EXCLUSIVE: The Inside Story Behind the Jets’ 2019 Uniform Set

In his third and final Uni Watch interview, former Nike art director Tom Andrich explains the troubled process that resulted in an unpopular and short-lived uniform set.

Reminder: Uni Watch’s time on Substack will be coming to a close in late May. After that, I’ll be taking a break for at least a month, and then my Substack will return in the summer with a new name and a new subject focus. To learn more about all of this, including what it will mean for those of you with paid subscriptions, look here. — Paul

The New York Jets unveiled a new uniform set earlier this week. The move came almost exactly five years after their previous uniform unveiling, a star-studded event emceed by comedian J.B. Smoove (and with your friendly uniform columnist in attendance).

Despite all the hype and excitement, the uniforms unveiled that night were not well received by fans, and the team has decided to scrap them after only five years — the NFL’s minimum time between uni makeovers. Because NFL teams must apply two years in advance for a redesign, that means the Jets decided after only three seasons that the 2019 set would be kicked to the curb. As team exec Chris Pierce told me in an interview last week, “In 2019, our viewpoint was that we were taking a forward-thinking approach to the uniform design. When you do that, sometimes you have hits, sometimes you have misses.”

But was there more to it than that? To help answer that question, I turned once again to former Nike art director Tom Andrich. As you may recall, I recently published two wide-ranging interviews with him — one about how he created the NFL’s Color Rush program, and another about how Nike worked with the NFL. In his third and final interview, Andrich discusses the bumpy creative road that led to the Jets’ 2019 uniform set — a path that was particularly intense for him because the Jets are his favorite NFL team.

Just to recap the biographical basics: Andrich began working for Nike in 1984, when he became the company’s first in-house graphic designer working solely on apparel. Among many other responsibilities, he oversaw all of the company’s NFL uniform work from 2012, when Nike became the NFL’s official outfitter, through his retirement in 2021.

This interview took place via Zoom last Thursday, a few days before the Jets unveiled their new set. Here’s the transcript, edited for length and clarity.

Uni Watch: Tell me how you became a Jets fan.

Tom Andrich: I was always very into sports as a kid. I was always outside playing football, baseball, basketball. And when I was seven, eight years old, that’s when the Jets won the Super Bowl, and I became fixated on that for whatever reason. And that just carried through.

Tom Andrich during our Zoom call. Note the “action green” wristwatch.

UW: Prior to the 2019 redesign, the Jets had two major uniform design eras: the Namath design, which was then revived when Bill Parcells became coach in the late ’90s, and the New York Sack Exchange design. How did you feel about both of those uniform designs?

Andrich: Well, the first one, the Namath era, that’s what I grew up with. And when they went away from it [in 1978], I was not happy about that, because I loved that uniform and it felt like the Sack Exchange one was somewhat bland by comparison. But the team had some good years with that uniform, so that helped, and I also got used to it and learned to like it.

It’s funny, people look back at the Sack Exchange uniform now and say, “Oh, that uniform is so great.” It is? I mean, it’s not bad, but I don’t know if people felt like that back then.

Jets quarterback Richard Todd wearing what came to be known as the “New York Sack Exchange” uniform in the early 1980s.

UW: After Nike got the NFL uniform contract in 2012, when did word first come down that the Jets wanted a new uniform set?

Andrich: This one was one of those where we got a heads-up beforehand that the Jets were going to apply for a new uniform. Which they did. So in early 2015, we started working on it.

UW: I think you mentioned to me in our last chat that you had mixed feelings about this, because as a Jets fan you liked their existing uniforms, right?

Andrich: I did. Even before we ever heard anything about the Jets, I had been thinking about that: How am I gonna feel about it if the Jets want to do a new uniform? I mean, I wasn’t losing sleep or anything like that, but it was just kind of a curious situation, where I felt like I wished they wouldn’t do it.

UW: Once the word came down that they were definitely doing it, did you, as a Jets fan, want to be as hands-on as possible for that project? And does Nike have a policy or protocol about fans of a particular team working on that team’s project?

Andrich: There’s no policy about that. And no, I didn’t feel any particular need to micromanage it or anything like that. I was the art director, and I figured I’d assign a designer to it.

UW: Okay, but did this project feel different for you than other projects? Did you feel more excited, more nervous, a greater sense of responsibility to really nail it, because you’re a Jets fan? Basically, was there an emotional component that sort of raised the stakes in your mind?

Andrich: Well, I think because it was New York and a big market, there was a general feeling of excitement at Nike about working on it. Even though the Jets have had, you know, questionable success over the years, people were excited. Like, “Hey, we’re redoing the Jets!” Also, the NFL seemed to be more engaged with this one. I don’t know if it was because it was in their own backyard, or if they had a relationship through the years with Mr. Johnson [Woody Johnson, the Jets’ owner], but they seemed to be more — aggressive isn’t the right word, but they just seemed to be acting more like this was a big deal. 

UW: Once the project started, do you recall what was in the creative brief?

Andrich: Not really. I know the NFL had done some inspiration pages. And I don’t remember if they were saying that those pages were meant to influence the uniform, but they had them. As time went on, they kept those pages at the forefront, so we slowly picked up on that  — like, “Oh, this is this is the story they want to tell.” Even though we were not really used to that, because we usually did our own inspiration work. 

UW: When did you first meet with team ownership, and what do you recall about that meeting?