NHL All-Star jerseys pay tribute to Nashville with colors and shine
People like shiny things. The shinier the better. Well, at least most people do.
If this is the case, the sweaters that will be worn during the 2016 NHL All-Star Game should be hugely popular. After all, they are very shiny. Especially as viewed in the dark, modeled by six members of a New Jersey Devils Youth Hockey team.
“Reflective technology is trending and can now be executed with higher definition and crisper detail then in the past,” said ADIDAS’s Director of NHL Licensed Apparel, Keith Leach, who led the team that designed the sweaters.
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Shiny, reflective, whatever the word for it, the bright nature of the 2016 NHL All-Star sweaters are also a tribute to this year’s game being played in Nashville, which has been known to have a shiny light or two.
The city isn’t called NashVegas for no reason.
“The crest has been constructed with reflective material, which flashes in certain light and adds to the narrative celebrating the Nashville’s vibrant nightlife scene,” Leach said.
Beyond their shininess, the sweaters’ tribute to Nashville are both obvious and subtle. The colors, highlighted by a distinct yellow/gold as a nod to the host Predators’ predominant color, are obvious. The mixture of black, which is not a Predators color, and the texture of the numbers fall in the category of subtle.
Liane Conoto/Courtesy
“Black, white and gray are branding colors of the NHL, and work well to signify these uniforms as representative of a league-wide event,” Leach said. “However, they are also the colors found in musical instruments such as piano keys, which speaks to the cultural identity of the city of Nashville. Together these colors recall the dramatic visual of Nashville’s Broadway at night, illuminated by the neon signs of honky-tonks and music venues.
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“Numbers and letters were designed as modern interpretations of traditional country music poster lettering, which has been a defining aesthtic of the city of Nashville,” Leach said. “Within the numbers, a texture has been printed, recalling the printing techniques of the music poster art of Nashville’s country music scene. In addition, these numbers incorporate the same reflective material as the crest. The tri-star mark, which appears in the neck gusset as well as on the pant, is taken from the Tennessee state flag, as a salute to the state and its three distinct geographic areas.”
Not only that. They’re shiny!