of detroit pistons The team’s new statement uniforms were unveiled Wednesday after drawing inspiration for the look from an unlikely source. It was a long, passionate voicemail from a local fan that prompted the uniform change.
November 2020, NBA As the season was delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak, Cochise Hardy, 38, from Detroit, scrolling through Twitter at home decided that enough was enough. We’ve seen nearly every NBA organization unveil new uniforms, with the exception of the town team, the Detroit Pistons. he was jealous
Hardy expected the Pistons to spice things up. They started rebuilding, adding three new first-round picks just a few weeks ago. Detroit has used the same logo for decades. The uniforms, with tweaks here and there, didn’t deviate much from those of the franchise’s heyday.Hardy felt his team was becoming obsolete.
“I was like, ‘Those are fires. Those are fires. Those are fires,'” Hardy said. athletic“I’m waiting for Detroit and they didn’t drop anything. I decided to call them. I don’t remember if it was that night or that day, but they called.” I spilled my heart out, it was time to upgrade.
Hardy looked up the Detroit Pistons phone number on Google. He found it, but no one answered. His voicemail he was over a minute long. He begged the organization to change things up and make it more vibrant and cool looking.
The voicemail was heard by someone in the Pistons’ ticket sales department. I circled around the office. Many people laughed at Hardy’s passionate rant, including Tyrell Kirkham, the Pistons’ vice president of brand and marketing strategy. But Kirkham heard that love was hidden in humor, and when the organization was preparing mock-ups for next season’s uniforms, Kirkham asked everyone on the team to remember his Hardy voicemail. I thought I’d like you to stay.
“Often we get these voicemails and we listen to them,” says Kirkham. “If you have a call to action, you follow it, but there was something special about this voicemail that was worth pursuing further. We laughed but there was a serious nature based on what he said we know we are starting a ‘repair’ on the court and how we look and feel is just as important is.
“A lot of inspiration came from a simple voicemail.”
Two years after Hardy’s rant athletic We’ve received early access to the Pistons’ new statement uniform, inspired by Detroit’s passionate call for change. It has a black base with stripes.
“We knew red, white, and blue were always central to what we were doing, so we wanted to find a way to add another element,” says Kirkham. “A lot of what Cochise brought, we added black to create a more vibrant view of the reds and blues…how can we complement that with great core colors? Black is always what we insert However, Cochise’s idea sparked the idea of adding some element to the gray uniform, which was a carbon copy but a different color. It is not washed off or repeated.”
New statement uniforms have a lifespan of at least two years. The franchise has the option to wear it beyond the 2023-24 season if it responds well. Additionally, as is the case with the newly revived Teal uniform, when the Pistons wear this uniform, it comes with a separate coat.
Both the statement jersey and teal uniform will be available for purchase by the start of the regular season.
As for Hardy, this jersey is exactly what he had in mind when he made the call two years ago.
“Tyrell called me and said he inspired this jersey. It was like Ashton Kutcher was calling me. I thought I had a puncture,” Hardy said. “I like to win and I like to look good while I’m doing it. That’s Detroit. That’s what we do. When we go elsewhere, they take us Recognize, there’s another swag, looks good.
“These are fires.”
(Photo: Courtesy of the Pistons)
