With the ASU football team breaking out brand new uniforms Saturday for its game against No. 10 Notre Dame, The State Press is breaking down how ASU goes about getting all of these new uniforms.
The man behind the uniforms, ASU football equipment manager Jerry Neilly goes step-by-step through the process of getting new looks from Nike.
Take a look behind the "Desert Fuel" uniforms #NDvsASU (Via @Sports360AZ @Jared_Sports360) http://t.co/fE2bWe0Vw4 pic.twitter.com/Jsm0msu0T3
— Sun Devil Football (@FootballASU) November 5, 2014
Step 1: Get on Nike's good side
Timeline: Pre-Todd Graham era
"We were the first team to do the official rebrand with (Nike)," Neilly said. "It was in the works for years, then it launched in 2011 with the pitchfork logo, got rid of the Sparky helmet. We worked closely with them to get that done. They designed it all for us, got it all ready, and really tested the waters with us. It was, of course, a huge success. The popularity of that drove Nike to do rebrands for all kinds of schools (including Cal and Oregon State). ... Because of that, our relationship with Nike is through the roof."
Step 2: Bring Todd Graham to ASU
Timeline: Todd Graham arrives at ASU
"(Graham) is so adamant about pushing the limits for recruiting, as far as uniforms go," he said. "New helmet, new jersey, new helmet, new jersey, new helmet, new jersey. So when I first got here, we spoke to Nike briefly about wanting new uniforms, and the process is a two-year process, at least. We started that day, basically. I got here, we started asking for another uniform, the logo gloves, things like that. They said, 'Well, we can't do anything for this season (2012) and probably can't do anything for next season (2013). But if you're wanting to do it, let's get something in the works.' "
Step 3: Contemplate copper
Timeline: Graham's arrival
"We (rebranded with Nike) in 2011; we added copper to the uniform colors, anticipating doing a copper uniform down the line," Neilly said. "It just didn't work out for us, financially, to be able to do it the first year. We just did black and added all the colors of the pants and did the helmets."
Step 4: View the initial prototype
Timeline: Camp Tontozona, 2013
"We got our first actual design of the copper uniform up at Camp Tontozona last year," he said. "I was out on the practice field, and my phone went off — surprisingly I had service — and I looked, and I checked the email, and it was a picture of what the uniform was going to look like."
The desert fuel uniforms are ready to hit the field on Saturday #NDvsASU http://t.co/xQn1FPBY4C
— Sun Devil Athletics (@TheSunDevils) November 6, 2014
Step 5: Perfect the product
Timeline: 2013 season
"We tweaked it three or four times, just to get the decals right," Neilly said. "We changed the helmet around a bit; we changed a few nuances around with the uniform — the fade, we added numbers on the sleeve; that was something we wanted to add just to change the look a little bit. There was back-and-forth with Nike constantly, between them and Hydrographics, who is the helmet company (we work with) up in Oregon. ... Originally, we didn't like the tone of the jersey. We wanted to inject more copper into it — we didn't think there was enough copper in it. Just a few little nitpicky things. It said 'Sun Devils' on the chest; we changed it to 'Arizona State' because it is a state uniform, honoring the state of Arizona. We thought that was important. We went back and forth for a long time on the helmet. We wanted to do more copper. At the time, we were really, really trying to inject as much copper into the uniform as we could. So we wanted the helmet to be all copper. They sent us some samples with all copper in it, and we thought it looked cool. It was copper-chrome, like the same colors as the face mask. We thought that was really, really cool. But after sitting down with Nike and talking, the new fad is white. White's going to be popular with the kids, so that's why we went with the all-white cleats, all-white gloves. The accessories are all white to pop, and the helmet is white as well, just to give it that little extra something. And it definitely does; it definitely brings the uniform together a whole lot more."
Step 6: Hype the big reveal
Timeline: Saturday vs. No. 10 Notre Dame
After the team announced its Desert Fuel uniform, there was much speculation about when it would make its debut. On Oct. 5, ASU announced its uniform combo for the Notre Dame game: it was Desert Fuel. Now, about a month later, it's more than just a uniform unveiling, it's essentially a play-in game for the College Football Playoff.
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck
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