What the new Hawks uniforms say about Atlanta: Part II

The conclusion on our discussion about the Hawks’ brand redesign


?The wait is over, and whether or not you like them the new Atlanta Hawks uniforms are here, and set for their first regular season run. According to the organization — by way of collected Twitter data — fans dig the new look. In the time since we first dug into the intricacies of Georgia Granite Gray, Torch Red, and white, the Hawks nabbed a victory (What up, Thabo?) and were naturally brought into question by ATL sports haters, ESPN, who asked, “Was last a one-hit wonder?” after last year’s dream season, and run to the Eastern Conference Finals. Their answer? They expect Coach Bud an Co. to join a list “of the 29 teams since 2000 that finished with between 58 and 62 wins in a season, only five failed to reach the 50-win plateau the following season.”
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?Actual sports aside, there’s obviously still a lot to talk about in terms of the new Hawks aesthetic for the season. In the second part of our conversation with designer and #HawksBros leader Larry Luk (who recently designed this awesome Nike Mag/Back to the Future Day rug), we talked about how older generations may not understand Volt Green, what Nike’s forthcoming NBA takeover means for the Hawks, and why you never underestimate a good pair of socks.
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?Previous: “What the new Hawks uniforms say about Atlanta: Part I”

????A lot of people love the Pistol Pete green. Do you see the Volt Green nod to that?
?This is a shade different. But this is another place where the Hawks were scouring social media and following trends. I’m sure your tweets are on there and my tweets are on there, especially my sneaker tweets. Old people, when they see the Hawks uniform, probably the first thing they see is the Volt, and they either love or hate it. Kids generally love it, and that’s the fan base we’re trying to grow. And also, kids buy jerseys; old people don’t. 
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?I think it’s the most obvious. It’s like pick the color nobody else is messing with, and just go with it. I am interested to see how the Volt might shift or leave our color palette once Nike takes over in 2017.
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?So if Adidas and the Hawks came to this new look together, what’s to say Nike won’t just come in and revamp everything?
?So a good example is looking at when Nike took over the NFL in 2012. So they had a big NFL announcement; it was on some warehouse loading dock in New York. They brought out a representative from every team, and they all came out at once and they were all wearing the new Nike cut of uniform. They redesigned the Seahawks uniform, and they made some minor tweaks to the Carolina Panthers logo at the time.
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?The Vikings too, right?
?The Vikings got some tweaks the following season. So they slowly worked with teams to change. I remember being at that event like, “Yo, where’s the Falcons change?” Nothing. Arthur Blank didn’t want to change anything, and that was on every team. 
??embed-1Yeah, I remember they had teams wearing that http://news.sportslogos.net/2013/08/09/nfl-teams-abandoning-terrible-nike-collar-treatment-in-2013/big-ass collar ... 
?Yeah, and Arthur Blank was like, “Just put the swoosh on it, but don’t change anything from what Reebok had.” And other teams were fully adapted. The Seahawks were like, “Take our brand; do new things,” and then they came out with a whole new look. I mean during that season you saw people wearing Seahawks jerseys everywhere. Every offseason, Nike will help a couple of teams. I don’t know if we’ll be one of the first considering we just got these, but there will be some things that change. 
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?Are you excited about the prospect of Nike taking over?
?I’m excited for the Nike takeover, just as a fan. Nike’s going to do more things with the warm-ups. They’re going to do more things with snapbacks. They’re going to take some more risks. Maybe we might have some letterman jackets which would be cool. Nike has Destroyer jackets — all these things that Adidas might not. They’re based in Germany, right? So they’re a little bit slower to follow what we’re into right now.
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?Out of the three new uniforms, which one kind of jumps out at you, or is the one the you feel strongest about?
?The Georgia Granite Gray. I’m going to buy the Georgia Granite Gray immediately. That one has the least amount of things I would want to change on it laughs. As far as people I’ve talked to, most of them don’t like the white. I think that if they had reversed the numbers, made the numbers red and the strip was bold it may be easier to deal with. But a lot of people initially upon seeing them don’t go, “I like it.” That’s probably my least favorite out of the three.?
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?What about the Georgia Granite Gray do ?you think makes it work so well?
?The contrast is good. The numbers are real visible from far away. With the white, you might not be able to read those numbers as much, but the Georgia Granite Gray really reads well. And I like that it says “Atlanta” on it. I’m so proud of this city, and so that’s cool. The Torch Red, I really love it, but the logo bothers me a little bit. I just wish that they would have done something else or hadn’t tried so hard. A lot of people think it looks like a dinosaur looking backwards laughs.
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??If you could improve the white and Torch Red to be on par with the Georgia Granite Gray, what would you change?
?I’d change the contrast on the numbers on the white one. And then, I’d just fix the ATL word mark on the Torch Red, otherwise I really do like the red. If the shorts are for sale, I’ll get the red shorts. I do like the shorts. When you think of visibility on TV, when you’re in the stands, what you see — these are going to be really fun to look at.
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??Speaking of fun things to look at, I know we’re both excited about the new socks the Hawks will be wearing. I hear that’s another first.
People don’t realize that the Hawks are going to be the first NBA team to have their own socks. Obviously, you go to any team store in the NBA, they’re going to have Golden State Warrior Socks, Portland Trailblazers socks, etc. But NBA socks — concord socks that NBA players wear — have always traditionally been either white or black. These are going to have graphics on them, which is crazy. I’m going to own tons of these socks, so I’m only going to be wearing Hawks socks all through winter, which I’m super excited about. One other cool thing about the socks is that Stance will be taking over the NBA contract, so they’ll be making the socks for everyone. And they said that they’re going to have more colorful graphic socks for all the teams, but that’s just a template. The Hawks actually have a unique design only to the team, and to be leaders there is kind of cool.