Last week I wrote about how we were starting to learn more about the Texans’ upcoming 2024 uni redesign. The main things in that first wave of info were the following:
- The team will have four new uniforms.
- “H-Town Blue” — i.e., the Oilers’ old shade of Columbia blue — will be an accent color, not a main color.
- The team’s primary logo will not be changing.
- The new uniforms will be unveiled during the lead-up to the draft in late April.
Now The Houston Chronicle has published an article that adds some additional pieces to the puzzle. The major revelation is that the four new uniforms will be very distinct, not just the same design in different colorways. The article quotes Doug Vosik, the team’s head of marketing and communications, in this passage:
Vosik added the four versions of the uniform will be completely different from each other and not simply a repeat in various colors. That would be a way to make sure everyone gets what they want. Before drawing up designs, the team set up a fan council, which provided feedback that varied from fans who wanted to keep the uniforms traditional to others who wanted a drastic change. Players also gave their input on what they’d like to wear starting next season.
Vosik thinks all corners of the fan bases will find what they’re looking for in at least one of the four new designs.
“We said, ‘OK, if you want timeless traditional, here’s the one uniform that answers that,’” he said. “If you want to take it one step further and say timeless traditional gets refreshed, we have one for that. If you said, ‘Hey, I’m into this bull thing, let’s get wild,’ we have one for that. And if someone said, ‘Hey, I want you to pay homage to H-Town Blue,’ and if the players are saying, ‘I want something tough, I want something mean,’ we’ve got something for that.”
Hmmm. In theory, there’s nothing wrong with variety and trying to please a diverse constituency. In practice, though, I’ve found that when teams that try to be everything to everyone, they end up being nothing to nobody. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out.
Also, “I’m into this bull thing” has the makings of accidental branding genius. At the very least, any social media reference to the Texans should include the hashtag #IntoThisBullThing, and I think T-shirts, banners, and foam fingers need to happen too. This Bull Thing is gonna be huge!
Also: The Chronicle article notes that Houston’s connection to Columbia blue (or Oilers blue, or whatever you want to call it) goes way beyond the Oilers. For starters, street names were once denoted on the city’s curbs in blue-tiled lettering, and some of those signs still survive today (additional info and photos here):
In addition, the city’s police cars were also rendered in Columbia blue for many years:
Maybe that’s common knowledge, but I didn’t know about it until now!
Now we just need the new uniforms to be unveiled by a cop stepping out of a vintage blue police cruiser with “I’m into this bull thing” stenciled across the hood. Moooo!
One of my bigger issues with the Commanders rebrand is that all 3 uniforms are completely different and have no shared design elements (sans helmet for home and away). Seems like they’re going that route here and I’m very skeptical based on what Nike has pumped out for the NFL recently. The current Texans set aren’t exactly exciting but to me they are solid enough. A refresh after 20+ years makes sense but I fear I’m going to end up liking only 1 or 2 of these of these 4 options based on the recent track record of new NFL uniform roll outs. And that may be generous even.
Mike. Yes. THIS.
I expected Danny to screw up the new uniforms, but didn’t expect three different version of screw up. I guess everything is bigger in Texas though, they’re going for four versions of screw up.
sigh.
I’m into this bull thing though…that’s brilliant
The Commanders fanbase has been asking for a new name/uniform since this rebrand happened.
I suspect Texans fans will do the same.
Could not say it better. The Washington bad example is spot on. I hope Houston has looked at the mess in Washington and ignores Nike saying: teams with 4 or 5 totally different uniforms, we do this all the time in the NBA! And nonody complains about it, except for some grumpy types on a certain green and gold website.
And knowing team uniform preferences these days they will rarely ever wear the one version that you do like. :(
Agreed! There needs to be some kind of continuity through the entire set. This even plagues the Giants, and their traditional uniforms – the home blue jerseys have no stripes and no red but the road white jerseys have no blue and stripes.
Phil solved that problem years ago but the Giants are still unaware…
I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a helmet with bull horns, similar to how the Eagles have wings on their helmet, and potentially have a split shell for it
Not that this is the way I would go, but don’t be surprised if/when it happens
I agree. All I can see is them looking. Like a drab cheap version of the Vikings though.
“the four versions of the uniform will be completely different from each other and not simply a repeat in various colors.”
Mike beat me to it with the Commanders example, but I absolutely HATE this. To an extent, this is also what Arizona has done, making none of their elements interchangeable, and leaving us with mono-red, mono-white and mono-black. At least the Commanders came (somewhat) to their senses and began mixing and matching the burgundy and white elements, to (IMO) success.
With the exception of throwbacks, I absolutely HATE it when teams have mis-matched pieces; maybe I was influenced by my own 2/3/2/3 project, but I would greatly prefer teams who can seamlessly mix/match any uni element (even alt helmets) to create a combination that is both visually appealing and features team colors in modest proportions.
I fear the Texans are going to introduce four distinct uniforms (which in an of itself isn’t bad), but those will all be “locked” into place and can’t be mixed/matched. So we’ll probably get an all battle red (likely with red helmet), a mono-white, a mono-navy and then something involving H-Town blue that can’t be worn with any of the other elements.
Like the black helmet and heathered royal blue the Colts introduced this year, none of those (helmets/jersey/pants) can be worn with anything else.
Which will lead to the same frustration that so many of us have when turning on an NBA game:
“Who the heck is playing?!”
-C.
Not only who, but where? Since home teams don’t have to wear white anymore, can’t always tell from looking who is the home team.
Well expressed.
Yep, the Cardinals really messed up not having them interchangeable. The white uniforms have actually grown on me and they’re not terrible like the red and black ones. It’s too back the red isn’t similar, and that they could wear white pants with red jerseys, and red pants with white jerseys.
“So, you want a realistic, down to earth show that’s completely off the wall and swarming with magic robots.”
Put Poochie on the helmets!
+1
+1
“Tough” and “mean” makes me think they’ll have some kind of black jersey or black element in the design. Ugh. I don’t have a problem with black, but this seems like it’d be BFBS if they indeed go that route.
The NBAification of NFL uniforms is a grim trend. Houston is gonna be a mess.
A pox on Commissioner Silver.
-C.
I blame Oregon and Phil Knight more than the NBA. I remember when Notre Dame would break out a green alternate jersey on a very rare occasion. Now Oregon has a new uniform practically every week. Even traditional schools like Michigan have screwed up what was arguably the best CFB uniforms. They had it right last week, and tonight the mono navy is a big downgrade.
Hey! Remember those ol’ squad cars and curb tiles that were once a thing in and around Houston? See, “H-Town Blue” never left – just the Oilers! Laughable. We all know why you want to add it to your branding.
The uniforms-by-committee approach worked so well for the Commies…does it ever?…so I’m not optimistic these new-look Texans will look good.
I remember when Homer Simpson designed a car.
Too much…
…at least the Texans new jerseys won’t be $80,000…
Quincy, Illinois has the same type of tiles labeling streets and addresses. I really wish more was being done to preserve them, but they are not ADA compliant and are slowly being removed.
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This has some serious “Commanders” vibes. Three uniforms that look like they were designed by 3 people who met in a Chili’s parking lot and sketched something over a bloomin’ onion.
Uniforms should be somewhat, I dunno…. “uniform”.
Is food too much to ask for…. at a dinner party?
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Chili’s does not have a bloomin’ onion. That would be a drive to go to 1 restaurant to get the BO, then meet in the Chili’s parking lot.
Chilis used to have or maybe they still do, an “Awesome Blossom” lol
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All teams across all sports should be limited to two uniforms per season. That is all.
you did not spell 3 correctly.
I am willing to go with three as along as it is not some crap that goes away from the team’s established palette.
Yes Nike has ruined the nba for me and took the excitement out of teams getting new uniforms . Now with hearing about these Texans uniforms I’m very nervous. Nike has already ruined jerseys for me by making the front word marks entirely too big !! And yes the commanders uniforms are a disaster . Also hate seeing teams going without tv numbers in recent years , when getting new uniforms.
Preach, sir!
100%.
-C.
Not really uni related, but it has always seemed to me that the Texans severely limited their marketing ability and appeal by choosing such a regionally specific name. Obviously they still have fans outside of Houston and the state of Texas, but I wonder if they would have a larger national presence if they were called something regional but not so hyper specific (Oilers, Gamblers, Bulls, Toros, etc.)
I tend to think of the case in the opposite direction. For one thing, Houston is the fourth-most-populous city in the Untied States. You want a large, rich, revenue-generating fan base? It’s hard to do better then to get the population of Houston to support you. But the name Texans seems intended to expand fan interest beyond Houston to the rest of the state, which is itself the second-most-populous state in the union, with almost as many residents as the nation of Canada. The goal seems to be at least implicitly to attract everyone in the state who doesn’t identify as a Dallas resident to back the Houston team. Plus, Texas has a strong sense of almost-national identity, and people who were raised in or even for a time lived in Texas often identify with Texas, the state, and Texas culture, as they reside elsewhere. That’s a solid few million non-Texas-resident potential fans who might be attracted to the Texans name in a way they wouldn’t be for a team called the Houston Bulls or whatever.
If we were talking about a team called the Louisville Kentuckians or the Detroit Michiganders, I’d totally agree with you. But a Houston team called the Texans seems to me to be a different beast.
I totally agree with you that their intention was to try and appeal to the populace of Texas and their strong sense of pride. It just seems like an odd calculation to make considering that the most popular team in the sport happens to be the other team in the Lone Star State.
The sad thing is that they have a decent uniform that only needs a few tweaks in striping contrast and uniformity and adding Columbia blue as an accent. The red helmet is a very nice addition, I can even see them play red/red/navy for some games. Just add Columbia blue to the mix and you have white, red, navy and Columbia blue to mix and match. But no. This is Nike, treating the NFL like it is the NBA and smilingly destroying team identities fans used to love.
Nike has a great opportunity to screw this up. When nike thinks “more is more” is the trend it should blow up in their face. Simple is better (Packers, Bears, Chiefs, Raiders, Steelers, Bills, Browns, Cowboys).
It’s too easy and premature to jump on the Blame Nike Bandwagon.
Nike had considerable influence with, say, the Seahawks…but teams sign off of the designs. Now in the Texans case, as-is (and has been for 2 decades) they have uniforms that are greater than some and better most. Until recently they’ve developed an inferiority complex, an empty feeling/wallet for lack of a throwback, or something else. The Oilers look is an easy yet desperate default look to glom onto, so they’re going with that to some degree (they’d probably like to go further, but can’t thanks to the Adams’ savvy), but they’ll never be what the Oilers were uni-wise…and having 4 different iterations won’t. If these are terrible (and they very well may be) they alone shoulder the blame.
100%. Ownership chooses to change uniforms (or not). As this article outlines, you have involvement from the brand (Nike here), the team executives, and even fans and players. Nike and others will push for certain ideas, but for instance the browns awful 2016 set never would have come into existence without ownership initiating and signing off, as evidenced by ownership almost immediately acknowledging it would be undone (and now adding other things fans have wanted).
Same goes for specific creative decisions, the team is the client and the client is never wrong. If Houston didn’t want 4 different templates, we wouldn’t be getting 4 different templates.
This might sound ignorant but the last people a team should listen to when designing uniforms for the NFL would be the players. This is a multi-year process and there are only a select few players who stay on a team more than 3 years.
4 different uniforms…my goodness, no one wants this. So these uniform are going to be anything but uniform. It’s been said a few times by folks on here but this is just so bad. Washington already looks like a hot mess. I absolutely hate the direction we are going with football uniforms.
I agree 100%, most players say they like all black, it makes them feel “tough”. Therefore I predict that the Texans will have and all black option, black and navy blue, that’ll look great….sigh.
Making sure “everyone gets what they want” always works well :)
Yep. I’m particularly concerned we’ll get BFBS. If there is a red jersey, white jersey, and navy jersey, what will the fourth be? Not Colombia blue.
Sounds like the Cowboys. They have a white uniform they only wear with the light blue pants. Their (proper) away uniforms are blue jersey with silver pants. The throwback uses white pants. It was only recently that Dallas started incorrectly wearing white pants with the blue jersey.
I am absolutely frightened by ‘Hey, I’m into this bull thing, let’s get wild,’ we have one for that. I fear Boise State vibes of giant logos – have I mentioned I hate that logo…? I have.
On the curb thing there is actually an app to go find them. App is called Blue Tile Project. (Sorry if that was in a linked article).
Paul, when did you finally accept the term colorway as suitable for uniform descriptions? I’ve noticed you’ve been using it fairly regularly in recent years, but I distinctly recall you didn’t care for it in the past.
The comments to this post is where I remember where your disdain about that specific phrase were set forth.
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Good catch! I still kinda hate that term, but it’s apparently wormed its way into my lexicon.
Pretty much every single thing that marketing guy said in the interview indicates an impending uni disaster for the Texans. My guess is this will end up going in a Falcons type direction.
Paul retirement announcement captures my current perspective on uniforms. I used to get excited for what was coming next. Completely jaded at this point. Just what crap is Nike going to roll out, they want stop till they Completely destroy all uniforms in the league. No style, imagination or sense of history. Just a joke
Anyone reading this blog could come up with better uniforms in a just a few minutes on a create a team in madden. Nike somehow spends years on this trash.
I guess by leaning more into the navy and red they’ll look more distinct than the Titans. If they were primarily Oilers Blue/Navy they’d look really similar to their division foe (for all the obvious historical reasons/connections).
I don’t love the sound of four distinct unis, but I suppose we’ll see how bad it goes and then it’s a short five years til they can redesign. lol
I have no objection to uniforms not being the same design pattern except for color location. The Montreal Canadiens have proven for decades that this can work, and the Minnesota Vikings sported different striping on their jerseys for some 35 years or so until 2005 I think.
But all the uni sets need a common thread (no pun intended) and I fear we won’t see that here, especially with the infinite number of Nike monkeys at their design boards trying to come up with a masterpiece, and just ending up with feces on the wall.
I’ve always thought team should do what it takes to find a branding/uniform/etc that fits them and then stick with it, except for some minor changes to fit modern jerseys, materials, etc. I think of teams like the Yankees, Red Wings, Cowboy. If you watched them 60 years ago or yesterday the jersey would be very close to the same one.
Then you have a 3rd or 4th jersey that allows you to do something trendy, use additional colors or pay homage to local sports history.
You see this time and time again, teams going out into something new, trendy and different, only to revert back to their timeless classic uniforms. So why not just find what works and stick with it?
So a team rep said the H Town Blue will NOT be a “primary” color….then another team rep says “someone says ‘Hey, I want you to pay homage to H-Town Blue,’ and if the players are saying, ‘I want something tough, I want something mean,’ we’ve got something for that.”
Somebody is talking cryptic and “Roughneck” is a name that Oiler fans remember…hoping they’ve gone full H Town Blue in spite of all the rumors that say otherwise…
If I owned the Texans, I would simply take the Houston Oilers jerseys/pants/helmets, take off the “oil derrick” logo, put the bull logo (in H-town blue and the lighter red instead of the dark navy/dark red) on the helmet, and call it a day.
But I’m pretty sure if the ownership wanted to do that, whoever owns the Titans would complain.
If I owned the Texans, I would simply take the Houston Oilers jerseys/pants/helmets, take off the “oil derrick” logo, put the bull logo (in H-town blue and the lighter red instead of the dark navy/dark red) on the helmet, and call it a day.
But I’m pretty sure if the ownership wanted to do that, whoever owns the Titans would complain.
Fuck…
It sounds like my biggest fear as a Texans fan / Uni-nerd is about to become reality. They ‘re going to take a perfectly good set and completely fuck it up…and I’m gonna have to look at it every Sunday for 5 seasons (at least).
The “I’m into this Bull thing” comment leads me to believe we are getting a bull horn version of the Eagles’ wing helmet…and it’s not gonna be good.
That’s interesting, because I instantly pictured an awful jersey with a giant bull logo plastered across the front.
Sort of like an NFL version of those MLB “Turn Ahead the Clock” uniforms from the late ‘90’s.