

"That was the turning point in the entire process," Maurer says. It hit him: Why not just use that font? So they did. In flipping through some archival artwork, he stumbled upon a photograph of the original Miami Arena: At the time, Maurer happened to be studying the organization's history to prepare for its 30th anniversary this year. They tried spicing it up with a slanted script meant to resemble a neon sign. The Heat's normal - and very distinct - Miami wordmark would not do. They settled on white as the safest base color for the Vice debut. "We had everything from extremely busy, to extremely bright, to really right in your face designs," Maurer says. They toggled through all sorts of jersey fronts before settling on a simpler, classic look: the single word "Miami." Even so, some motifs on the cutting room floor - including some beach-themed designs - could be candidates for future alternates.) It was not necessarily under consideration for use on an alternate jersey. (That image in the upper right corner - the wave crashing over a basketball - comes from a program dating back to 1990 All-Star Weekend in Miami, a team spokesman says. They put together a "mood board" of images and colors that felt most evocative of the city, and of the look they were chasing: Upon learning of the city edition campaign, Brett Maurer, the Heat's graphic designer, sent his five-person team running all over Miami and the surrounding area looking for inspiration, he says. Micky Arison, the Heat's owner, even teased the idea of pink-and-turquoise jerseys on Instagram in August 2015.īut for reasons both artistic and practical, they knew the "city edition" jersey could not be a simple homage to a television show. The team had been toying with "Miami Vice" colors for years. (As they prepped the uniforms, the Heat did call NBC Universal to give the company a heads up, says Michael McCullough, the team's executive vice president and chief marketing officer.) They are the "Vice" jerseys, and that's it, the team says.

The Heat have been very careful, almost comically so, to avoid using "Miami" and "Vice" together in a way that might suggest infringement upon NBC Universal's intellectual property. Just don't call them "Miami Vice" uniforms, even though they use the name "Vice" and the pink-and-turquoise coloring from the wordmark of the classic 1980s cop show. If they aren't the best uniforms in the NBA, they are certainly the coolest. (Only teams that made the playoffs in the prior season will receive "earned edition" uniforms.) 1-selling "city edition" jersey, per the NBA's official data.
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Last year's white version - the original - finished as the No. The so-called "Vice" jerseys, in white, then black, and as of today in pink as part of the "earned edition," have rolled out to near-universal praise. They had a plan, and they weren't deviating. The Heat looked over Nike's proposals, which included one jersey featuring a palm tree print, and politely sent them back. Some teams adopted Nike's ideas almost wholesale. When Nike succeeded adidas as the NBA's official jersey supplier, it already had ideas for all the new alternate uniforms it would produce - the so-called "city edition" uniforms, and the new "earned edition" set the NBA unveiled today as a sort of replacement for the mothballed one-day-only Christmas jerseys.Īlmost every team listened. How the Heat made the coolest jerseys in the NBA
#Miami heat blue and pink jersey upgrade
The Vice Air Jordan 1 will officially launch on February 1st.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser Only five pairs of the custom Vice sneaker will be created and Miami HEAT fans will have the opportunity to win a pair throughout the remainder of the season via sweepstakes and contests. The custom Vice Air Jordan 1 will be on display at the Court Culture Studio Store located in section 326 of the AmericanAirlines Arena. The classic AJ1 shoe has been elevated with premium white Italian tumbled leather and intricate detail including a white quilted Japanese plonge leather lining and teal and pink Italian goat stripping – highlighting the new jersey design on the wing panel, toe panel and on the swoosh,” said Chambrone. "Pulling in design elements from the limited-edition jersey and inspiration from the iconic Vice-era, we handcrafted an exclusive, one-of-a-kind Air Jordan 1 to debut in collaboration with the Miami HEAT Vice campaign. As part of the Vice campaign, the Miami HEAT has also partnered with custom sneaker designer, Dominic Chambrone, better known as The Shoe Surgeon, to create a custom Vice Air Jordan 1 sneaker.
