Griffins Unveil New Jersey Designs

In the second-biggest announcement of the 1:56PM to 2:00PM news cycle on Thursday, the Grand Rapids Griffins unveiled new home and away jerseys.

None of the team’s logos or colors have changed but the new jerseys give additional emphasis on red and swap out silver for gold.

The Griffins retain a white and black jersey, each of which now features a red yoke across the shoulders.  On the white jerseys, this is accompanied by black and gold outlines while the outlines are white and gold on the black jerseys.  Both jerseys include five stripes – similar in style to those of the Boston Bruins – on each sleeve and along the waist.  The white jersey stripes are in a red-gold-black-gold-red pattern while the black jersey stripes are red-gold-white-gold-red.

On the white jersey, the numbers and captain’s letters are black with a gold outline, while player names are black without an outline.  The black jersey features red lettering with a gold outline for all letters and numbers.

The player names are in a custom italicized font.

The backs of the new Grand Rapids Griffins jerseys. (Credit: Grand Rapids Griffins)

The shoulders still feature the Winged Wheel logo and the Griffins’ GRG shield logo.  The GRG shield – which is currently red, black, and silver – will reportedly be updated to feature more gold for the 2025-26 season.

This is the first time since 2016 that the Griffins have updated their uniforms since 2016.  In 2015 they adopted their current logo and colors before switching the placement of red and silver on the jerseys a year later.

In general, I like the new jerseys better than the previous set.  I was never really a fan of the 2015/2016 set but they grew on me over the years.

Since rebranding DH.N in 2019 to include red and gold, I’ve really become a fan of that combination, and I mostly like what the Griffins are doing with it.

That said, I’m really not a fan of the italicized player names.  Additionally, the inconsistency of outlining the player name on the black jersey but not on the white jersey annoys me.  Similarly, the fact that the shoulder color pattern is red-black/white-gold but the sleeve/waist stripes are red-gold-black/white-gold-red is another inconsistency that bothers me.

Finally, waiting until next season to update the GRG shield logo on the shoulder just feels lazy to me.  Do it all at once or don’t do it at all.

I think swapping the shoulder yoke outlines and switching the lettering on the black jersey to white with a gold outline (no outline on the player name) would have been a better direction.  Alternately, I think this would have been a great opportunity to switch to a red dark jersey, which is something I pitched quite a few times back when the Griffins were doing their fan-designed jersey contests.

All-in-all, though, this is a pretty solid upgrade.