Threading the Needle: The Jazz’s 2020-21 Jersey Lineup

JazzUniTracker brings his coverage and creativity around the Jazz’s aesthetic element to Salt City Hoops. (Graphic created by JazzUniTracker)

Welcome to the very first installment of Threading the Needle! Whether you have followed me on Twitter or just discovered the JazzUniTracker here on Salt City Hoops, I sincerely appreciate the interest. I’m excited at the opportunity to join up with SCH and connect with more of you.

Threading the Needle will be a space where we can connect and discuss the (all-important) aesthetic elements of the uniforms of our beloved Utah Jazz. I have lots of ideas on what this could turn into, but to be honest I’m not exactly sure how it will evolve. Have an idea for something you’d like me to discuss in an upcoming column? Please reach out. I’m all ears.

We’ll definitely include a month-end recap of the Jazz’s jersey schedule. We’ll look at how the performed in each jersey, highlight the best-looking jersey matchup of the month and maybe include some uniform tidbits as well. As time goes on, I aim to to highlight and discuss fan-designed Jazz uniform concepts, and possibly interview some of the talented designers creating Jazz content in Utah and around the world. My hope is that Threading the Needle can bring a new and unique wrinkle to an already great Salt City Hoops. Think of it as an Antoine “Big Dawg” Carr effect, so to speak.

With that, let’s get to the first installment: a simple primer of the 2020-21 season (as uniforms go). We’ll highlight the current Jazz uniform lineup and review what’s on tap for this season.

For 2020-2021, the Jazz will bring back three of the five uniforms from last season. This includes the somewhat “standard” white Association Edition and the navy Icon Edition uniforms, both produced by Nike. They’ll also keep the gold Statement Edition uniforms, which now will bear the Jordan brand. We’ll touch a bit more on the Statement Edition jerseys in the near future, I promise.

Two popular pieces from last season’s jersey lineup won’t be returning this year: the revered purple mountain Nike Classic Edition, as well as the original Nike City Edition, which highlighted the gradient colors of Southern Utah and became a fan favorite over the last three seasons. Fans will undoubtedly miss both, but we’ll still see them in the stands at Vivint SmartHome Arena for quite some time.

If rumors are true about the “Earned Edition” green uniform pictured at far right here, this would be Utah’s 2020-21 jersey lineup.

Two new uniforms will round out the group of five.

A new “dark mode” will replace the aforementioned City Edition gradient. The mostly-black jersey will retain the same popular gradient coloring above the chest and on a single leg of the shorts. The Jazz won’t wait long to debut the new dark mode City Editions: we’ll see them this Saturday (December 26) when Utah opens its home schedule against Minnesota. That game will also feature a newly updated City Edition court. It will make for a pretty exciting game for all fans, but especially the lucky few that get to be in the arena.

The last jersey in the group of five will be the Jazz’s “Earned Edition” jersey. Details have not been officially announced as of this writing, but it is heavily rumored to be a green and yellow variation, perhaps just a bit lighter than their Earned Edition uniforms from the 2018-19 season. More to come as the Earned uniform is officially announced. We’ll make sure and keep you updated; in the meantime, see a rendering in the graphic above.

For weekly jersey schedules, game day updates and much more conversation around the Jazz’ s visual identity, be sure and follow me on Twitter. I look forward to connecting with more of you as we explore this fun part of following the Jazz.