{"id":163,"date":"2014-08-24T01:25:05","date_gmt":"2014-08-24T01:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/championblogger.com\/blog\/?p=163"},"modified":"2017-05-24T10:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T17:24:51","slug":"history-of-nba-jersey-licensing-cliff-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/championblogger.com\/blog\/?p=163","title":{"rendered":"NBA Jersey Licensing &#8211; Overview by Brand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the following post I\u00a0look at the brands that have had NBA uniform licenses over the past 30 years. I begin with MacGregor Sand-Knit, who in 1986 signed the first exclusive NBA license to outfit all NBA teams and produce replicas jerseys. I then look at all the other team uniform suppliers over the years, including Champion, Starter, Puma, Nike, Reebok and Adidas. This is a good resource if you are looking for a particular replica jersey and want to know who produced it, or if you are trying to authenticate a jersey.<\/p>\n<p>Pre 1986-1987<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>NBA teams purchased uniforms directly from major manufacturers like Rawlings, Wilson, Russell Athletic, Medalist Sand-Knit\/MacGregor Sand-Knit. There were also smaller manufacturer like Powers Mfg. (Denver Nuggets), Tiernan (LA Lakers) and Spanjan (Phoenix Suns). Some teams used local distributors who bought blank jerseys from the major manufacturers and customized them at their facilities. For instance, the New York Knicks used local distributor Gerry Cosby who in turn used Sand-Knit jerseys.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>MacGregor Sand-Knit<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>1986-1987 through 1989-1990 (4 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>MacGregor Sand-Knit exclusive NBA uniform provider for all teams<\/li>\n<li>MacGregor Sand-Knit exclusive producer of replica jerseys for all teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Champion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>1991-1992 through 2001-2002 (11 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Champion exclusive producer of NBA replica jerseys for all teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1990-1991 through 1996-1997 (7 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Champion exclusive NBA uniform provider for all teams<\/li>\n<li>Champion exclusive producer of authentic jerseys for all teams<\/li>\n<li>Champion exclusive producer of replica jerseys for all teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1997-1998 through 1998-1999 (2 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Champion official uniform provider for 10 teams:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #5d5d5d;\">Atlanta, Indiana, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Utah and Vancouver (Starter and Nike split remaining 19 teams)<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Champion produces\u00a0authentic jerseys for these 10 teams<\/li>\n<li>Champion continues as exclusive producer of replica jerseys for all 29 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1999-2000 through 2000-2001 (2 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Champion official uniform provider for 10 teams:\u00a0Atlanta, Charlotte, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Utah and Vancouver (Puma takes over for Starter and gets Indiana while Champion gets Charlotte)<\/li>\n<li>Champion produces authentic jerseys for these 10 teams<\/li>\n<li>Champion continues as exclusive producer of replica jerseys for all 29 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2001-2002 (1 season)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Champion official uniform provider for\u00a08 teams: Atlanta, Charlotte, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Utah (Reebok begins its deal with the NBA and gets Seattle and Vancouver\/Memphis from Champion)<\/li>\n<li>Champion produces authentic jerseys for these 8 teams<\/li>\n<li>Champion continues as exclusive producer of replica jerseys for all 29 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Starter<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>1997-1998 through 1998-199 (2 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Starter official uniform provider for 9 teams:\u00a0Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, Golden State, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York and Sacramento<\/li>\n<li>Starter produces authentic jerseys only for these 9 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Puma<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>1999-2000 through 2000-2001 (2 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Puma official uniform provider for 9 teams: \u00a0Cleveland, Denver, Golden State, Houston, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York and Sacramento (Puma takes over for Starter who declared bankruptcy and gets Indiana from Champion in exchange for Charlotte)<\/li>\n<li>Puma produces authentic jerseys only for these 9 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Nike<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>1997-1998 through 2003-2004 (7 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nike official uniform provider for\u00a010 teams:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #5d5d5d;\">Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami, Portland, San Antonio, Toronto and Washington<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Nike produces authentic jerseys only for these 10 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2000-2001 through 2003-2004 (4 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nike produces Swingman jerseys for all 29 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Reebok<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>2001-2002 (1 season)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reebok official uniform provider for 11 teams:\u00a0Cleveland, Denver, Golden State, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York, Sacramento and Seattle (Reebok takes over Puma&#8217;s teams and gets Seattle and Memphis\/Vancouver from Champion)<\/li>\n<li>Reebok produces authentic jerseys only for these 11 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2002-2003 through 2003-2004 (2 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reebok official uniform provider for 19\u00a0teams:\u00a0Atlanta,<span style=\"color: #5d5d5d;\">\u00a0Cleveland, Denver, Golden State, Houston, Indiana, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, Seattle, and Utah (Reebok takes over Champion&#8217;s teams)<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Reebok produces authentic jerseys for these 19 teams<\/li>\n<li>Reebok exclusive producer\u00a0of NBA replicas for all 29 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2004-2005 to 2005-2006 (2 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reebok\u00a0exclusive NBA uniform provider for all 30 teams (Reebok takes over Nike&#8217;s teams and the Charlotte Bobcats become the 30th NBA franchise)<\/li>\n<li>Reebok exclusive producer of replica, swingman and authentic jerseys for all 30 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Adidas<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>2006-2007 to 2016-2017 (11 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adidas exclusive NBA uniform provider for all 30 teams (Adidas acquired Reebok in January 2006 \u00a0and signed a new deal with the NBA)<\/li>\n<li>Adidas exclusive producer of replica, swingman and authentic jerseys for all 30 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Nike<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>2017-2018 through 2024-2025 (8 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nike will be official uniform provider for all 29 teams<\/li>\n<li>Nike will be exclusive producer of swingman and authentic jerseys for all 29 teams (Fanatics will be exclusive producer of replica jerseys)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Fanatics<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>2017-2018 through 2026-2027 (10 seasons)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fanatics will be the exclusive producer of replica jerseys for all 29 teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the following post I\u00a0look at the brands that have had NBA uniform licenses over the past 30 years. I begin with MacGregor Sand-Knit, who in 1986 signed the first exclusive NBA license to outfit all NBA teams and produce replicas jerseys. I then look at all the other team uniform suppliers over the years, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NBA Jersey Licensing - Overview by Brand - Champion Blogger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/championblogger.com\/blog\/?p=163\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NBA Jersey Licensing - Overview by Brand - Champion Blogger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the following post I\u00a0look at the brands that have had NBA uniform licenses over the past 30 years. 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