With the LA Clippers moving into a new arena next season, there’s been some speculation regarding whether the team will get a new look to go along with its new home. The answer to that question, it turns out, is yes — the Clippers will be getting their first full makeover since 2015. And they’ve decided to get a head start on this new era in their history — or maybe just get out ahead of the inevitable leaks — by unveiling next season’s uniforms now, while the current season is still ongoing. (They actually teased this news last night by having some players wearing the new branding when they arrived at the arena for their game against the Kings.)
Everything was on the table for this redesign — the team was even willing to change its name if that’s what fans wanted. But focus groups and fan polling indicated that the fan base overwhelmingly wanted the club to stick with “Clippers.” The team’s logo and uniforms, however? Fans were more than happy to see some changes there.
Interestingly, Nike did not create the team’s new look. Much of the preliminary work was done by the Brooklyn sports branding agency Doubleday & Cartwright, with sports designer Matthew Wolff and the team’s internal design staff also involved. Nike and the league were essential partners that helped to provide oversight and big-picture guidance for the project.
Let’s take a look at the team’s new visual identity, one element at a time:
The Colors
The team is going with a deep, saturated shade of navy, along with red, light “Pacific” blue (used mainly as an accent color), and a battleship/submarine grey (ditto).
The Primary Logo
Obviously, almost anything would have been an improvement over the outgoing mark. The new primary logo shows a clipper ship overlaid onto a compass and the letter “C.” Like most NBA team logos, this one includes a basketball — sort of: The lines on the ship’s hull are based on a basketball’s seams. The lettering font, which is also used for the jersey numbers, is based on a U.S. Navy typeface.
Here’s a further breakdown of the logo’s various elements:
In addition, the team will have a variety of secondary and partial logos that will be used in various contexts. Here are those marks:
The Association (White) Uniform
The team is clearly going for an updated-classic look (or what front office personnel described to me as “modern nostalgia”). The new dark-navy chest script is a modified version of the script that the team wore, in various contexts, from 1987 through 2015. Also note that the V-neck collar has been replaced by a traditional scoop-neck. The shorts are more traditional as well — here’s a better look at that:
Frankly, I’m surprised by how simple and straightforward this is. The new arena is supposed to be a high-tech wonder, plus we’re talking about LA, so I thought they’d go for something with more futuristic razzle-dazzle glitz. But as you know, I’m a classicist, so I’m more than fine with the approach they’ve taken. My only gripes are (a) I don’t love the number font, and (b) the script and the number look like they’re positioned too high on the new jersey, with too much white space between the “1” and the waistband. It’s particularly evident if you scroll back up to that first photo of James Harden. I’d prefer to see everything moved down a few inches.
Aside from that, this is clearly an upgrade. The team is committed to sticking with it for a minimum of five seasons.
The Icon (Colored) Uniform
I love the shade of navy they’re using as the base color. I’m a little concerned that the red script, without any white outlining, may not stand out enough against the navy background, but let’s see how it looks under game conditions.
Again, this is an upgrade, although the script and number are sitting a bit too high for my tastes. Again, this design will be used for a minimum of five seasons.
Here are some additional views:
The Statement Alternate
The stacked script on the new design pushes the number down just far enough — much better! Again, I worry a bit about about the navy/red contrast issues, but we’ll see. This one will be worn for at least three seasons.
Here are some additional views, which provide a better look at the nautical flag icons on the sides of the jersey:
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Here are all three jerseys side by side. Again, you can really see the difference in the positioning of the numbers:
The team will also have a new City alternate for next season, but that won’t be unveiled until next fall.
The Primary Court Design
The Clippers, like most NBA teams, will probably have a variety of court designs next season, but this is the one they’re ready to share now. In the center-court logo, the “N” in “Los Angeles” isn’t just positioned at the “North” spot on a compass — it’s actually pointing due north, which is a nice touch.
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And there you have it. It’s really interesting to see a team doing this with so much time still remaining in the current season. Their current uniforms are now lame ducks, or dead unis walking, or something like that. With leaks now becoming so common, I wonder if other teams (not just in the NBA) will do earlier-than-usual unveilings.
Huge upgrade. Pretty much love everything about them. Great job.
Clips instantly go from one of the worst identities in the league to one of the better ones.
Although, is that the Minnesota Twins number font?
I also thought it looked very similar to the Twins rebrand. A huge upgrade regardless!
It’s the same designer, but I’m definitely surprised at the number font similarities despite that (doesn’t help that it’s a similar color scheme, also)
Good call. The entire look & feel reminds me of the Twins’ new unis. It’s not the same number font, but it has similar bones, that’s for sure.
Clips gunna be wearing sleeveless 70s-style baseball jerseys next season.
Interestingly, Nike did not create the team’s new look.
No wonder I like it.
To me, the combination of that script font and the jersey number font (both with no outline), and the color scheme gives the impression that they took the Minnesota Twins’ new uniforms and said “make these for basketball.”
LOL
The script font is more of an update to what the Clips wore in the Danny Manning years but the Twins vibes are there for sure.
At least the logo is better. Those uniforms will be changed in two or three years cause thats what the NBA does
Actually, they’re committed to sticking with the Icon and Association designs for at least five seasons.
Where’s the black alt? We know it’s coming.
Apparently the feedback they got from fans was black was too overdone, so no black at least for now
Hallelujah.
Actually, they told me they have no plans for that, and that they’re hoping the dark navy can be close enough for people who like black.
I’m certain there will also be black fashion jerseys available for fans who like that.
Don’t you dare speak that garbage into existence. ; )
Steve Ballmer came out and said that they intentionally avoid BFBS and the focus groups drove it.
My first thought was that this would look right at home with the recent wave of MLS logos…
Second though was if you are going to have a clipper, at least use something that looks like a clipper – a clipper stands out from other ships because of its side profile – not its front profile.
A lot of effort has gone into this – particularly compared to the previous attempt but a clipper is a complicated design to pull off… so to do that, with a compass, and with a letter C and a roundel – it feels like they are trying too hard!
Unsurprising, given that Matt Wolff has been responsible for many new or rebranded MLS crests the past few years (along with some NWSL branding and Vermont Green FC, the fourth-division team he owns). Also why it’s not surprising that the logo is yet another roundel!
In this instance, less is definitely more.
Thank god they didn’t listen to Frasier on this one…
“If less is more, just imagine how much more more would be!”
Like, this much more?
link
Does anyone else see the ship in a gunsight rather than a compass? Aside from that, I like what they’ve done.
I agree. Definitely see a ship in the crosshairs.
This is a really great look–no surprise that Nike wasn’t really involved. Honestly, Nike needs to get out of the uniform design business.
I like these but they feel like a mix between the Sacramento Kings and Twins new uniforms. It is crazy how similar they seem to the Kings just with the Twins colors and weird numbering.
WOW! Huge win. Went from one of the worst looks to one of the best.
Perhaps my only suggestion is not enough use of the light blue in the uniforms, since red and navy are pretty common already, the light blue might give it some more pop? Otherwise this is beautiful. Well done Clippers. Given how good it looks, and how the design and logos avoid unnecessary gimmicks for storytelling, it is pretty evident that other teams should follow this path and not let Nike be creative force in new designs.
Nice treat on a Monday morning to see a team roll out a new identity that is actually an upgrade.
Pretty sure that light blue’s gonna be used for the city editions.
I have always been in favour of the Clippers making the return to light blue with orange trim full-time.
Have no complaints though. This is excellent! I like the logo. Keeping blue and red while working in the light blue. So happy no black. Real happy the court colour will match the primary uniforms for the Clippers soon.
Thank goodness for the marketing page. I thought it was a cruise ship, but I guess I can kind of see an old 1700’s ship if I really squint.
Either way, HUGE upgrade over the last pile of shit.
That was my first reaction…there’s no way to unsee that cruise ship, they should change their name to the Shippers
the internet would go wild with that one
This is a major improvement. I was hoping the Clippers would revive the sky blue and orange colors they had in the 80s since that color scheme stands out with a lot of teams having blue/red in their uniforms. I don’t mean this as a criticism b/c the colors are very nice, but it reminds me too much of the Jason Kidd era Nets uniforms and colors.
I like the logo because it finally unites the team name with the logo. I do wish the logo would have been a modernized version of their 70s/80s logo. But the logo is still interesting. It definitely stands out and will be recognizable.
The uniforms are simple and elegant. I agree with Paul that the “Clippers” on the navy blue jersey needs a white outline. I also love the Clippers brought back their classic cursive arching upwards script.
This was long overdue and definitely an upgrade.
A vast improvement. Not perfect, but genuinely much better than what they’ve had for the last decade.
On a side note, the article about the new arena linked in the first line has a glaring inaccuracy, claiming the Clippers have “always” shared a home with the Lakers. It may just seem that way, since they’ve been in their current arena for 25 years now, but I remember the days of the Clippers in the LA Memorial Sports Coliseum. which the Lakers had moved out of 17 years before the Clips moved north. I also remember that they played the occasional home game at The Pond in the mid-90s, as Anaheim tried to court the Clips for a time.
Thanks for beating me to the punch there. They played at the decrepit sports arena for years before becoming the Lakers sublet.
That LA Sports Arena and Pond historical omission error was inexcusable. USA Today fact checkers must not exist. -C.
Yeah USA Today isn’t what it used to be 20 years ago, once Al Neuharth died it’s quality plummeted…
I love the uniforms. Don’t like the logo.
Much improved!
What I don’t understand is why the NBA continues to have a rule requiring a basketball in logos.
Seems to be their way of letting teams do their own thing while still maintaining a visual through-line in the individual team logos. Personally, I think it’s silly, but I think that’s the reason.
IMHO, the best NBA logos have no basketball: Chicago, Portland, Atlanta, Golden State, Memphis, and San Antonio.
It’s really unbelievable how much cleaner and less hacky they are since they weren’t made by nike. This is the first new uni to come out that i have legitimately had zero gripes with since what, the chargers? Which was basically cheating anyway since the chargers have never had bad unis. Very well done. Hope hiring third party agencies becomes more of the norm (though surprised nike let them do it).
ESPN’s Zach Lowe said that some of the new branding is being installed in the new arena so they had to hurry up and get this out now, before it leaked. That’s a pretty reasonable explanation.
As for the uniforms, they’re good. The high sitting numbers stand out mostly because Harden/Kawhi wear single digits. It’s not as noticeable on the red jersey, and hardly at all on the mockups with the 24 on them.
The weird difference between the coloring on the side panels of the red jersey… I thought you woulda caught that. it’s a strange design decision with no real explanation. Why not make it white on both sides instead of having one red.
Either way, massive upgrade, and I suspect the city edition will be the ocean blue.
The alternating colors on the sides of the uniforms seems to be a holdover from their current set, which has the same deal.
I personally like it, especially because it’s so prevalent compared to now.
The alt stacked LA logo is a winner. That’s absolutely gonna sell a boatload of hats, it’s one of the few NBA logos (with Wizards DC hands is another) that’s really well suited for a fitted cap.
That is great art.
Really like these a lot, seems like a really cool modern take on the 90s era uniforms. Big upgrade.
While I like the cursive and it’s well executed here, the gothic font they’ve used on the black unis the last could of years was really unique. Hope it comes back via City edition soon.
A+
The nautical flags on the side of the red uniform spell out LAC
Clippers might not need a white outline if it was bigger and bolder. That might also push the number down to a better place.
You know it’s okay to use an outline …
Outline-free seems to be a sports fad, nowadays.
Nice job Clippers! Looks good.
All very handsome designs. I do get Dodgers home unis from the new whites and I see cruise ship instead of clipper ship on the logo, but the design team should be commended. It’s obvious a lot of work and consideration went into these.
They missed an opportunity. Sailing ship hulls have “tumblehome”, which means they are fat at the waterline and taper narrower above the waterline. Even a clipper, which has the sharp bow, will have some tumblehome.
In the logo, the ship tapers outward (concave instead of convex). A hull profile with tumblehome would have made the basketball look more like a basketball.
Could not have said it better.
My first thought was similar to yours that the chest script and number are just a wee bit too high…but otherwise, this is a definite upgrade. I’ve always been a fan of navy (or black) on red as an overall look…sometimes the lack of white outline can be problematic, but I think the red is bright enough here where that won’t be too much of problem. But, we’ll see.
Interesting to see, I always just assumed that they held off on the media of a re-branding so that it doesn’t hurt the jersey sales of the current year. Huge improvement.
The first thing I saw was not a basketball team logo with clipper ship…I saw a logo for a cruise ship company. To me it looks like a logo you’d see on Julie or Gopher’s polo shirt walking around Nassau after they left the Pacific Princess and had to go work at a low budget Caribbean cruise line.
Yeah, that’s what I saw — a Carnival cruise ship.
The ship logo is way too busy. Otherwise, there’s nothing very remarkable about the new unis. Which I suppose is a good thing.
Unless I’m not in the loop of joke or other reference, it would appear there’s an error in the headline.
There sure is. Or was – now fixed.
Really liked these until I saw the red one. Sometimes simple is a good thing.
It looks like it says “INTUIT DO ME” on the court design.
Slightly bland, but this is still a massive upgrade. They really blew it with the last set. This looks like a basketball team and not product packaging.
So much to love here. For the first time in my life, the Clippers’ entire uni set will actually look good. I always thought the black didn’t jive well with the red and blue.
Navy/red/light blue is probably my favourite three-colour combo in sports, so my only complaint is that there’s not enough light blue on these uniforms. Otherwise, I love them.
Actually, I have another complaint. I don’t mind the roundel as an alternate logo, but I don’t think it works well as the main logo (along with all the other teams who have that style).
I can already see the players going invisible when wearing navy and posting up in the navy colored key.
Huge mega ultra upgrade for sure, but the compass knocks it from an “A” to a “B” for me. As mentioned before, it looks like a crosshair, not a compass. Second, the west/east compass points make the Clipper ship appear to have wings, or at least has planks extended for troublesome crewmembers.
This is one of the best NBA uniform designs in quite a while. It’s too bad they didn’t use the nautical flag motif on the primary uniforms. It would have been nice if they had used the slanted number font from their San Diego days on at least one version.
I like them a lot. Especially a team that’s visual identity has been somewhat all over the place. Kudos to the ownership for emphasizing fan feedback too
Outstanding rebrand, outstanding uniform set. It’ll be a pity when they eventually ditch them for something much shittier. Kudos all around for the time being, though.
For those mentioning the Twins, you’re not far off. Looks like Matthew Wolff did their rebrand too — first thing I saw when clicking the link to his site.
Was coming here to say this! And on top of that, the design is VERY similar to that Twins design. Flowing “modern classic” script and nearly same number font. Although it’s a huge upgrade, it’s a little surprising to see the design team go back to the well on that (albeit from a completely different sport). Wish it was a little more original, but good looking set nonetheless.
“with too much white space between the “1” and the waistband. It’s particularly evident if you scroll back up to that first photo of James Harden.”
I think that’s just James Harden, no matter which uniform he wears there’s always a lot of space between the numbers and the waistband.
This made me randomly ponder if there has been an athlete in any of the major pro sports who has modeled new uniforms like this during a prior season or even off-season and actually never wore them in a game (i.e. because of a trade, retirement, etc.).
This has got to be up there as far as most drastic improvements in logo/uniform.
Logo-wise, that is the biggest upgrade I’ve seen in a while. For the first time since the team was in San Diego, someone actually thought to use nautical imagery for a team called the Clippers. Go figure!
I’m also pleased that it is a totally brand new logo. I don’t think we’ve seen a whole lot of that lately because many teams these days just go back to past logos or modern versions of them, though it was warranted in many cases.
The uniforms look fine, although I share Paul’s criticism of the script and number being too high on the jersey. That pretty much jumped out at me as soon as I saw.
All in all, major improvement. And we get to say goodbye to that crappy “LAC” logo.
I like them, but agree that the white and blue “Clipper” jerseys have the name and numbers too high. First thing I noticed before reading your comments. Also the front view of the ship in the logo looks like a cruise ship. Lastly, the blue trim on the white uniform looks too dark and almost black, where the actually blue uniform looks great and not too dark. But overall this is a huge upgrade.
Massive improvement. They really needed to reincorporate at least something nautical again. Does give strong Twins vibes but that’s okay
These look FANTASTIC. The logo is my least favorite part of the uniform, but thankfully it’s not highlighted a ton on the uniforms.
Looks good. I can see that good look being ruined with a stupid ad patch
The Clippers managed to have the most bland and ugly look in the league to one of the best. If there’s is a good sports logo in the past 5 years Matthew Wolff seems to be a part of it. His work continues to be a great modern take on classics, I really love his LAFC work.
This leaves the Thunder in the top position for blandest and ugliest logo in the NBA. Hopefully, they’re calling the team who did the Clippers right now.
I love the compass pointing north to the N.
Hooray for change!
Just like the old Minnesota North Stars logo, absolutely brilliant. Love that one.
Mammoth upgrade. The fourth jersey may help or hinder, I don’t know yet (obviously), but taking what’s presented here, the Clips go from the bottom 5 to the top 10 for me, and they now might have the best uni set in LA for the first time in league history (the Laker primary sets are stone cold classics, but all their alts leave me cold as ice. Black isn’t a team color, use it sparingly, dangit!)
Huge improvement. The logo is a little too complex, and I don’t like the pants striping, but it’s way better than their current set. I think there’s just too much going on with the pants stripes.
The front script seems a little small to me, and I’m not wild about the red set (kinda hate the semaphore flags down the side). I’d like to see an alternate in that light Pacific blue color.
I’m not always wild about script fonts outside of baseball, but with a name like “Clippers” it really fits.
Again, huge improvement overall.
Thank God!! NO BLACK !!!!!!!
Yet… XD
The logo and everything looks good, but as a Clipper fan I do not like this. If they were still in San Diego then yeah. But Los Angeles was not a major hub for Clipper ships like San Diego. I liked the old logo because it was all about Los Angeles and kept the name. It was simple like the Dodgers. Imagine if the Dodgers leaned in and did a trolley?
Another ho-hum effort by the NBA and the Clips. But Clips are going to Clip. Zzzzzz…
The ship in the logo looks like a mega-yacht (Balmer’s?) or a cruise ship, definitely not a Clipper class ship, but I like the compass theme.
Otherwise, as others have said, big upgrade on the previous sets, with the same minor quibbles, too similar to the Twins, numbers too high, navy/red contrast may not be great in game, etc.
I love that the nautical flags are being used again. I have some ideas for a Clippers re-do, now I have 5 more years to procrastinate.
This was actually done about 10-15 years ago when the Tampa Bay Lightning did something similar…releasing their next (current) logo and uniform set before the then-current season finished. I’m surprised that it’s taken this long for at least one other team to do the same thing.
Here is the link from nhluniforms.com link
Oh, for sure — it’s not unique. Just unusual.
The 1990 White Sox not only unveiled their 1991 uniforms before the 1990 season was over, they actually wore the ’91 design for their last few games of the season!
I remember that! I didn’t know the Sox were going to do a “re-brand” before moving into New Comiskey? I didn’t know what was going on. I just knew I really liked the uniforms. Which was hard for me to say being a Cubs fan and all.
Could immediately tell it wasn’t a Nike design, simply because it’s subtle and classy, not brash and in your face. Well done.
Good job Clippers. It’s really a ‘best of’ album, so to speak, or ‘most popular’. The numbers are World Free- Bill Walton vintage San Diego. The script is the Chris Paul Lob City era. I think that’s a good way to say goodby to sharing an arena with the Lakers. Now all they need is Billy Crystal back in the front row.
Calling the old unis the “dead man walking” ones is perfect for this team.
I want to get on board with this redesign because this is miles better then what they had before. But the logo has too much going on. It looks like the logo for Battleship the game. And the script is way too high on the uniforms.
Too busy to ever be an iconic good logo. Too much story telling from the city that the team left. The LAC logo was designed in 5 minutes and was boring, but the best iconic logos are simple and had someone spend 5 minutes on them. This logo looks a focus group project.
Teams from Los Angeles and New York should have logos that focus on the city more than the mascot or nickname. Teams from there just need a wordmark or some kind of initials.
This is lazy design work. This is boring, uninspired trash. They look the 90s Washington Bullets. I thought Balmer and Co. were going to go with a whole new team name and color scheme to go with the new arena. This looks like a generic team from some random movie or TV show.
These look pretty good, light years better than their previous uniforms. I’m just afraid these will all be lost in the slew of new jerseys the NBA rolls out every year. It’s hard enough to track every uniform a team wears in a single season, doubly so when most teams only wear some for one a couple seasons or less.
I’ve never been a fan of the Clippers’ script, though it is improved now.
The San Diego italics and this one:
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were my favorite fonts. Yes, the ’82-84 ones were primitive-looking, but then they were named after a wooden sailing ship.
But most of all I’m glad to see the return of the signal flags.
Very nice uniforms. The logo however is clunky: the C is too thin to hold the ship/ball which is the most jarring element. Do a full ship from up front or better, from the side and incorporate the basketball lines in the sails. To put them in the bough turns this element into a fat frog with multiple chins seen from the front. Also, these tiny sails look like cruise ship tiers, I can see that. And another roundel? The compass looks nice on the stand alone C logo but to add it to all of this in the primary logo is too much. I miss outlines on the numbers, wordmarks and the LA logo for contrast and depth.
But the three uniforms are very good, in my NBA top 5 right away. Take a good look, Nike!
Do you think the side profile of the ship wasn’t used because it would look too similar to the AAA Columbus Clippers logo?
Not quite a disaster, but not far off either. If you’re an insomniac, maybe stare at these outfits for a few minutes. No one’s still touching the Cavs and Jazz minimalism-wise, although these guys come close.
As for the logo….eh. Unless you’re the Raiders, Bulls or KG-era Wolves, front-facing logos rarely work.
Wish they’d have gone with a modernized look from the Walton-Cage-Nixon era. Probably the best font the franchise has ever had.
And if they really are straying from black, at least put the GTA-font logo on those alts to give this set _some_ spice!
To your point, Colorado State University uses a front-facing Ram-head as their main logo, and I absolutely hate it. They have a great throwback “Old Aggie” classic, and the rarely-utilized “bone” horn spiral, yet they insist on using that terrible front-facing sheep as often as possible.
This color scheme is what the Sacramento Kings should go back to and use the black and purple as special uniforms.
As a long time Clippers fan 30+ years, I wasn’t to happy with the new jerseys.. I strongly think that they could of done something way way better.. Why are we going with the same old Clippers concept? I get it but this is a new owner, new Era, and new stadium. We should of gone with some new and exciting. Maybe baby powdered blue with black and orange for our new colors and keep the old English font cuz that is los angeles.. however, this is just my opinion.