Usually, the NBA leaves teams to their own devices when it comes to uniform designs. But this year, to celebrate the league’s 75th anniversary, the NBA asked their franchises (there are a few stragglers) and Nike, owners of the NBA’s apparel contract, to come up with “City” edition uniforms which feature design elements that call back to bygone days. The result of which are a lineup of “City” edition uniforms that are “Moments Mixtapes,” uniforms that evoke memories of various eras in each team’s history.
For the Portland Trail Blazers, that meant looking back to the two most successful periods in franchise history: the late 70’s and early 90’s. Mix together some of the iconic imagery from those two eras and you get the 2021-22 Portland Trail Blazers “City” edition uniform, a black jersey and short combination with red accents. Observe.
To celebrate the 1970’s, and specifically 1977, the year the team won their only NBA championship thus far, the “City” edition features a number of retro design elements. The most obvious is a red and black plaid pattern on the side panel, a visual shoutout to the sartorial choices of Dr. Jack Ramsay, the Hall of Fame coach who led Portland to the sole championship. There’s also the “Portland” wordmark in the 70’s font on the waistband and the Larry O’Brien Trophy icon and “1977” on the neck, denoting the year the Trail Blazers took home the championship.
But while the 1970’s came first, the visual signifiers from the 1990’s are the more dominant design elements on the latest “City” editions. The most obvious callout comes by way of the primary font, a slightly italicized white script featuring a dynamic red drop shadow that adorned the uniforms in the early 90’s, a period that saw the Trail Blazers make it to the Finals twice in three seasons, only to come up short both times. The font is featured on both the “rip city” wordmark (while every uniform elicits disparate responses, one thing that almost everyone agrees upon is the use of the “rip city” wordmark) across the chest and the name and numbers on the front and back. The white patch with the pinwheel logo on the shorts is also a callback to the court at Memorial Coliseum, the home of the Trail Blazers until the mid-90’s, and “90” and “92,” the years the Trail Blazers went to the NBA Finals, are stitched on the trim taping.
But the success the Trail Blazers experienced in the two eras featured on this year’s “City” editions could never have happened without ample fan support, so the uniforms also feature elements celebrating the people and city that have cheers the team on since its inception. The jersey anthem (or as it’s more commonly known, “the tag on the bottom of the jersey”) features the phrase “The City Of Roses” while “BlazerMania” is a part of the trim taping. And the shorts flaps have “PDX,” an airport code that has become shorthand for the city at large, and a rose icon.
While Portland’s 2021-22 “City” edition might not be as much of a diversion from their standard uniform as other teams, that just speaks to the fact that great design is timeless. Rather than chasing trends or embarking on unnecessary redesigns, the Trail Blazers have made tweaks rather than wholesale changes to their uniforms over the team’s 52 year history, and for good reason. So in many respects, this year’s “City” edition, by way of shying away from drastic changes, celebrates the endurance of the franchise and their fans.
The Trail Blazers will debut their “City” editions on the court at the November 15 game versus the Raptors at Moda Center. The team will also wear the “City” editions on specific “Moments Mixtape Nights” when they host the Bulls, the team they faced in the 1992 Finals, on November 17, the 76ers, the team they defeated to take home the championship in 1977, on November 20 and the Pistons, who they lost to in the 1990 Finals, on November 30.
You can purchase one of the new “City” edition jerseys at the Rip City Clothing Co. and online starting November 15.