Hey Wimbledon pro apparel designers: You're allowed to use colours other than white

[MAXXply]

The AELTC rules merely stipulate clothing must be predominantly white. You're actually allowed to include some colours. Today's designers/marketers have a sense of collective amnesia when it comes to Wimbledon pro apparel - it is okay to include colours, lots of colours, so long as the shirt remains predominantly white. Do today's designers not remember the colourful designs of the 80s and early to mid 90s?

Many years ago the shirt designs that featured on SW19's Centre Court featured so much colour that you needed sunglasses despite the grey London skies. Take the upcoming Nike Wimby '12 gear: it's virtually ALL white, and the other brands will also feature mind-numbingly boring Wimbledon gear that will be ALL-white.

I think the cultivated mystique of Wimbledon (i.e hype) has meant apparel designers/marketers have been subjected to some kinda Vulcan mind-meld or Steve Jobsian Reality Distortion Field whereby they seem to equate traditional Wimbledon gear as white to the exclusion of other colours, like say, purple, which I'm sure was once screaming out of the Reebok shirts worn by Rafter, Todd Martin and MaliVai Washington c. 1995.

 

[mpournaras]

You must have missed Rafa's in 2010. That had like radioactive pinkish-orange in it.

It was a modern/tasteful addition to a classic color scheme

 

[mpournaras]

If you want colorful whites just get anything Lotto

 

[augustobt]

I think that the stripped green from Nike isn't that white...

 

[mcnota]

im suprised wimbledon dont make them use white rackets and strings too

 

[Praetorian]

The manufacturers choose to make all white gear. So what? What the point of the argument again?

 

[Bobby Jr]

I think the clothing companies use Wimbledon as their chance to make an almost entirely white outfit - which will always have appeal to consumers as white is the one colour which never goes out of fashion for tennis polos.

 

[Funbun]

I think it's more-so a matter of apparel designers choosing to stick to tradition, simply to have their athletes look distinguished and/or classy.

I think companies believe that if several of their athletes stray too far from the norm, they'll be judged. Wimbledon has the aura of sophistication; I think pushing the rules, these days, is certainly not as appealing as it was in the 80's.

I personally enjoy Adidas's approach; all-white with small streaks of color here and there. To me, that screams "class", "fashionable", "personal", "modern". I think splashing more color would just not look right. It's just no longer "cool" for apparel to be like that anymore.

 

[Lucy Brown]

Nike & Adidas both have color in their Wimbledon whites. Nike has green and Adidas has orange.

 

[adidasman]

Nike & Adidas both have color in their Wimbledon whites. Nike has green and Adidas has orange.

Check the adidas adipure Wimby shirt; quite a bit of color in the multi-stripe across the chest.

 

[skip1969]

i'm never quite sure why people make such a fuss over the rules at wimbledon . . . every year. i mean, even if your favorite player walked out onto the court in a "boring" all-white outfit, it's only for (potentially) two weeks out of the entire calendar year. two weeks. and that's assuming your player got to the final.

seven matches out of the year in an all-white get-up. for most players, the all-white thing lasts just a match or two. is it really that tragic?

 

[Bartelby]

They should put player names on the back so you know who's playing.