were also not really standardised in any way. Instead, the players were responsible for providing their own. The design would not even be the same from one person to the next, with the most anyone could really expect being the name of the team or city on them in some capacity or another. They were matched up with leather helmets, but they were not a requirement of the league and some players chose to go without them from time to time.
Developments to the Jersey
During the 1930s and 1940s, A.G. Spalding & Bros. entered the football market. Previously, they had made a name for themselves in the world of baseball but saw a gap in the market to allow them to move into the world of American football, although the developments weren’t quite as comfort-focussed as the players might’ve hoped. Instead, the company continued using wool jerseys but began to feature the colours of the teams that were playing in them. Some of them even had logos within the jersey, allowing for specific branding to be used by some.
That saw the National Football League take on a sense of branding and a more professional look, even if they still didn’t help players when it came to the physical demands of the game. It took until the 1950s for some changes on that front to appear, thanks to the entry into the market of Riddell, a company that had previously been known for its football helmets. Riddell began to introduce the likes of nylon jerseys, which were tear-resistant, alongside more stretchable materials. Finally, the outfits being worn were beginning to become more comfortable for the players.
The Modern Day Jerseys
The emergence of Sand-Knit, which later became Russell Athletic, in the 1970s saw further innovations to jerseys introduced. The 1980s and 1990s, meanwhile, were the era of companies such as Starter and Apex, who took the introduction of mesh panels and different materials brought in by Sand-Knit and took them even further. They also began to ensure that the jerseys featured flashy colours and bold designs, allowing them to become iconic pieces of fashion as well as sportswear. In 2001, the NFL made a deal with Reebok for them to become the official jersey provider.
Reebok didn’t rest on their laurels, however. They introduced the ‘Reebok Play Dry’, which was a moisture-wicking fabric that helped to modernise the jerseys and keep the players as dry as possible. Then, 11 years after the Reebok deal, Nike took over as the sport’s official jersey provider. Their place in the sportswear market was all but unimpeachable, seeing them bring their own cutting-edge technology to the game. Arguably the biggest revolution came with the ‘Vapor Untouchable’ jersey, which was designed for speed and flexibility and changed the game in terms of comfort and use.