Majestic Pro Blue and Black Availability

[WilsonFlyer]

Our association really likes the MLB shirts (For example, the black with the gray panels.), and prefers the Majestic brand material to the Smittys. The problem is, they seem to be discontinued everywhere and we can't find availability anywhere. It seemed as if there was some sort of v.1 shirt early on that was replaced with a v.2 but I never really understood the difference and now suddenly there seems to be nothing available anymore.

Did Majestic go out of business? Does Smitty have some sort of exclusive deal on the style and win some sort of cease and decist maybe? I could have sworn I had seen MLB guys wearing the Majestics just last season. Anybody have any light they can shine on this? We're pretty vested in this style as an association and would like to find some more of them. We bet this was the next gen design. Did we bet on a bad design? 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[gnhbua93]

The big guys in your association can get the 3XL in Stripes and Strikes in Hazleton, PA at $39.99 for the short sleeves and $49.99 for the long sleeve. The smaller size guys will have to pay a 20 dollar bill more in other retailer.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[BlueRanger]

Majestic has discontinued their umpire shirts. You would have to acquire them on the used market like I have. 

Smitty, Adams, and Honigs have come out with their own iterations. Adams is definitely the discount version right now. Smitty has had a v1 and a v2. The v1 was absolutely awful, in terms of the cut, the fabric, the quality, etc. The v2 is a closer copy of the Majestic and noticeably improved. I've heard good things about the Honigs. 

This would be a great @MadMax question!

[WilsonFlyer]

It's hard to believe nobody's talking about this. We can't be the only ones this is affecting. It's almost like it's a forbidden subject because I can't find anything about it anywhere. It's like POOF! and they were gone. I've seen the term 'replica' used in several places during my searches which furthers my belief that there's a conspiracy going on somewhere. Regardless, it seems the Majestics are gone, as is Smitty's competition apparently.

[MadMax]

22 hours ago, WilsonFlyer said:

Our association really likes the MLB shirts (For example, the black with the gray panels.), and prefers the Majestic brand material to the Smittys.

Of course it (your association) does, everybody prefers the Majestics over the Smittys. 

22 hours ago, WilsonFlyer said:

The problem is, they seem to be discontinued everywhere and we can't find availability anywhere. [snip]

Did Majestic go out of business? Does Smitty have some sort of exclusive deal on the style and win some sort of cease and decist maybe?

They were discontinued in 2019, but no-one really noticed because there were many other "big things" going on, and we (as a culture) were on the precipice of a global panic attack. 

Majestic did not go out of business; instead, they left their relationship with Major League Baseball. Majestic's parent company was VF Mills (read on Wikipedia) until 2017. One of the greatest advantages that Majestic had over other similar producers was its access to source material developed or cultivated by its sibling brands under the parent brand. CoolBase and ThermaBase came out of this relationship. 

In 2015, Majestic had brokered a deal to cultivate and produce their latest formulation of CoolBase fabric, and really really wanted to showcase it on the uniforms of their biggest client – MLB. So, all the ballplayers and staff got new gear. The umpires, however, presented a strong resistance to change (as umpires are prone to do). Since it couldn't be agreed to what a new style would look like, and with Majestic saddled with a substantial stock of material and production lines queued up ready to work, Majestic was forced to produce 2 models of shirt to "use up" the material they already had ready to go: hence, the 2015 "Plain Black" shirt, which if you look at the details of it (or own one), has all the features that the eventual 2016 Panel-style shirts exhibited, as well as a "button garage" that wasn't included on the forthcoming models; and a "traditional" navy w/ red-&-white trim shirt, hoping to appeal and capture sales from the HS and American Legion markets. 

Damn, are we (umpires) stubborn. 

During 2015, Majestic's design staff and MLB Umpires actually got together and developed the details of the styles that would become the 2016 models. The "heat panels" that are not only on the flanks but also at the tail were significant design inclusions, as was the alteration of the shade of sky blue to create better contrast (white ball against blue) and (hopefully) mask sweat color shift "better". Until 2015, Majestic's contract with MLB had been renewed every five years; indeed, the 2010 umpire shirt (vertical stripe) model had lasted 5 years, and only because MLB had not been prepared for / amenable to a new design style did the "plain black" have to be produced. It was anticipated that the 2016 Panel styles would last another 4-5 years... Which would bring us to 2020. 

But then, 2019 happened. 

Major League Baseball had already been courting a larger "super brand" to takeover the contract, and by all indications, it was going to be UnderArmour, which would have made MLB rather happy, since the NFL had landed Nike, and this would have set up a competing-&-contrasting brand and marketing relationship. But then, some time in late 2018 – early 2019, UA balked at the deal and withdrew from the process. So instead, the contract was assumed by Nike. And, true-to-form in Nike's ways and ethos, they started to crank out some rather... progressive design styles for the uniforms and staff-wear.

In regards to the umpires, though, I ~think~ (I have no way of confirming this) the dreamy-eyed designers from Nike hit that same wall; their proposed styles were way too "out there" for the likes of the MLBU's core staff. As such, the umpires continued to use "old new stock" of the current panel style shirts and jackets. Perhaps an entire new-style campaign was formulated and the 2020 pandemic squashed it, and then with the Labor Dispute rushing up from the horizon, any further rollout ideas were put on hold. In any case, for 2022, MLB is still using "new old stock" of shirts and jackets, but I don't think this supply is going to last much longer. We will likely see a new, comprehensive style campaign rollout in 2023. 

With that said... that puts second (and third) -tier producers like Smitty's, Honig's, Adams (officials-division of Schutt), and Cliff Keen (yech) in a quandary. In all bat-sports officiating, everybody bases their uniform decisions off of whatever Major League Baseball does or is doing. Softball and NFHS Baseball – famously – sets their uniform standards to not look like the Big League guys!! Either ya wanna look like 'em, or ya don't. The majority of the umpire market wants to look like the Big League guys; thus, if you're a producer, you are almost compelled to produce a "MLB Replica". However, with that eventual style changeover looming ever closer, you don't want to go "all in" and be stuck with little-wanted / unwanted stock when the entire market is awaiting the new style debut. The NCAA was "stuck" using the 2010 Vertical-stripe style for the opening rounds (Regionals) of the College World Series postseason because they had stockpiled an overabundance of Vertical-stripe style shirts with the NCAA patch applied. 

Smitty's has seized upon this tempestuous time and brokered some substantial deals and contracts to supply various entities. Their shirts and pants are what the MiLB guys use. The other producers are just "treading water", producing only enough supply to stay relevant and competitive until Nike & MLBU debuts the eventual new style. 

Cliff Keen continues to produce the crap they do because the NFHS (which I think is an acronym for "No F*#king Handle on Style") folks in Indianapolis will just not let go of that one line in their rulebook – "barring state association direction, the shirt shall be a navy pullover" (paraphrased). 

[WilsonFlyer]

Thank you so much, MadMAx. I knew there was a comprehensive and complete answer out there. Not what I Wanted to hear, but it makes perfect sense. Thank you for explaining it so thoroughly. Much appreciated.