The Los Angeles Rams are set to unveil a “brand refresh” next week, marking “the next evolution of the team’s visual identity” as the franchise moves into the second decade of their relocation back to California. What was wrong with the last evolution? The ones that happened in 2016. And 2020. And has included “modern throwbacks” in 2021, and “rivalries” uniforms in 2025 (as part of a league-wide initiative to sell even more jerseys), and tweaks to the road uniforms in 2022, and two additional alternates
in 2026.
The Rams average a “visual identity change” of some kind once every 1.8 years since the team moved back to L.A..
It has to stop. It’s not a refresh, it’s not a rebrand, it’s not symbolic.
It’s capitalism. And fans have to stop enabling them.
If you bought a Myles Garrett jersey after he was traded to the Rams, that $150 investment could serve you well. For now. It could also soon look as dated in 2027 as the 2016 St. Louis Rams uniforms looked in 2021, or as dated as the 1999 uniforms looked by 2009. Soon it will be time for another $150 jersey.
Of course, the Rams uniforms from 1969 are not “dated”. They’re “classic”.
The Greatest Show uniforms are not “dated” either. They’re “retro”.
Even whatever the ugliest version of the uniforms is that you can remember, they won’t be “dated”. They’ll be “ironically awesome”.
The justification for more new uniforms will always be there, but the consistency to choose something and stick with it for 10 years won’t be.
But the Rams uniforms are no longer about a meaning or a symbol or a redesign to update an ugly interior like you would a restaurant that hasn’t changed in 30 years. No, the Rams uniforms have become:
Fast Fashion.
What is “fast fashion”? Per McKinsey and Company:
“Fast fashion retailers move, well, faster than their traditional counterparts do. This means that they compress production cycles and turn out up-to-the-minute designs, enabling shoppers to not only expand their wardrobes but also refresh them quickly—and cheaply.
The fast fashion industry, for all its extraordinary growth, is also responsible for considerable waste. People are buying more clothes than ever: by 2030, global apparel consumption is projected to rise 63 percent, to 102 million tons. And fast fashion consumers are quick to throw clothes away.“
The “complete rebrand” that the Rams announced in 2020, which Kevin Demoff said at the time would represent the team’s past and future, is barely over the threshold of being a change that the team COO said would take time to appreciate:
“The most exciting part of this for me, and I hope for Rams fans, is it blends the best of our pasts with what we believe is the best of our future,” said Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer. “I’m sure it will be a surprise, it will be change, but lots of things are and I think it’s a change that our fans will come to know and love over time.”
Now the team’s marketing director says this change will last for a decade:
“As we look ahead to the next decade of Rams football in LA, this refresh is about sharpening what already defines us,” said Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick, Chief Marketing Officer, Los Angeles Rams. “It’s a modern refinement—elevating our identity with clarity and purpose while carrying our history forward, and matching the toughness, precision and competitiveness of our team.”
But are the Rams counting on anyone to be doing checks and balances to confirm if that will actually be true in 10 years? Or five years? Or 1.8 years?
The statements are also basically exactly the same, just said differently and six years apart by different people.
This time, the Rams have made changes to the chest area, the pant stripes, added white pants, jersey sleeve, and neck tag, while retiring bone away jerseys. The primary uniform will look largely the same to untrained eyes, but different enough for last season’s garb to be outdated, as well as two alternates unveiled next week.
But the biggest mystery of all:
Who are these changes actually for?
It’s never made sense to me why jersey and uniform articles are so popular, but NFL fans consistently eat them up, speculate about future redesigns, and make it impossible for teams like the Rams to not squeeze more juice out of the lemon as fans practically beg them to keep creating more styles and style news.
Clearly the market is out there somewhere, even if I’m not into it and many of you reading this aren’t into it, so the Rams will continue to make changes, probably at an even faster rate as we move into that “future” that Demoff was talking about. Because to quote another Kevin in Hollywood…
If you redesign it, they will come buy it.
