The 2017-18 NBA seasons has already seen its share of wins and losses for Nike and their newly designed jerseys both on court and amongst fans.
Coming into said campaign with high expectations, the mood was of some disappointment early on as redesigns were few (not necessarily Nike’s fault) and that on-court authentics were ripping in game on the likes of LeBron James and Draymond Green among others.
Approaching the holiday season, the tide turned as Nike unveiled their celebrated collection of City jerseys — each offering a unique ode to the home franchises who would wear them on court and their fans who would soon follow.
While the dialogue has warmed up regarding the Nike jerseys for good reason, there apparently have been issues around the country for fans who’ve purchased the Nike NBA Swingman jerseys.
Profiled by WCPO Cincinnati, a mother of two presents youth sized Nike Swingman jerseys of LeBron James and Russell Westbrook alike that were purchased at Christmas but have already started peeling and falling apart.
In regards to monetary value, the adult size Swingman jerseys run $110 a pop while the big kids Swingman jerseys retail at $70. As for the big kids version, a survey of the page for the Curry jersey on Nike’s e-comm site shows a 1 out of 5 star rating with the following reviews:
Jersey fans in the game more than a few years — or in some cases more than a few decades — know how delicate replicas of any rank can be. In the ’90s, Champion replicas were known to chip after many washes (or more so drys) while the Nike swingman jerseys of the early ’00s were known to fade considerably when thrown through the cycle and especially dryer.
Still, the 2017-18 Nike jerseys are listed on their ecomm site as being “Machine wash” with no instruction online of needing to hang-dry — a time/logistic inconvenience, sure, but typically speaking the best practice for taking care of a jersey that features what Nike refers to as ‘Heat-applied twill name and number’ detailing.
For those with jerseys falling apart, Nike has always been good about offering returns or vouchers for defective product and one would assume the current NBA jerseys would be no different. The best practice on refunds/returns is typically reaching out to Nike customer service online or at one of their flagship or outlet stores.
Refunds or returns aside, one would hope that next season’s jerseys would be better. While this is the first year Nike has had the new contract and some learning curve is expected, this is still Nike and the deal was finalize and announced all the way back in June of 2015. In the time prior and the time since, Nike has had plenty of experience making similar product — most notably college basketball jerseys — that register as well-made with no publicized criticism to the level of its NBA debut.
Despite noted flaws, the Nike x NBA partnership, which is set to run 8 years and is expected have cost the Swoosh $1 Billion for the course of that time, is not without its innovation given the massive investment. The recycled construction, body-mapping design (which can be seen in video testing here) and Connected feature are all compelling beyond a press release and of value or interest to just about any wearer. In addition, it appears their is real R&D being done, which is naturally bolstered by Nike’s uncanny ability to market.
Still, recent innovations in regards to making product ‘lightweight’ or ‘streamlined’ has often resulted in product that’s effectively cheaper and lower quality for that of the paying consumer. Cutting material expenses and mass producing goods means increasing units and cutting costs in general, which both bode well for Nike’s publicly announced goal in 2015 — the same year the NBA deal was signed — to reach $50 Billion in revenue by the fiscal end of 2020.
This introductory run of NBA jerseys — both on court and at retail — seems to echo such sentiments as we await and hope for better product in the seasons that follow.
For all information regarding Nike’s return policy, click here.
