New NCAA Softball Uniforms

[AL-Ump]

Got this notification today:

New shirts, new pants, new coats.  I was just thinking I had too much money.

I have some Smitty shirts and I think they're fine.  I've never owned a pair of Smitty pants and the ones I've seen softball umpires wear are atrocious.  Their Heather Gray looks more like a silver and the only guys I know that wear them are park ball umpires trying to do 12 games in a day.  I have a closet full of Fechheimers that are now relegated to Summer ball.

The announcement says "Dark Gray" pants and I assume this means Charcoal, but I've also heard that Smitty is making a special color of pants just for softball.  What's the low down with Smitty's charcoal pants? Are they any good?  According to Ump Attire, they have Poly Spandex and a Regular non Poly kind.  I assume the Poly's are the better pant.  Please - someone tell me they don't suck.

I've had some Davis pants about 10 years ago and loved them.  Looking forward to going into some pleats!!  I just hope they have enough merch in the pipeline to support the launch because everyone's gonna be looking to buy the new uniform in January.

 

[MadMax]

4 hours ago, AL-Ump said:

Got this notification today:

New shirts, new pants, new coats.  I was just thinking I had too much money.

Excellent. 

One more step closer to killing off the wretched, arcane umpire navy-red-white and “softball powder” shirts. Ya hear that, NFHS? It’s the sound… of inevitability. 

4 hours ago, AL-Ump said:

I've never owned a pair of Smitty pants and the ones I've seen softball umpires wear are atrocious.  Their Heather Gray looks more like a silver and the only guys I know that wear them are park ball umpires trying to do 12 games in a day.

Smitty’s lineage of umpires pants has been arduous. I actually started my umpire career with Cliff Keens and Boombah pants (because they made charcoal pants in flat-front instead of pleated), but tried a set of Smitty Expander Waistband pants… for 30 seconds. Then sent them back. The pleating, fit, and material was that bad. I then got Fechheimers, gave away all the other ones… and only upon moving to Arizona did I try and then invest in several sets of Smitty PolySpandex pants (albeit in the standard waistband). 

As I bemuse with @JimKirk often, there really isn’t, nor shouldn’t be, a need for heather gray any longer. Certainly, the associations could help and stop speccing it, but the manufacturers just need to stop making it. Maybe they’re afraid of losing the few dozen sales to old (not a specific age, it’s a state of mind) farts who “call them out” on Facebook group postings. 

4 hours ago, AL-Ump said:

I assume the Poly's are the better pant.  Please - someone tell me they don't suck.

I’ve got four sets (P & B) without complaints. The only other polyspandex pants I use are a set of Honig’s, because the material is significantly thinner and lighter weight than Smitty’s and is “kinder” to wear on 100°+ days. 

4 hours ago, AL-Ump said:

I just hope they have enough merch in the pipeline to support the launch because everyone's gonna be looking to buy the new uniform in January.

They’d have enough for sure if they cease making any more heather grey pants and any of the “traditional” shirts!!!

[umpstu]

I want one of the shirts they wore in the WCWS.  As are the shirts in the OP, those shirts are good looking shirts.

[eagle_12]

I really like the jackets. they’d look nice in black/grey for the baseball side. MLB had/has a rain slicker that would be similar correct?   
 

could be the angle or prototype, but looks like the panel goes thin to wide. Wouldn’t a consistent panel look better?

[Richvee]

3 hours ago, MadMax said:

One more step closer to killing off the wretched, arcane umpire navy-red-white and “softball powder” shirts. Ya hear that, NFHS? It’s the sound… of inevitability. 

🤙

[MadMax]

2 hours ago, eagle_12 said:

I really like the jackets. they’d look nice in black/grey for the baseball side. MLB had/has a rain slicker that would be similar correct?

Ah-ha-ha! 🧐🤓 You’re on to something! We all need to remember, Majestic is no longer manufacturing the 2016 Panel Style, and MLB’s umpires are using “old stock” of them. Majestic relinquished the Official MLB Supplier contract to Nike in 2019 (originally, Majestic was not retained, and the contract was going to be awarded to UnderArmour, until UA balked at it, then Nike assumed it). So! Smitty might be testing the waters, producing a line of uniforms that are an evolutionary step away from the 2016 Panel Style (that, in designer circles is “Majestic’s”), but similar enough to appeal to MLB Umpires should Nike completely drop the ball and not devote any resources – or worse, token resources – to developing a new uniform line for MLB Umpires. 

Then consider that NCAA Baseball is becoming a larger and more enticing entity with the contraction of MiLB, so this might, too, be Smitty’s pitch to the NCAA to have their own distinctive uniform. 

2 hours ago, eagle_12 said:

could be the angle or prototype, but looks like the panel goes thin to wide. Wouldn’t a consistent panel look better?

It’s not necessarily the look that is driving it, but the need to be different enough from Majestic’s 2016 Panel Style so as to defeat any claims of copying. 

[kylejt]

I would think that the MLB guys would not want to go backwards on quality, as the Majestic's were well built. 

 

[wolfe_man]

Is there any glimmer of hope that Ohio will ever do away with it's archaic navy uniforms and go with something more modern like this?

No, I think not.

[eagle_12]

11 hours ago, kylejt said:

I would think that the MLB guys would not want to go backwards on quality, as the Majestic's were well built. 

 

The Smitty V2 Body flex are really nice and comparable to the Majestic.  The base standard shirt is not, and the jackets do leave room for improvement. 

[Thunderheads]

5 hours ago, wolfe_man said:

Is there any glimmer of hope that Ohio will ever do away with it's archaic navy uniforms and go with something more modern like this?

No, I think not.

Michigan too!

[tpatience]

18 hours ago, kylejt said:

I would think that the MLB guys would not want to go backwards on quality, as the Majestic's were well built. 

 

I prefer the smitty over the majestic. The convertibles suck but the shirts are as good or better 

[Biscuit]

7 hours ago, eagle_12 said:

The Smitty V2 Body flex are really nice and comparable to the Majestic.  The base standard shirt is not, and the jackets do leave room for improvement. 

I wore the V2 Smitty's this summer for the league I worked, and while they were fine, I MUCH prefer the Majestics. While a vast improvement over the V1s (of which I only own one), the V2sstill aren't as light, they don't breath quite as well, and they wrinkle a little easier in my experience. If I didn't have Majestics I would think they're a great shirt... But I do have Majestics, so I only see them as a good shirt.

As to the pants, I do like the Smitty Poly Spandex pants, but I really don't have experience with other pants. My only real complaint is that they often feel a little too baggy, which is very noticable on windy days. Definitely go with the standard waist band though. Far prefer to the expanders.

[umpstu]

12 hours ago, wolfe_man said:

Is there any glimmer of hope that Ohio will ever do away with it's archaic navy uniforms and go with something more modern like this?

No, I think not.

Perhaps Wilson could make some shirts out of furniture cushion.