Here's how to end the stupidity of identical singlets in DL/pro races

This isn't the freaking tour de france. Yeah let's all care about what people are wearing as opposed to what they're achieving on the track and field.

Next thing you know we're going to start analyzing what shoes they are wearing and jewelry choices.

Jersey's sell in pro sports. Of course looks matter.

What about the other 94% of the field?

make it better - LetsHelp them wrote:

LetsRun makes a great point about Nike dressing every single athlete in the same singlet, as in the Doha 1500 when 10 athletes had the same uniform. Pathetic of Nike and terrible for the sport. (Adidas does the same, but with a bit more variety.)

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/05/day-distance-dominance-asbel-kiprop-conseslus-kipruto-almaz-ayana-caster-semenya-earn-big-wins-track-fields-opening-day/

Let's give them some ideas. If a group of fans, the people who actually watch the sport, can come up with something better, surely Nike can.

- White singlets for runners in their first pro season.

- Yellow for current DL leader. (Obviously borrowing from cycling a bit here.)

- Gold for reigning Olympic or World Champions.

- Black for a world record holder.

- National jerseys (or at least national colors) for everyone else.

So most of the field will just be wearing Kenyan or Ethopian national colors?:) Addias and under armour need to field teams (i.e. 3 colors) and then some of the nike guys need to get some sense of style. And someone at Nike has to find some way to make money off it (i.e. people want to dress like Rupp or Mo).

- Would be better than all one color, the current approach.

- Making money would happen when more than 100 people worldwide cared about the race.

formerD1 wrote:

This isn't the freaking tour de france. Yeah let's all care about what people are wearing as opposed to what they're achieving on the track and field.

You just proved my point for me.

The point is nobody cares about what's happening when they can't tell the athletes apart.

In cycling you can instantly spot the major protagonists in a TV shot. Can you do that in distance track? No.

People like you are why the sport is dying. FormerD1 lol.

I like the idea, but what would happen with runners who overlap in some of your categories? For example, let's say Kiprop theoretically gets the WR in the 1500 and is the Diamond League leader. Now he is a WR holder, Diamond League leader, and the reigning World Champ. How would that work? Would you give him a black singlet with gold and yellow accents? Just curious about the logistics of this plan.

Anyone ever caught doping or on peds should wear a color too.

Too easy wrote:

Anyone ever caught doping or on peds should wear a color too.

Orange or black and white stripes?

I like your idea OP.

great ideas- keep them coming-

Definitely agree- knowing more about the athletes competing (even if they are very basic things like current world leader, runners under a certain age, country of origin etc.) makes races much more interesting, regardless of level.

hendrik wrote:

great ideas- keep them coming-

Definitely agree- knowing more about the athletes competing (even if they are very basic things like current world leader, runners under a certain age, country of origin etc.) makes races much more interesting, regardless of level.

The sub-4:00 preps could get a certain color for Pre or wherever they race in post-season. (With respect to amateur violations, etc.)

i think this is a part of symmonds issue, he wants to have a singlet that is diff with his sponsors on it like nascar, soccer, or euro basketball

i think a number or some sort of design on the back and front would be a great idea, and dont change it keep it year to year, so say kiprop has an two headed eagle on the front and his fave number on the back, and he has the WR, is the WC, and OC and leading diamond league

so if he is a nike boy, then nike needs to make his a multi colored deal with his double headed eagle and fave number still....i think this is a great idea

The issue is what to do when there is another sponsor. Can they put their own spin on it to differentiate from Nike?

Tour de France is cool with the jerseys but they also make it clear who the sponsor is. That needs to be fixed in track

Marco brolo wrote:

The issue is what to do when there is another sponsor. Can they put their own spin on it to differentiate from Nike?

Tour de France is cool with the jerseys but they also make it clear who the sponsor is. That needs to be fixed in track

I guess not everyone would have to. But if the companies who played along made the kits available (jerseys, warmups, shirts, "limited" edition shoe colorways, etc.) to the public they could probably expect to sell them.

Think color rush, home, away, and alternate jerseys with the NFL. Plus whatever the NBA equivalents are that I see people in. People will buy that shit.

I mean, I already have Victories for track workouts but I still might have gotten a pair of the dark turquoise spikes Kiprop was rocking last season.

doot doot wrote:

Too easy wrote:

Anyone ever caught doping or on peds should wear a color too.

Orange or black and white stripes?

I like your idea OP.

Scarlet jerseys, or numbers.

How about athletes can chose the color they want and allow them to post on their jerseys multiple sponsors.

Regardless of the details, having some variety to the outfits is a welcome idea. It always amazes me how bland/uniform running outfits are. Even local dork cyclists have colorful (even gaudy) outfits that rarely look alike unless it is a team training together.

I want Maggie Vessey to be in charge of the women's uniform selection.

Easy to solve this...Nike needs to put their last name on the singlet like a soccer jersey.

While I agree with the spirit of this post, it's not true that all of the Nike athletes at Doha wore the standard-issue grey/black/neon strip. World Champions like Asbel Kiprop, Derek Drouin, Schippers, Taylor etc., wore blue w. gold detailed-uniforms.

But more of this differentiation would be welcome, indeed.