Fanatics and the NHL on Wednesday unveiled new on-ice player jerseys for the 2024-25 season, which officials say have been tested and refined well before making their debut in games this fall.
It is the first time the company has designed and made in-game uniforms with its own branding for a major North American professional sports league. Fanatics, which was criticized for Major League Baseball uniform issues that MLB and the MLB Players Association later said Nike was responsible for and was fixing for next season, is using the same factory that has made hockey sweaters for decades.
“This is a huge moment for our company, our 22,000 employees, really to demonstrate what we can do when we have full control over the end-to-end process,” Fanatics Commerce CEO Andrew Low Ah Kee told The Associated Press. “We all take a lot of pride in the work that we do. Ultimately, it’s not about the words that come out. It’s about the actual product and we’re excited to have that on players and equally with fans because the proof is going to be in the actual product.”
The league said playoff MVP Connor McDavid, Florida Panthers Stanley Cup-winning captain Aleksander Barkov and teammate Matthew Tkachuk, brother Brady Tkachuk and two-time champions Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov were among the players on all 32 teams who got to see, feel and try on the new jerseys.
Keith Leach, Fanatics' NHL VP and general manager, said one of the initial prototypes developed in 2023 showed “board burn” wear and tear that dissipated sleeves, leading the company to add an extra layer of reinforcement to solve the problem. He said equipment managers reacted positively to the change, which was tested during some summer skates and refined before moving on in the process.
“The players got to see it — not every player but (more than 100) players got to see it — before the playoffs,” Leach told the AP. “That way there’s no surprise of, ‘It just showed up in my locker room in training camp and there’s my jersey.’”
That was the reaction, and not in a good way, of many baseball players at spring training, after Nike made changes to MLB uniforms. Fanatics Founder and CEO Michael Rubin said in March that his company made everything to Nike's specifications, and a memo sent to players by the MLBPA in late April called it “entirely a Nike issue" for "innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.”
Fanatics and the NHL, which reached a 10-year agreement in March 2023, wanted to keep the changes to a minimum. Teams were given a moratorium on rebrands, other than Anaheim and Los Angeles already in process and the notable exception of the Arizona Coyotes moving to Salt Lake City in April and recently becoming known as the Utah Hockey Club.
"I’m proud of what the Utah Hockey Club has done under very, very short time frames," longtime NHL executive VP of marketing Brian Jennings told the AP. “I think when the uniform comes out, despite all the people that are online and they say what they do — we’ve all experienced that — you’ll see a world-class uniform and an evolving brand structure from the Utah Hockey Club.”
Leach also said part of the process was building a world-class team including experienced designer Dom Fillion and sticking with SP Apparel, which has been churning out jerseys for the league for nearly 50 years. They will still come from SP's factory in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, outside Montreal, which produced them for Adidas since 2017 and Reebok for a decade before that.
In the news release accompanying the jersey reveal, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Fanatics “preserved the quality, performance and design of our uniforms" and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh said company officials from very early in the process “have kept their commitment to partnering with the players in the transition to the new on-ice jersey.”
Jennings said the league and its partners don't take lightly the responsibility of making jerseys in a sport predicated on players' speed and skill. Toronto's Auston Matthews in a quote provided in the news release said the jerseys feel comfortable and look breathable, adding, "Any little detail that can help us perform at our best makes a difference.”
“What they do on the ice on an eighth of an inch of steel is simply magnificent, and we want to make sure that they continue to do that,” Jennings said. “You always want to say, ‘Hold on a second, when you see this being worn under the big lights by professional athletes, it is going to raise the bar.'”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
In this handout provided by Fanatics, a Fanatics logo is sewn on the back of a Florida Panthers NHL hockey jersey at the SP Apparel factory in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The NHL unveils new player jerseys for the 2024-25 season made by Fanatics, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the first time the company has designed and manufactured on-ice/field/court uniforms for a major professional sports league. (Photo courtesy Fanatics via AP)
Two white autoworkers bludgeoned 27-year-old Chinese American Vincent Chin to death with a baseball bat during his bachelor party in Detroit in 1982, but his loved ones' cries for justice fell on deaf ears.
Twelve days passed before any media outlets reported Chin's killing by men who blamed Asian manufacturers for the downfall of the city's mainstay auto industry, and none acknowledged the racism in his killing at the time. The defendants pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to three years' probation. Circuit Judge Charles Kaufman reasoned, “These aren’t the kind of men you send to jail.”
The injustice spurred Asian Americans to unite across ethnic and cultural lines. Hundreds protested the trial's outcome in downtown Detroit. Chin's mother traveled the country sharing his story and pushing for a federal civil rights prosecution.
More than four decades later, activists still fight to ensure Chin is not forgotten, saying his story inspires advocacy nationwide. Law students reenact his trial, Hollywood adapted his story into a movie and Asian Americans remember the impact of his killing on their struggle for racial justice and equality.
“For a whole generation of Asian American activists, the Vincent Chin case was the case that got them involved,” says writer and filmmaker Curtis Chin. “It was the thing that brought them to the table.”
After the judge spared Vincent Chin's killers, Curtis Chin — then 14 — grabbed his parents’ typewriter and wrote outraged letters to newspaper editors. He had found his calling.
Instead of taking over his family’s Chinese restaurant, Curtis Chin — who is not related to the man killed on June 23, 1982 — spent the next 30 years elevating Asian American voices, and recounting Vincent Chin’s story and the racism of 1980s Detroit.
For Helen Zia, an Asian American activist who moved to Detroit in the 1970s, Chin’s case laid bare the glaring injustices that her community faced.
Lacking any local organizations to advocate for Asian American civil rights, Zia co-founded the American Citizens for Justice, which helped to secure a federal trial against Chin's killers. One was acquitted of civil rights violations and the other was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal.
On June 20, the FBI released a 602-page file on Chin’s death, revealing previously unseen witness interviews with descriptions of his final moments and the anti-Asian slurs his attackers used, among other details. Activists told the Detroit Free Press, which first reported on the FBI documents, that they were not notified about the file, and the agency did not provide a reason for its release.
Last year, Zia launched the Vincent Chin Institute, an advocacy organization to counter hatred against Asian Americans.
Chin's case has had an impact beyond advocacy. Students at Harvard Law School have reenacted the trials of his attackers to highlight shortcomings in the legal system. And his killing has inspired documentaries, a podcast and a movie, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
Vincent Chin was a victim of brutal, racial violence, but from that tragedy emerged “a chorus of Asian American voices,” Curtis Chin says.
The autoworkers who attacked Chin blamed foreign vehicle manufacturers for hardships in the U.S. auto industry.
This fear of foreign economic threat parallels modern “anti-China hysteria and scapegoating,” says Stop AAPI Hate co-founder Cynthia Choi, pointing to attacks on Asians by people accusing them of culpability in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What’s different for our community today is that we are speaking out. We are speaking out loudly,” Choi says.
Established in 2020, Stop AAPI Hate advocates for policy change and collects comprehensive data on acts of hatred against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The group has documented thousands of cases nationwide, including verbal and physical abuse, and discrimination in business and education.
“Close to 50% of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders reported that they experienced some form of race-based hate in the past year,” Choi says.
Advocates say there's still considerable work to be done.
No comprehensive history of Asian Americans is included in core K-12 curricula. Asked to name a prominent Asian American in a recent survey, most Americans responded “I can’t think of one” or Jackie Chan, who is not American.
“We don’t even exist to most Americans,” Zia says, citing lack of visibility as a key driver in the perpetuation of Asian American stereotypes.
John Yang, the president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, underscores the damage of stereotypes.
“In terms of job opportunities, we are pigeonholed as perpetual foreigners,” Yang says. “Asian Americans don’t get promoted at the same rate. We don’t occupy C-suites. We don’t occupy boards in the same way that other Americans do.”
Discrimination also extends to housing. The Urban Institute, a think tank that conducts economic and policy research, reports that Asian American buyers are shown 18.8% fewer properties overall compared to white buyers. Yet the stereotype of Asian Americans as the model minority leads some fair housing advocates to exclude Asian Americans from their efforts.
“Everyone is concerned about whether an Asian American is truly an American, and so they’re not being shown the same houses," Yang says. “They’re not being afforded the same opportunities.”
On Sunday, dozens of residents stood with their heads bowed beneath Boston's Chinatown gate to remember Chin. Wearing T-shirts reading “STOP ASIAN HATE,” they arranged candles in the shape of a heart and displayed a portrait of Chin with his name written in Chinese and “May 18, 1955 - June 23, 1982.”
Wilson Lee, co-founder of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Boston Lodge and the Chinese American Heritage Foundation, said he and his wife have organized a vigil for Chin every June 23 for six years. Even as media attention faded, their dedication to Chin’s memory has not wavered.
“We’re in it for the long haul,” Lee says. “Because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s the popular thing to do.”
A collection of local dignitaries joined the remembrance, as did 16 Asian American elementary and high school students whom Lee described as “stakeholders.” They held orange lilies and yellow flowers pressed to their chests.
“We need to make sure that future generations, especially our young people, know about the experience that he went through,” Lee says. “They are standing on the shoulders of giants, and Vincent Chin was a giant.”
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Women play cards in a public park near a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Men play Xiangqi, or Chinese chess, in a public park near a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
A man plays Xiangqi, or Chinese chess, in a public park in Chinatown near a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed byy two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Women play cards in a public park near a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
People gather for a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Miss Chinese Boston Sarah Chu speaks beside Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn during a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Armaya Doremi, center, sings the national anthem beside Ken Chia, left, Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy, second from left, and Wilson Lee, third from left, during a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Children place flowers during a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Children with flowers attend a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Li Zhou watches a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Wilson Lee holds an U.S. flag as Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy speaks during a remembrance ceremony for Vincent Chin in Chinatown, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Boston. Over the weekend, vigils were held across the country to honor the memory of Chin, who was killed by two white men in 1982 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
