Utah Jazz Rebrand: Purple Returns

After the Utah Jazz’s 2022 rebrand failed, the organization announced a new rebrand today, receiving much more positive feedback.

Ryan Smith and the Jazz knew fans loved purple, prompting them to release throwback purple mountain uniforms alongside the black, white, and yellow rebrand two years ago. They also made a purple jersey with mountains for last season’s city edition uniform. Despite pushing the slogan “Purple Is Back,” the unpopular highlighter yellow jerseys led to a disastrous rebrand.

Now, the Jazz have fully embraced purple, mountains, and Utah. Ben Barnes, the Jazz’ Senior Brand Director, explained, “It’s really been a philosophy that’s been a part of who we are… It’s rooted in our homes, our unparalleled love for the sport, the rigor of playing with elevation, and in the confidence of the community on the rise.” The rebrand features “Mountain Purple” as the primary color, with black and sky blue as secondary colors.

Nike generally requires teams to keep their main uniforms for at least five years, but the Jazz seem to be an exception. They will keep their white and black uniforms as primaries for one more season.

By the 2025-26 season, the Jazz will fully transition to the purple rebrand, featuring the white association uniform, the purple icon uniform, the black statement edition uniform, and a yet-to-be-announced city edition uniform.

More rebranding details, including team colors and logos, are available on the Jazz’s website. Sky blue, a secondary color, connects multiple eras of Jazz basketball, from the 90s mountain uniforms to the 2000s uniforms of Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko. This new rebrand blends influences from the 90s mountain uniforms, the gradient city edition uniforms, and Ryan Smith’s love of minimalism.

There is still much to see, including new courts, merchandise, and the unrevealed city edition uniform, to gauge the rebrand’s success. Compared to the 2022 rebrand, this looks promising.

Notes:
– The white and yellow “Association” uniform will be worn all next season, while the black and yellow “Icon” uniform will be replaced by the black mountain “Icon” uniform in early 2025.
– The purple “Icon edition” has some changes from last season’s “City Edition” uniforms, including the addition of sky blue and more details around the sleeves and belt.
– The branding firm Doubleday & Cartwright, also working on the Utah NHL team’s branding, handled this rebrand. They are known for the Milwaukee Bucks rebrand and many other professional sports teams, including Inter Miami of the MLS.
– None of the new uniforms say “Jazz.” All say Utah or have the simple J-Note, an intentional choice by the Utah Jazz.
– Per Andy Larsen from the Salt Lake Tribune, these jerseys won’t be available for fan purchase immediately. The team is targeting a fall 2024 date for the “City” edition purple jersey, and early 2025 for the black “Statement” jersey. The two 2025-26 jerseys will be available the following season.