I'm looking at Jayhawks stuff constantly during quarantine because it's something to do
In times like these, sometimes there’s very little to do besides “look at stuff.” While I’m trying to get that weekly iPhone screen time report to a slightly less harrowing spot during quarantine, you had better believe my “looking at stuff” intake remains high.
Right now, sportswear—vintage or new—is trending 📈 📈 📈 , to the degree that “structured pants” will not be coming back anytime soon. Fashion’s already-excessive ‘90s bent is now pushed to its logical extreme thanks to cultural properties like “The Last Dance,” and it just so happens that Nike and others were pushing out some top notch apparel around that time. Some of this gear—in great condition, no less—is out there, waiting for you.
I’ve done this before. Striking Jayhawks info and analysis is hard to come by right now. While I support the concept of bleeding the NCAA dry in court, dragging things out just for the sake of dragging them out is not a formula that works well for a newsletter. So it comes to this, loyal readers—here is some stuff.
I’ll get this out upfront—this sweatshirt simply must be copped. The reason I can’t justify copping is the whole “size M” situation which, if truly true-to-size, is not the wave that I’m on. BUT! Nike products of this era are definitely on the regular fit side as opposed to a slimmer cut.
I’ve probably trotted this anecdote out before, but on my last visit to Lawrence during a school year (remember those??), I was astonished by the calibre of vintage gear students had in their archives. It was obscene. I’m talking Logo Athletic hats, deadstock Champion reverse weaves, and hard-to-find jerseys I haven’t seen since the days of Mission Mall. (Coyote Grill, you were too good for this world). It rendered my own Looney Toons-branded Jayhawk sweatshirt as unremarkable, which I’m still dealing with emotionally.
There’s a lot of reasons to be frustrated with adidas if you’re a Jayhawks fan. KU played the victim in a federal ruling that ac adidas of defrauding them, only to basically instantaneously re-up with them to the tune of $196M, creating a layer of cognitive dissonance that not even the most staunch Hawks homer can navigate.
But my beef is much more personal.
While adidas has undergone a creative renaissance in the last decade, absolutely none of that juice has spilled over to their supposedly-flagship basketball program, Kansas. Take a look at adidas’ site—searching “Kansas Jayhawks” only turns up the half-hearted Paul Pierce throwback, an item that isn’t even attempting to have a conversation with that era OR that player OR the style of the uniforms at that time. For a moment in time, they had even signed both Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid—two major prospects entering the NBA out of their flagship program!—and did nothing remotely cool with it. (An Embiid throwback line is never coming and that is a national tragedy because we all know he would make it obnoxious as possible). Other Kansas items exist on the site, but you have to hunt for them.
Recently, they threw up a listing for the Kansas Pro Model 2G. The 2G is cool—always has been! It’s up there with the Reebok Question as one of the most underrated models of the 2000s. But naturally, they’re unavailable in any regular size, which suggests to me these are shoes that they made for the program and never arrived. I was ready to pay full tilt even in the “liquidation event” retail era, and I will never have that opportunity.
Without making you wade too deep into my own ideology, I believe life is not defined by what you buy. This post is not an endorsement of rampant consumerism, though it certainly represents a piece of how I like to spend my own disposable income. The point I’m getting to here is that… I literally have had the wallet out for adidas, and they’re failing to deliver anything of note. I’ll see something cool they made on-court and just assume that it’ll never be available for the wider public. It’s appalling!
Bootlegs >> official merchandise. Maybe this has always been the case, but it’s truer than ever right now. A good bootleg is a wonder to behold; their makers are unburdened, creatively. Up top is a Lil Uzi Vert shirt I bought outside of his Terminal 5 tour stop in 2017. I’d wear it constantly if I could—it’s a little too small—but right now it’s listed on various resale platforms and I get a message about it every single day. (No one has met my price yet, and the price itself is a comment-slash-goof in itself, but I anticipate that day will come).
KU is vigilant about squashing any competitor, as the famous (or at least famous to me) Joe College saga proved in the mid-00s. But I think it’s time that KU fans start to get a little more enterprising because I believe the current KU AD administration will let this one slide. So let’s get to it.
My first attempt at a t-shirt concept is below:
Thank you for your time and stay safe out there.