South Carolina’s move to Nike came with a small but noticeable twist: the garnet isn’t quite the garnet Gamecock fans are used to.
The difference shows up in uneven ways. On South Carolina football jerseys and dri-fit shirts, the new shade is close enough that most people probably wouldn’t blink.
Garnet lettering on black or white gear also stays pretty close to what fans saw with Under Armour. But on garnet cotton T-shirts, the color reads much lighter - closer to Alabama crimson than South Carolina’s familiar look.
That kind of mismatch is hardly shocking. South Carolina is famously exact about its colors, and the school’s official branding spells out that the garnet is Pantone 202. Even so, the move from Under Armour to Nike on Wednesday brought a fresh version of the shade, just as Penn State’s switch from Nike to Adidas produced a different jersey color of its own.
South Carolina has seen this before, too. Even in April, when the Gamecocks were still with Under Armour, players and coaches were appearing at press conferences in shirts, behind podiums and against backdrops that each seemed to carry a different version of garnet. And if you go back through old Gamecock football photos, the shade shifts from era to era.
The reason Nike can’t simply copy and paste Pantone 202 comes down to how the company handles its apparel line. Nike works with its own color wheel and groups schools into color teams such as “Team Royal Blue,” “Team Purple,” “Team Scarlet University Red,” and “Team Orange.” Under Armour used a similar system, and South Carolina was part of “Team Cardinal.”
Nike doesn’t have a team that lines up perfectly with South Carolina’s garnet, so the company likely placed the Gamecocks in the closest fit - probably “Team Crimson” - and then tried to get as close as possible to the school’s preferred look.
“It’s a challenge with a color so unique,” South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati told The Post and Courier. “It shows up different in different materials, on paper vs. paint, on clothes vs. uniforms.
It’s a great challenge that any apparel provider has to match ... We’re happy with where they landed.”
There’s also a chance the shade keeps evolving as Nike and South Carolina work deeper into their partnership and the company completes a full redesign of the football jerseys. For now, though, not everyone is bothered by the adjustment. Some fans who were quick to buy Nike gear on Wednesday were perfectly willing to give the new look time.
“I like new colors,” South Carolina fan Zack Henderson told The State. “I’ve heard it took some time for Under Armour to dial that color in, and I’ve heard Nike might have to do the same.
But I’m not a stickler on it if it’s a shade or two off. I think it looks clean.
I think it looks good, looks strong.”
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