Nike to revise MLB uniforms ahead of 2025 season following months of fan complaints

The 2024 MLB season has seen the debut of new uniforms, which have been poorly received by fans and players alike. The trousers have been criticized for being almost transparent, while the changes to jerseys steeped in tradition have largely been branded unnecessary or vulgar.

While many presumed the outcry would be ignored and the MLB world would get used to the new uniforms, news has broken that this is not the case. The league is set to revise its uniforms ahead of the 2025 season, as per The Athletic on Sunday.

A memo from the MLB Players Association has surfaced, which was intended for players, and advised that the MLBPA has "receive(d) indications" that changes are forthcoming from Nike. These changes are expected to be to the jersey lettering, pants, zippers and seam stitch count.

Executives from the MLB originally defended Nike's jerseys, however, the situation appears to have become untenable.

Many believed the changes were made to improve the branding of the league on its uniforms, but the MLBPA memo suggests otherwise.

MLBPA memo takes hard stance against Nike

The memo was further revealing, as while the MLBPA has previously taken a stance against Nike, the player association again pointed the finger at the sportswear giant (via The Athletic):

“This has been entirely a Nike issue,” the memo said. “At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.

“We cautioned Nike against various changes when they previewed them in 2022, particularly regarding pants. MLB had been, and has been, aware of our concerns as well. Unfortunately, until recently, Nike’s position has essentially boiled down to — 'nothing to see here, Players will need to adjust.’"

That said, the MLBPA had compliments for Fanatics, referring to them as " a great partner with the Players and has been making the uniforms for the last eight years without issue."

One of the keys to that good relationship, according to the memo, is that Fanatics value feedback and are "not afraid to have difficult conversations."

The MLBPA hopes Nike take a similar approach going forward, but as to that only time will tell. Player association president Tony Clark spoke about the situation during spring training and was hopeful changes would be made before the season started:

“It’s an ongoing dialogue. Hopefully, we can get some things done over the course of the next six weeks of spring training. Because I’d hate to be in a place where we’re still having conversations about some of the challenges we have in that regard once the lights come on.”

Thus far, the MLB, MLBPA and Fanatics have declined to comment and it will be interesting to see what these changes look like.