DIFFERENT COLORS

LET’S PUT IT BLUNTLY: No uniform in NBA history was more groundbreaking—more unprecedented—than the one unveiled by the expansion Charlotte Hornets in the summer of 1988. From the famous fashion designer to the quirky color scheme, from the pinstripes on the jersey to the pleats—yes, pleats—on the shorts, the game had never seen anything like it. Honestly, there was nothing like it in professional sports period.

Some 30 years later, the Hornets’ original uniform remains iconic, both as a time capsule of the era and as an inspiration for no fewer than a dozen teal-and/or-purple-clad expansion squads across every major pro sport over the following decade. And somehow, it still holds up. We talked to players, executives, and the designer himself to trace the uniform’s creation and its path from trendsetting new look to timeless classic.

THE ORIGINS

ALEXANDER JULIAN (MEN’S Hornets owner George Shinn and I shared a banker. She called me one day and said, “Would you be amenable to talking with the guy who just got the new NBA franchise in Charlotte?” I said, “Sure.” If you’re born and raised in Chapel Hill like I was and you don’t like basketball, they leave you on the edge of a town called Durham.