Tennessee’s switch back to Adidas is official as of July 1, but the new look won’t hit social media right away.
The Volunteers are taking a staggered approach to unveiling the uniforms from their new ten-year partnership with Adidas, with the rollout set to begin July 6, according to Adam Sparks. That means fans still have a few days to wait before seeing what the brand has cooked up for orange, white and the rest of Tennessee’s lineup.
That anticipation comes with some understandable nerves. Plenty of Tennessee fans still remember the rough Adidas designs from the early 2010s, and this time around the pressure is on to keep the Vols looking like the Vols. The school’s creative team, by all accounts, has been working hard to make sure that happens.
The basics should be straightforward enough: get the orange right, stick with the standard block font and most fans should be satisfied. The one real point of debate may be whether the white jerseys get orange numbers outlined in black.
Adidas will also keep Tennessee’s dark mode and smokey grey looks in the mix, where there’s a little more room to play with the design. Even there, though, Tennessee’s creative team has the final say.
The rollout schedule is set. Orange uniforms will be revealed July 6, white on July 7, Summitt blue uniforms for some women’s sports on July 8 and dark mode on July 9. Multiple sports will be shown each day.
Penn State, which has a similar Adidas partnership and a traditional look of its own, revealed its uniforms today. The result was a clean, classic presentation that stayed true to tradition.
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