Earlier this month, we took a look at what many believed were “leaked” designs for the New York Islanders’ new third jerseys. Sweater-centric blog Icethetics provides a confirmed final version of the third jersey, with the simple shift from white to gray accomplishing the impressive feat of downgrading the duds from “uninspired and bland” to downright ugly. (This post’s main image is of Icethetics’ mock-up.)
Quick impressions
Let me get this disclaimer out of the way: I’m not a fashionable human. My typical summer garb is a bland T-shirt, ugly slip-on shoes and “perpetual tourist” shorts. So feel free to criticize me with cries of “glass houses” and such but ... ugh, these are awfully unappealing sweaters.
The Islanders decided to disregard the more recent lemming-like move toward the use of blue for the ‘90s inspired black jersey. It reeks of Xtreme marketing to the point that I wonder if the artist rendering had some Doritos’ Nacho Cheesier smudges on it. The gray switch adds another layer of blandness, although Greg Wyshynski points out that perhaps the Islanders’ might be making a nod to the New York Mets and Knicks.
Are they historically bad?
Much like music, fashion can be a very subjective thing. Under normal circumstances, we’d ask if PHT readers like the design. You can feel free to argue the merits of those new duds in the comments, but let’s have a little more fun with this instead by asking a simple question: are these sweaters the worst the Islanders have pumped out?
Judging from the team’s best and worst sweaters of all-time, this third jersey faces some serious competition. Before we get to the poll, here’s a chance to take a look at the three major candidates.
1. These third jerseys.
Here’s one more look at those bad boys.
source: (Again, this image comes from Icethetics.)
2. The infamous “Gorton’s fisherman” duds.
source: (Photo credit: Islanders Point Blank.)
3. Their crushing orange third jersey look from 2002-03, which Joe called their worst of all-time - but that was before today’s unveiling.
Others?
Naturally, the Islanders have been around for decades, so it’s possible that another ugly design slipped under the radar. That’s why the poll has a write-in “other” category in case you think that there’s an uglier option out there.
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OK, now that we’ve got those introductions out of the way, which is the worst Islanders’ design? Let us know in the poll and feel free to provide further critiques of the duds (or critiques of our critiques) in the comments.
[polldaddy poll=5444308]