The Winnipeg Jets tonight officially unveiled their new Adidas alternate third uniform at a season ticket holder event at Bell MTS Place.
Going with their lighter “aviator blue”, a secondary colour from the team’s home and road set as the base, it’s the new wordmark across the chest that’s the star of this design. This new wordmark, designed by David Mann (a member of our CCSLC Message Boards), features “Jets” in a new white script with the “t” crossed using the outline of a fighter jet. This wordmark also becomes the new official team wordmark logo, replacing the previous logo introduced in 2011. Mann previously designed the logo for the Jets AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
The large white stripes on each arm and around the waist should feel familiar to Jets fans of a certain age, they’re directly inspired by the jersey the original Winnipeg Jets wore in their final few seasons before moving to Phoenix in 1996. Of course, the stripes on that Jets uniform were trimmed with red rather than the darker blue the modern Jets use.
There are no shoulder decorations on this one (although a new “Goals For Kids” patch would’ve been a fun addition), a pretty straight-forward design. A nice touch is added to the inside collar, “WE ARE TRUE NORTH”, a nod to the fans who scream out “True North!” during the Canadian National Anthem before each home game.
So a couple of things only a weirdo like me would notice:
The Jets have always used Aviator Blue as one of their main colours despite it not being used in any of the team logos, their primary and secondary marks each have five different colours: the dark navy blue, two different shades of grey, and two different shades of red, but no aviator blue. I’m not yet sure but I’m thinking the new wordmark logo will include the lighter blue when used on a light background, at least it appears to in this photo we saw of it on the new 2018-19 team helmet.
The Winnipeg Jets were originally the Atlanta Thrashers, remember? So, the Thrashers used this (or at least a very similar) shade of blue for their first-ever alternate uniform design in 2003 and then, when that proved to be a popular choice, promoted it as their main home jersey colour in 2006 and even embraced the colour to the point of painting the stanchions in the glass this blue and using the motto “Welcome to Blueland!”… So I’m going to pretend this is a shout-out to their franchise history in addition to the hockey history of Winnipeg, even though I suspect it really isn’t.
I’m a fan of the design, it’s not at all what I expected the Jets to do but it’s still a good look, a welcome break from the alternate uniform monotony of “hey, let’s just use our old one”.
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