St. Louis Rams Preparing for Full Uniform Redesign

The St. Louis Rams have tweaked their uniform style and colors several times in their franchise life. Looks like another instance is coming.

Executive Vice President of Football Operations Kevin Demoff discussed uniforms with Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He noted fondness for the blue and white look the rams used from 1964-1972 and the possibility for new uniforms for the Rams in the upcoming cycle.

Throwback uniforms have a 5-year cycle, where teams cannot deviate. No clue what the motivation is for that, as you’d think the league would want to sell more jerseys. But, with the Ram’s 5 year window with their royal blue and yellow throwback over after next year, an opening for redesign is coming. New designs to be worn for 2014 had to be turned in by the end of last year, and 2015 designs need to be in this December. Demoff noted that they were not far enough down to path to make this year’s cut off.

But 2016 remains in play. And not just for throwbacks. Demoff said a wholesale redesign could be likely.

“I think at some time in the next five years, you’ll see a complete uniform — throwback and current uniform” — change, Demoff said. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t have it.”

The redesign would likely include all of the different looks the Rams wear on the field.

“One of the things we’ve talked about is if we’re gonna overhaul the current uniform, doing that in conjunction with the throwback change,” Demoff said. “So basically you unveil all of your new uniforms at the same time rather than doing it piecemeal.”

And the entire history book is open and possible for the redesign.

“I like our current throwbacks. I like our current uniform. They all have a meaning in time. We’ve talked about long-term doing a uniform re-design, looking back at the throwbacks we’re using now, or the blue-and-white, or a different hybrid. Or maybe something new and completely different.”

The Rams have used some different versions of their blue, white, and gold over their history. Most commonly, the gold has been a true yellow, and the blue was a deep royal. In 2000 the blue went to navy and the gold became metallic.

hi-res-150832771_crop_exact — Sam Bradford forgot to remove his gold dress shirt… oh, wait, thats the terrible Nike collar design of 2012

In the 64-72 “Fearsome Foursome” era, there was no gold, only blue and white. And Demoff knows fans love this look.

Rams blue and white 1972 — Rams Hall of Fame defensive tackle Merlin Olsen

Jump into the wayback machine to 1937 when the Rams were founded in Cleveland and modeled after the Fordham Rams, and you will find their original iteration was navy and red. Without color photos, we rely on the dizzying talents of Scott Sillcox and the Heritage Sports Art blog.

St.LouisRams1937 — All credit and much admiration to Heritage Sports Art for their rendering.

In 1938 they went to their familiar blue and yellow gold. The Ram horns were added to the helmets in 1948 when Rams’ halfback Fred Gehrke hand painted them on his own helmet. That was such a wonderful idea that they remain, virtually unchanged, to this day. And Demoff takes pains to make clear that those horns aren’t going anywhere.

Demoff tweeted:

“For those curious how often we think about uniform options, know these are the helmets I keep in my office”

BQhPgenCYAAn9cj — All three Rams helmets, and Demoff’s alma mater, Dartmouth

So, the helmet design will stay, but otherwise, everything could be up for redesign in the Rams head office for the 2016 season. What do you expect to see?

After much discussion on the back porch of the Sports Logos Global Network Headquarters and Hammock Shop, we think fans are almost guaranteed to see the white and blue uniform somewhere. Perhaps as the primary, with the red and navy as the throwback? More creative uses such as white and blue at home and gold away wont happen, with the single-primary helmet rule the NFL suffocates the teams with. So whatever the primary design will be, it will use the same helmet home and away.

Tell us what YOU’D like to see, or what you expect. We’ve got some time to come up with it.