The Chicago Blackhawks reverse retro jersey roll out just shows team logo needs to change
Not great if the team is skittish about showing the front of the jersey
The NHL and adidas hockey dropped all 31 team Reverse Retro jerseys on Monday morning, showing off cool, refreshed new designs that call back the history of the league.
For the most part, the jerseys are either sufficiently fire or a design disaster, but that’s to be expected. Every NHL team proudly showed off their new reverse retro look, except for the Chicago Blackhawks, who seem to have taken great pains to avoid showing their Native American logo, which begs the question, if they’re so proud of it, why try to hide it?
The Blackhawks logo has a long, controversial history, and studies show harmful effects from Native American appropriation. In their reverse retro drop, either by accidental or deliberate obfuscation, the logo can hardly be seen. Neither the Blackhawks or adidas Hockey have responded to request for comment, so we can’t be certain if this was a team decision, NHL decision or if adidas decided they didn’t want the jersey roll out to be marred by controversy.
Well, that seems to have backfired, as the decision to try to hide the front of the jersey has turned into an obvious joke.
For the drop, the NHL started a Twitter thread with each team’s new jersey. 30 of the 31 photos are front facing shots that offer a clear view of the team logo. For the Blackhawks, the NHL went with….a shot of the back of the jersey.
— NHL (@NHL) November 16, 2020
That could be glossed over as a marketing misstep, but the full release of NHL jersey images given to the media also doesn’t clearly show the Blackhawks logo either. The best image available is a partial side view.
adidasHockey/Blackhawks
The team also released a video short showing off the jersey, which not only doesn’t feature a clear shot of the Blackhawks logo but looks like they’re actively trying to conceal it.
Nothing to see here folks, nothing at all
https://t.co/JOWOj6Uc6c
— Hemal Jhaveri (@hemjhaveri) November 16, 2020
The only place the front of the jersey can be seen is via the Blackhawks team store social media account, which has a fraction of the followers of the team, adidas Hockey and the NHL.
The Blackhawks adidas #ReverseRetro jersey is now available for pre-order! pic.twitter.com/mtRetNvk1b
— Blackhawks Store (@BlackhawksStore) November 16, 2020
Taking such great pains to hide the logo has only served to highlight how much the logo needs to change. If all parties involved are so proud of it, why take obvious measures to hide it? And, how feasible it is to keep the logo if a corporate partner wanted to skirt around it? From the looks of it, the NHL, adidas and the team didn’t want to show the front, but have no problems making money off of it.
Update: A representative for the Blackhawks said, “The full jersey is featured in our Club’s launch video posted to team channels this morning, and you can also find a still on our merchandise-focused channel here.”