The new Nike Vapor Premier jerseys introduced for the 2024 MLB season were not well received by the players nor the general pubic for many different reasons and it led to the announcement of changes that were to be completed in time for this year.
The sizing of players’ names and numbers on the back of jerseys was one of the biggest complaints as it seemed to be arbitrarily changed league-wide. In addition, the new Nike jersey design simply looked like they were made out of cheap material and other elements were sometimes inconsistent from one uniform to another.
According to Nike, the high-performance fabric of their new jersey template was made from at least 90% recycled polyester yarns and provides 25% more stretch and allows it to dry 28% faster with moisture-wicking Dri-Fit ADV technology.
While the project was a joint venture between Nike and Fanatics, the latter was absolved by the MLB Players Association due to their recognition of player feedback.
Thank you Fanatics/Nike/MLB for fixing the jerseys. pic.twitter.com/OrMkLt8uvz
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) January 23, 2025
Roki Sasaki’s introductory press conference with the Los Angeles Dodgers not only confirmed he received No. 11 thanks to Miguel Rojas switching back to No. 72, but it also provided a first look of the updated Dodgers jersey, which includes bigger font for last name and number on the back.
The changes announced by MLB and Nike also included individual pant customization for all players in 2025, although what this entails is not yet known.
Nike previously made more immediate changes that were implemented during the second half of the 2024 season, which included addressing the color difference between a team’s road jersey and their pants, as well as a distinct discoloration due to a players’ sweat. Both of which were non-issues in the previous iterations of MLB uniforms.
What still was not addressed, however, is the Dodgers script across the chest doesn’t have a clean break between the “o” and “d.”
As a result, the “d” remains broken into separate pieces.
Dodgers road uniform was mismatched
The Dodgers were among the teams that had the color of their road uniform directly impacted by the design changes last year.
The Dodgers’ road jersey featured a blueish tint while the pants resembled more of the traditional true gray look.
“That’s because the gray pants have the same fabric as last year and the jerseys are the new fabric,” Uni Watch founder and editor Paul Lukas told DodgerBlue.com in an exclusive interview.
“You can use the same dye lot, and basically the fabric goes into the same vat of dye and is dyed the same shade of gray, but different fabrics will react to dye differently. Or they will react to light differently.
“You can watch a game, and you’ll see one player, the jersey and pants don’t seem to match. Then another player, it looks OK. Or it looks OK on one camera angle but not another camera angle, or it looks OK for a day game but not for a night game.
“So it’s not really consistent, but something is off. You see it in enough situations, enough camera angles, enough teams, where something is clearly off. To me, it looks like the jerseys in general have a little bit of a blue-gray sheen. Not shiny exactly, but they have a little more reflectivity to them. And the pants have more of a dull, putty finish.”
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