by After months of complaints from fans and players, Nike is expected to change several elements of its new Major League Baseball uniforms for the start of the 2025 season, according to a memo obtained Sunday.
The MLB Players Association’s memo to players states that after weeks of talks with the league and its official uniform supplier, Nike, the union has “received[d] indications” the following changes will be made: return to larger letters on t-shirts and pants, recovering the previous construction options, the number of sewing stitches and the higher quality zipper that were in force in 2023.
Also, as Nike previously said The Athleticthe memo said Nike is working to find solutions for the teams’ mismatched gray uniforms and sweat stains showing through jerseys.
“This has been entirely a Nike problem,” the memo said. “In essence, what happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.”
It is worth noting what the memo is and is not. First of all, this is not a direct commitment from Nike. (Nike did not respond to a request for comment.) It is the union that updates players on perceived progress to that end. Nor is it a promise to return to the uniforms of previous seasons. The Nike Vapor Premier is here to stay, when it comes to the fabric and overall design of the jersey.
Nike released the Vapor Premier this spring, after debuting it at the 2023 All-Star Game, and received immediate reaction. Fans tore up certain designs, most notably the strangely small letters of the name on the back. Players criticized the pants’ fitting process and the cheap feel of the fabric.
Once the season started, sweat stains appeared, road grays with different shades and pants were identified. started to blow along the seam, apparently due to a change in the number of stitches. (One issue not mentioned in the memo is the see-through nature of the pants because, as previously reported, well-placed sources say the fabric of the pants did not change this year, although some smaller details like the zipper and belt loops of the belt they did).
“We warned Nike against several changes when they brought them forward in 2022, particularly regarding pants,” the memo said. “MLB has also been and has been aware of our concerns. Unfortunately, until recently, Nike’s position has essentially boiled down to: ‘there’s nothing to see here, players will have to adapt.'”
MLB and MLBPA declined to comment.
By blaming Nike, the MLBPA continued to support Fanatics, the maker of the uniforms. For months, as more and more problems arose with the new uniforms, Fanatics attracted much of the public’s ire for the mess. MLBPA has publicly cleared Fanatics on multiple occasions, which it did again in Sunday’s memo: “Fanatics has been, and continues to be, a great partner of the Players and has been manufacturing the uniforms for the last eight years without problems.” . In addition to its partnership with MLB and Nike, Fanatics also has a lucrative licensing agreement with the players union, and the MLBPA has invested in Fanatics.
Fans declined to comment.
“Fanatics recognizes the vital importance of soliciting feedback from players, gaining buy-in, and not being afraid to have difficult conversations about jerseys or cards,” the memo said.
“Our hope is that, in the future, Nike will take a similar approach.”
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(Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)