Keep calm, Carolina: It's only a minor adjustment.
The Panthers will be making a color correction to the shade of blue worn on their uniforms in 2023, the team announced Thursday. Thanks to some innovation in uniform technology on the part of Nike, Carolina will be able to exactly match its intended hue of blue for the first time since Nike took over uniform production in 2012.
Prior to 2023, the blue used by the Panthers was a close match, but not exact. The difference will be so subtle, many likely won't even be able to tell, per team writer Darin Gantt.
The Panthers aren't the only team that was affected by the NFL's switch from Reebok to Nike in 2012. The Eagles struggled to accurately match their Midnight Green with Nike's uniform materials, sticking with the former Reebok template for two seasons before making the switch in 2014. The Jets made the transition in Year 1, but Nike also initially experienced difficulties getting their forest green to appear consistently across different jersey materials prior to changing their entire look in 2019.
Thursday's news followed some reports that the Panthers were planning major changes, including eliminating silver from their color scheme. Silver isn't going anywhere, per Gantt, nor are any significant redesigns in their future.
Save for an update to the team's logo, the Panthers have maintained the same appearance throughout their 28-year existence, leaning on the same color scheme of black, Panther blue (process blue, if we want to get technical) and silver. The team's shoulder stripes have gradually grown narrower (and shoulder numbers have shrunk accordingly) as sleeves on football jerseys have decreased in size since the 1990s, but otherwise, the only significant changes have come in the form of alternate attire: A blue jersey (introduced in 2002), additional pants (blue and black) to allow for monochrome looks, and a black alternate helmet introduced in 2022.
Expect the majority of this to remain the same. You might not even notice a difference.
