The jersey is totally legit (assuming you are talking about a replica jersey, and not an authentic/sewn jersey). Champion didn’t start putting pinstripes on Raptors jerseys until the 1998-1999 season. By that time, Stoudamire was playing the Trailblazers. So if you found a Stoudamire Raptors replica jersey WITH pinstripes, that would be fake. What a lot of people don’ know is that one of the rarest Raptors replica jerseys to find is the Vince Carter without pinstripes. Those were made right after he was drafted, but then Champion quickly switched to pinstripes…so probably only one production run of Carter jerseys without pinstripes.
I’ll get the Warriors gallery posted at some point. But they did make a Richmond Warriors blue jersey…extremely rare. As for home/white jerseys in the original early 90s style, you are correct…they only made Joe Smith, Chris Webber and Latrell Sprewell. It is surprising they never made the Mullin or Hardaway jersey in home/white.
Hi quick question I just got a black pinstripe jordan gold nba logo pretty cheap I cant find any info on it I see a few up for 300 to 600 do you know when they were made or if they were limited I’m new to this appreciate any info thanks !!
That would be the Jordan authentic alternate Bulls jersey from the 1996-1997 season since it has the gold NBA logo (marking the 50th Anniversary celebration of the NBA that year). This jersey also exists for the 1995-1996 season (with regular NBA logo). As far as authentics go, Champion made a lot of these. They fetch about $150 – $200 on Ebay.
Dear Champion Blogger,
I really appreciate your work and Love for the niche. I am always double checking MJ Jerseys before I get them. We are one of the leaders of Vintage Sports Fan Merchandise in Switzerland – so I hope you like our Webpage. http://www.latienda37.com or Insta @latienda37
Lets talk. Peace
Andreas aka Rams
Great Site! I was wondering: Why don’t I ever see some Champion authentics in size 52? I’m an XXL and looking specifically for Penny Hardaway, Shawn Kemp, and Gary Payton (around the 1996 era) and have NEVER seen them. Did champion stop at size 48 around that time or something?
Yes, Champion didn’t start producing size 52XXL until the 1996-1997 season…and that was only for replicas. Champion didn’t start making size 52XXL authentics until the 1998-1999 season (this is the time they added the second Champion tag to all Authentics, to the left of the jock tag).
Hi!! Been visiting you blog for a while and it is awesome. If you allow me to ask you something… I have a collection of about 50 NBA Champion jerseys and I am starting to sell them. I own two Horace Grant Orlando Magic plain blue jerseys (not the stripped ones) and I noticed that the three stripes of the shoulders are in different order. One of them (made in USA) has two white stripes and a black one in the middle while the other one, assembled in Costa Rica, has two black stripes and the middle one in white. I do not see any other difference between the two jerseys.
Do you happen to know whether both of them are authentic despite the difference in the order of the stripes? I know it is a tricky question but I have not seen in your ‘Team collection’ the one with B/W/B stripes. Online it seems most jerseys have the stripes in the shoulder in W/B/W.
The orientation for the authentic/on-court Magic road jerseys (blue pinstripe) was black/white/black. But Champion was very good at making really bad replica jerseys, and therefore most of the Magic road jerseys produced from 1994-1995 through 1996-1997 have the white/black/white orientation for some reason. In 1997-1998, Champion was finally able to add pinstripes to the jerseys and the trim on all of those jerseys was black/white/black, replicating what the Magic actually wore on the court. So both versions of the Grant jersey you have are legit. I’m not sure there was a rhyme or reason to when the B/W/B jerseys were produced versus the the more common W/B/W trim. You’ll see a pretty even mix of Hardaway jerseys with both trims, and most are from the 1995-1996 season (based on the neck tagging). But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Shaquille O’Neal blue road jersey from that time frame with the B/W/B trim…and he was still with the Magic during the 1995-1996 season.
Thank for your reply!! Happy to see both jerseys are legit. To be honest it amazes me that someone knows all these stuff about Champion jerseys. Again great site, Champion jerseys are something special in the world of sports clothes. Have a good one!
What about Pro cuts without a second jock tag? I saw where a Scottie Pippen sold at auction for 22k but only has the classic champion tag, no team tag with year/length
Tag could have been removed. Obviously that jersey has the authentication needed and the shorts are tagged appropriately. There are exceptions to everything. I just give general guidelines on what I would require from a Pro-Cut jersey before purchasing given the cost and the rampant counterfeiting. But game used is a whole different beast.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “machine wash cold” jock tag, so most likely a fake. And correct, there would be no American version of the LBJ Cavs jersey because Champion stopped producing replicas after the 2001-2002 season (Reebok took over the license), and James didn’t come into the league until 2003-2004. There are Champion Europe LBJ jerseys however since Champion continued to produce replicas for the European market.
The European versions of the Anfernee Hardaway replicas always put A. HARDAWAY on back, so that is legit. Someone might have removed the Champion logo. Very unlikely someone would make a replica fake of this jersey, not worth the effort for how many Hardaway jerseys were produced
You have helped answer so many of my questions I don
The jersey is totally legit (assuming you are talking about a replica jersey, and not an authentic/sewn jersey). Champion didn’t start putting pinstripes on Raptors jerseys until the 1998-1999 season. By that time, Stoudamire was playing the Trailblazers. So if you found a Stoudamire Raptors replica jersey WITH pinstripes, that would be fake. What a lot of people don’ know is that one of the rarest Raptors replica jerseys to find is the Vince Carter without pinstripes. Those were made right after he was drafted, but then Champion quickly switched to pinstripes…so probably only one production run of Carter jerseys without pinstripes.
I got a question. Can you tell me what replica player jerseys where made in (white Golden State Warriors) ?
I have only ever found Joe Smith, Chris Webber and a few Spreewell.
I am surprised there is no Chris Mullins. Also no Mitch Richmond Warriors (Blue or White) only with the Kings.
I’ll get the Warriors gallery posted at some point. But they did make a Richmond Warriors blue jersey…extremely rare. As for home/white jerseys in the original early 90s style, you are correct…they only made Joe Smith, Chris Webber and Latrell Sprewell. It is surprising they never made the Mullin or Hardaway jersey in home/white.
Hi quick question I just got a black pinstripe jordan gold nba logo pretty cheap I cant find any info on it I see a few up for 300 to 600 do you know when they were made or if they were limited I’m new to this appreciate any info thanks !!
That would be the Jordan authentic alternate Bulls jersey from the 1996-1997 season since it has the gold NBA logo (marking the 50th Anniversary celebration of the NBA that year). This jersey also exists for the 1995-1996 season (with regular NBA logo). As far as authentics go, Champion made a lot of these. They fetch about $150 – $200 on Ebay.
Dear Champion Blogger,
I really appreciate your work and Love for the niche. I am always double checking MJ Jerseys before I get them. We are one of the leaders of Vintage Sports Fan Merchandise in Switzerland – so I hope you like our Webpage. http://www.latienda37.com or Insta @latienda37
Lets talk. Peace
Andreas aka Rams
Great Site! I was wondering: Why don’t I ever see some Champion authentics in size 52? I’m an XXL and looking specifically for Penny Hardaway, Shawn Kemp, and Gary Payton (around the 1996 era) and have NEVER seen them. Did champion stop at size 48 around that time or something?
Thanks
Yes, Champion didn’t start producing size 52XXL until the 1996-1997 season…and that was only for replicas. Champion didn’t start making size 52XXL authentics until the 1998-1999 season (this is the time they added the second Champion tag to all Authentics, to the left of the jock tag).
Ready for a new post!!
do any of the champion jerseys that are official have the trademark over the “it takes a little more to be a champion” or all they all fake???
If it has the copyright symbol on the jock tag above “it takes a little more to be a champion”, it’s a fake.
What happened to the Suns, Sonics… in the “Teams” section of the archive? Thanks so much, love the site.
Those team galleries are still being worked on. Hopefully I’ll have all galleries up by end of the year, so keep checking back
Hi!! Been visiting you blog for a while and it is awesome. If you allow me to ask you something… I have a collection of about 50 NBA Champion jerseys and I am starting to sell them. I own two Horace Grant Orlando Magic plain blue jerseys (not the stripped ones) and I noticed that the three stripes of the shoulders are in different order. One of them (made in USA) has two white stripes and a black one in the middle while the other one, assembled in Costa Rica, has two black stripes and the middle one in white. I do not see any other difference between the two jerseys.
Do you happen to know whether both of them are authentic despite the difference in the order of the stripes? I know it is a tricky question but I have not seen in your ‘Team collection’ the one with B/W/B stripes. Online it seems most jerseys have the stripes in the shoulder in W/B/W.
Thanks!!
The orientation for the authentic/on-court Magic road jerseys (blue pinstripe) was black/white/black. But Champion was very good at making really bad replica jerseys, and therefore most of the Magic road jerseys produced from 1994-1995 through 1996-1997 have the white/black/white orientation for some reason. In 1997-1998, Champion was finally able to add pinstripes to the jerseys and the trim on all of those jerseys was black/white/black, replicating what the Magic actually wore on the court. So both versions of the Grant jersey you have are legit. I’m not sure there was a rhyme or reason to when the B/W/B jerseys were produced versus the the more common W/B/W trim. You’ll see a pretty even mix of Hardaway jerseys with both trims, and most are from the 1995-1996 season (based on the neck tagging). But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Shaquille O’Neal blue road jersey from that time frame with the B/W/B trim…and he was still with the Magic during the 1995-1996 season.
Thank for your reply!! Happy to see both jerseys are legit. To be honest it amazes me that someone knows all these stuff about Champion jerseys. Again great site, Champion jerseys are something special in the world of sports clothes. Have a good one!
What about Pro cuts without a second jock tag? I saw where a Scottie Pippen sold at auction for 22k but only has the classic champion tag, no team tag with year/length
https://sports.ha.com/itm/basketball/1996-97-scottie-pippen-game-worn-and-signed-chicago-bulls-uniform-photo-matched-to-twelve-games-and-career-high-points-game-/a/50006-50845.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515
Tag could have been removed. Obviously that jersey has the authentication needed and the shorts are tagged appropriately. There are exceptions to everything. I just give general guidelines on what I would require from a Pro-Cut jersey before purchasing given the cost and the rampant counterfeiting. But game used is a whole different beast.
Love the site! It hadn
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “machine wash cold” jock tag, so most likely a fake. And correct, there would be no American version of the LBJ Cavs jersey because Champion stopped producing replicas after the 2001-2002 season (Reebok took over the license), and James didn’t come into the league until 2003-2004. There are Champion Europe LBJ jerseys however since Champion continued to produce replicas for the European market.
Hi guys,
Please someone help me!
I
The European versions of the Anfernee Hardaway replicas always put A. HARDAWAY on back, so that is legit. Someone might have removed the Champion logo. Very unlikely someone would make a replica fake of this jersey, not worth the effort for how many Hardaway jerseys were produced