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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Barry Werner

Ranking the 25 most iconic uniforms

The clothes make the teams and the fans that follow them. Some of the uniforms are iconic and should not be messed with, yet teams still dive into the apparel market to reap financial benefits. The best of the best.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

25. USC football

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

You don’t have to wonder what team is playing when you see the Cardinal and Gold. No need for white to offset the look. This is as crisp and cool as one gets. And no one has to wonder if they are watching USC.

24. Toronto Maple Leafs


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The iconic Maple Leaf sits proudly on the sweater. Another look that should not be messed with at any time. Know it is fancy to try and get people to buy into third jerseys/sweaters, but why do that when you have a stellar design? The Maple Leafs jersey has changed 10 times while the famous Leaf crest was redesigned less than half that many times.

23. Penn State football

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Nothing fancy about the Penn State football jersey and pants. And sometimes, that’s all you need to create a look that lasts and lasts and lasts. The program may have been stained over the years due to scandal, but the uniform is pristine.

22. Pittsburgh Steelers

Joe Sargent/Getty Images

What city has three teams that wear the same colors? How about Pittsburgh, where the Penguins, Pirates and Steelers are all based in black, yellow and white? For the Steelers, if you want to get technical, the look is:  BlackMetallic SilverUSAFA Blue. Red (NCS) (#C8032B) and American Yellow.

21. Los Angeles Rams

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Rams have a lot to work with in their scheme. They have used gold and dark blue, but now that the team is back in LA, the bright lights of the big city pop with their bright blue and yellow colors. All it took was a few wins for the buying public to notice this is the kind of look that can be worn proudly.

20. Los Angeles Chargers

Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

The powder blue jerseys are the best in the NFL. They are too sweet and don’t forget the retro #19 of Lance Alworth, which became iconic. The rest of the nuts and bolts don’t quite stack up to the top. Still, a great look,

19. St. Louis Cardinals


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The St. Louis Cardinals’ uniform is bold and striking. The Redbirds on the bat are excellent. The red absolutely pops off the white.

18. Michigan football

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Maize and blue. You don’t have to be a Michigan man to appreciate the unique color scheme and wonderful helmet.

17. Green Bay Packers

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Another classic look from one of the most iconic NFL franchises. Throwing yellow into the design always works as that color pops, pops, pops. And there is no confusion when it comes to whose helmet it is.

16. North Carolina basketball

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In case you were wondering, Carolina blue is composed of 60% red, 72.9% green and 86.7% blue in an RGB (Red, green, blue) color space, whatever that means. Overall, it is one of the most classic colors of any college hoops team and has the history on the court to go with it.

15. Detroit Red Wings

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Detroit’s sweater takes flight as the Red Wings look amazing in their spiffy white with the flying wing logo. Some history, in 1932 James Norris bought the team and he thought the winged wheel was a perfect logo for the Motor City, so a version of that logo in red was adopted and the club was renamed the Red Wings.

14. Ohio State football

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The uniforms have the silver and red playoff each other nicely. A total opposite of Michigan, you know like Ohio State actually is.

13. San Antonio Spurs

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The Spurs beat the fashion fad by a couple decades as they were one of the first teams in the NBA to sport black uniforms. Add in the silver piping and the black letters with the white outline and you have a great design.

12. Texas football

Tim Warner/Getty Images

When a color is synonymous with a school or uniform you know it is iconic. The burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns speaks to a great college football history and a merchandise bonanza for anyone who lives and loves UT.

11. Boston Red Sox

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Believe it or not, decades ago the Red Sox actually had Pinstripes. They didn’t last long, for good reason. The uniform shirt is white with red piping around the neck and down either side of the front placket and “RED SOX” in red letters outlined in blue arched across the chest. This has been in use since 1979.

10. Oakland Raiders

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

They are the Raiders, bad guys in every sense of the word. Or that’s what their silver and back jerseys and powerful logo want you to think. How about the first three seasons in the AFL, the team wore gold and black? For most of the Raiders’ history, their white jerseys have had black numbers, but for two periods, the white jerseys featured silver numbers.

9. Alabama football

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Don’t need much more than a crimson jersey with white numbers for people to realize Alabama is in college football season. An absolute classic look that adds plenty of patches depending on time of the postseason and bowl game.

8. Chicago Cubs

Jon Durr/Getty Images

Pinstripes are the look for the Cubbies. They have the iconic logo over the left breast. A sharp uniform that is set off better by the bright blue helmet and undershirts the players wear. Plenty of pop at Wrigley Field and plenty of pop in the Cubs’ bats at home.

7. Los Angeles Lakers

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Purple and gold tell you one team: The Lakers.

6. Notre Dame football

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Another college that has fallen to apparel-mania. Why would Notre Dame wear anything other than the classic deep blue with white numerals and gold trim. Then there are those helmets. The perfect look that should never be changed.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers

Harry How/Getty Images

The Dodgers’ design is crisp as any in MLB. The script logo speaks to the team’s base and does not need any form of tinkering.

4. Dallas Cowboys

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

There is nothing fancy or bold about the Dallas Cowboys’ uniform. That said, it is absolutely splendid and says, “America’s Team” in every way, shape and form.

3. Boston Celtics

Chris Elise/Getty Images

The green and white of the Celtics speak to a rich basketball uniform and a richer history on the court. It is en vogue to tinker with other colors — black, anyone — but when you have such a classic look why do you have to appease apparel companies? Stick with the gold standard.

2. Montreal Canadiens

Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images

The H inside the C first surfaced in 1916. The change is linked to the purchase of the team by the Canadien Hockey Club, run by Mr George Kennedy. A blue stripe is added above the white, at the bottom part of the jersey, the Canadiens’ jersey as we know it.

1. New York Yankees


Try as we might, it was impossible to go against the Yankees’ Pinstripes as the most iconic uniform. This look defines the franchise and never needs to be tinkered with in any form.

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