Last week, we took a look at the St. Louis Cardinals, and how Nike’s uniform changes are affecting teams. A large chunk of that article came from Oliver Kodner, a Cardinals uniform historian and purveyor of the absolutely outstanding Cardinals Uniforms and Logos website, which among other things has easily the best MLB uniform database for a single team.
You’ll recall also in that article that Oliver noted the Cardinals have removed the “sun” collar on their road gray uniforms, which is a change from 2024. At the time, we hadn’t had a chance to see the Cardinals’ home white uniforms (the Cardinals are one of the few teams to wear both their white and gray jerseys in Spring Training). Now we have, and Oliver has found something interesting (and which may also be common to all MLB teams this season).
Also, in that previous post, I mentioned I would reach out to my source for the Cardinals style guide images. I have received those, and we’ll look at them after Oliver’s additional reporting:
Cardinals 2025 Jerseys UPDATE on Sun Collars
by Oliver Kodner
A few days ago we got our first look at the new 2025 Cardinals road uniforms, and they removed the sun collars from them. I think it’s a great fix, and I was hoping we’d see the same fix for the home uniforms. However, while looking at the Cardinals instagram this morning, I noticed players being interviewed in their (assuming) new home white uniforms which very clearly still have the sun collar on them. I got a few screenshots, see below.
This is very peculiar. The home jerseys have the sun collar, the road jerseys do not have the sun collar. And who knows if the cream and blue alternate uniforms will have the sun collars or not. We likely won’t know that answer until close to the end of May or even June. Last season Nike and Fanatics failed to produce our alternate uniforms in a timely manner, so the cream uniforms weren’t worn until May 18, while the victory blues weren’t worn until June 1. I would expect nothing different this year, which means we won’t know if our alternate uniforms will have the sun collars for quite some time.
In 2024 it appeared that all uniforms across the league had the sun collars, with the only rule against that being pinstriped uniforms. Teams like the Yankees and Mets and Phillies who wear pinstripes did not have the sun collars on their home uniforms. Their road uniforms, which did not have pinstripes, did have the sun collars. The Cardinals followed this rule when their pinstriped City Connect uniforms debuted. Because of the river pattern pinstripes, the jerseys had no sun collar. This year things are changing again…
As for our 2025 uniforms, here what we know so far:
• Home uniform: sun collar
• Road uniform: no sun collar
• Cream alternate: ???
• Blue alternate: ???
• City Connect: we assume no sun collar.
See the graphical comparison below, and let us know what you think.
Based on Oliver’s research I created the graphic below (sorry, I wish the resolution were better), but you should be able to ascertain the differences in the white jersey, which has the extra “lip,” and the gray, which does not. Then let’s see if the style guide makes any note of the differences…
And here are the 2025 Style Guide pages for the St. Louis Cardinals:
HOME:
The “sun” collar is clearly present in the style guide. That is to be expected, based on their white jersey.
ROAD:
The sun collar is also present on the road Style Guide graphic, yet it is NOT present on the gray jerseys worn in 2025 spring training. Interesting.
ALTERNATE HOME:
Shown on this SG graphic as well.
ALTERNATE ROAD:
On this graphic also. However, we don’t know which style collar those uniforms will have.
CITY CONNECT:
NOT shown on the CC graphic. And indeed, last year’s CC jersey had no sun collar.
Interesting! As Oliver pointed out, teams with pinstriped jerseys did not have sun collars for 2024, while all solid jerseys did. But with the Cardinals’ gray jerseys not having it this year, does that mean Nike has eliminated it for all gray-jerseyed teams? The style guide shows all four of St. Louis’ 2025 (non CC) uniforms with the sun collar, but yet clearly it’s not on their gray tops. (For comparison, there is the Mets’ 2025 home jersey, which clearly does not show the lip on the collar.)
So, we’ll need to see if this is a league-wide change by Nike (and we probably won’t know that until opening week, when most teams will be debuting their gray jerseys). We’ll also need to see if it’s only for the gray jerseys — we won’t see the cream or powder blue until a couple weeks into the season (since those are only worn on home and road Saturdays respectively).
What about the other 29 teams? If you looked as Susan Freeman’s American League and National League roundups, you’ll see that almost every color (alternate) top still has the sun collar.
So is it just the Cardinals? And if it’s league-wide, is the removal of the sun collar only for the gray tops for 2025? Stay tuned.
The Phillies wore their updated greys a few days ago, and they also did not have the sun collar anymore: link
Interestingly, they also did not have the elastic sleeve cuffs that all teams with piping have. Instead it’s the old piping that was on the previous Flex Base jerseys (going back to 2019). I guess that means that Nike is removing the sublimated piping for all their Vapor Elite Jerseys
Thanks!
So…right now it’s 2-for-2 in terms of gray jerseys having the sun collar removed.
These are wild times, indeed. Great work on the Phillies link; very interesting. I am also noticing that the phillies no longer have a gray outline around the phillies script on the gray jersey (link) – a past jersey – you may have to zoom in, if that link even works.
Very good catch here! That’s definitely the pre-2024 fabric, good to see the restoration of using trim instead of an elastic cuff!
Does the headspoon on the Cards’ alternate uniforms stop and start in No-Man’s Land because of the patch the chain-stitching is applied to?
Headspoon?? What is that?
Soutache trim around the buttons and collar, as in the Tigers’ home uniform, is spoon-shaped and goes around the neck; Hence— “headspoon”.
Why is it called a “sun” collar? Does it come up higher, protecting the neck from sun exposure?
I think you already published the answer, but just haven’t connected the dots. I could have sworn that you already reported the grey uniforms have reverted back to the Majestic material and likely the old (or at least a different template). I believe you also said that fabric changes wouldn’t be incorporated in to the white versions this year which likely means they are sticking with the template and fabric from last year.
I don’t believe I said the grays would be in the “Majestic material” but definitely that the grays would be “fixed” for this year. I *believe* they’ll be returning to the pre-2024 fabric (which is basically a Majestic jersey with a Nike logo slapped on front). It seems as though the pre-2024 template won’t be returning, but they are making other adjustments to try to return them to “normal.” What we seem to be seeing is more of a hybrid between the pre-2024 and 2024 template. The placket is still narrow and the Jerry Dior logo is still below the collar (similar to 2024), but the NOB/numbers have returned to pre-2024 sizes; it appears the gray jersey is our first true look at the 2025 modification.
Looks like the NOB on the city connect is still the smaller 2024 size, surely that must be a mistake right? Would be weird to have inconsistent lettering
This is certainly what it looks like to me as well, Phil. At least based on the Cardinals gray jersey.
Didn’t MLB last year announce that all road uniforms would be fixed but not all home uniforms wouldn’t be until 2026?
I assume it will be uniformity (no sun collar) in 2026
That’s probably a good assumption (and yes, we know MLB has said they can’t “fix” the white uniforms until 2026). Will they be sans sun-collar? Probably, but we won’t know for sure until we actually see the new whites.
This is my thinking as well, Phil! I would expect the sun collar to go away in 2026 on the white jerseys. I recently purchased an Orioles home white Limited jersey and it has a sun collar. The Orioles black alternate Limited jersey has a sun collar as well. I have photos if you’re interested in seeing what they look like in person!
Although the sun collar is the best option for teams with collar trim, like San Diego and Pittsburgh.
I didn’t even think of that, Walter! Do they just have the sun collar in a difffeent color?
This is the first time I have ever heard of a company admitting that there clothing design is so sub standard and disliked, that they admittedly are going with another companies design.
I wish the cardinals would go back to navy blue hat with greys.
They still do when playing a team like the Reds who have a red hat.
Me too. I think the red and gray is dull and boring. They should go blue hats, belts, on the road. It pops more
Seems like in 2025 it’s going to be :
Grey: New hybrid template
Everything else: Old 2024 bad template.
Then next season, homes and alts make the switch.
That’s what it’s looking like! And it looks like the Nike Limited retail jerseys are following the same pattern.
Where did you see that for the limited retail? Haven’t seen limited retail greys for any teams, but also haven’t looked for all 30
On Fanatics! If you look in be details, it says, “Player name and number height is larger for 2025, ranging from 2.8”-3.6” to match on-field jersey (previously 2”).”
link
Correction: I haven’t seen the retail grays yet. Just the retail whites and colors.
I found a gray Limited jersey with the 2025 name and number height! It appears to have the sun collar included. Unfortunately, the Reds haven’t worn their gray jerseys yet, so I can’t confirm if the on the field version has a sun collar.
link
Sun collar for an extra and somewhat thin strip of fabric is quite rich. I would call it a bonus seam. Leave it to the White Sox to come up with collars, as they did in the 70s and 80s. Those are real collars!