Charlotte Hornets Unveil New Statement Edition Uniforms
Thursday afternoon, the Charlotte Hornets revealed its new Statement Edition uniform for the 2022-23 season, featuring fourth-year wing Cody Martin.
Chief Marketing Officer of Hornets Sports Entertainment, Seth Bennett gave some background to the new look.
"The base of the uniform is purple, but we have much stronger accents in teal and white which we think definitely brings the vibrancy back into this uniform design. The timeless representation of our iconic colors of purple and teal is strong here and it has influenced cultural sports and fashion for 35 years. I think this uniform continues to do that.
"The design process for this uniform was about two years. It was participated in by members of our creative team and myself here at the Hornets, the Jordan and Nike design group, as well as our NBA global marketing and merchandising group that provided guidance throughout this process as we worked through the various phases."
The Statement Edition uniform will be worn at home nine times this season and will be worn on the road seven times. The Hornets will wear this set in all eight of their Saturday home games in addition to the final weekend home game on Sunday, April 2nd. The uniform will make its debut on Saturday, October 29th when the Hornets play host to the Golden State Warriors.
Since 2019, the Statement Edition uniform displayed the "CHA" abbreviation across the chest and that is something the fans were not in love with. The Hornets heard the fans and made the change.
"I wouldn't say [we felt] pressured, but we certainly heard the feedback," Bennett said. "It was certainly feedback that we took to heart. We're always listening. I wouldn't call it pressure but we're always listening to our fans."
In regards to the possibility of getting the "CLT" abbreviation approved for future uniforms, it is something the Hornets are working toward and have been doing so for years.
"Certainly those are active discussions and I'm not ready to share any greater detail at this particular point in time. Those were discussions that we actually had several years ago and there were some concerns around intellectual property rights at that time that prohibited us from being able to do that. We're going to keep our eye on that as those situations change rapidly and hopefully we have some good news to share sooner than later with our fans."
There is no set date for when these jerseys will be made available for purchase, but the expectation is that they will hit the shelves within the next couple of months.
"I am pleased to report that we are getting shipments from Nike and I have all the confidence that we'll get this uniform as we go into the holiday season," said Bennett. "I'm not ready to give a date, but I'm generally thinking November we'll be able to go on sale here."
The Hornets will be releasing more exciting news later this afternoon. Stay tuned.
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