The Los Angeles Kings unveiled their new home and road jerseys on Wednesday, but if anyone was paying attention during the Stanley Cup playoffs – and surely many were among their fan base – they saw the direction the franchise intended to take with its latest rebrand.
In their three road games against Edmonton, the Kings wore their alternate white sweaters depicting the “chevron”-style logo that was originally introduced in 1988, with the arrival of Wayne Gretzky, and that have been featured periodically over the years. (While “chevron” is the official reference to the mark by the Kings, the logo’s angular features have also resembled that of automobile brand Chevrolet.)
That look is back by popular demand, replacing the “shield”-style look that the Kings introduced as an alternate in 2008-09 and then adopted as their main look at the start of the 2011-12 season. The Kings won the Stanley Cup twice in those uniforms and were more successful than they were Gretzky era. But you can never underestimate the pull of nostalgia.
“We’ve seen years of fans wearing that jersey, whether they had bought it recently through Mitchell & Ness or any of the other heritage brands, or had it back from the ’80s and ’90s when they first bought it and they still wear it,” Kings chief operating officer Kelly Cheeseman said. “When you come to a Kings game, for better or for worse, you see a plethora of jerseys out there from all the different eras. And that’s where it really formed our first instinct to start looking at the process when it was brought back, and we decided to wear them on the ice.
“We started utilizing companies that have gone undefeated as brand partners to sell new merchandise with that inspiration in it. You started seeing the popularity and also new generations and new fans from different areas of the city going, ‘That’s cool if you want to be a part of it.’”
Phillip Danault wears the new road jersey. (Courtesy of Los Angeles Kings)
Any surprise for Cheeseman about how a return to the 1990s-era look would be received has long since evaporated. In 2019-20, the Kings unveiled — to strong reviews from fans — their heritage jersey, which incorporated the chevron logo but with a “Forum blue” and gold scheme.
The Kings had other logo and uniform shifts through the late 1990s and into the 2000s, with a re-imagined modernized crown and the re-introduction of purple for a while. Purple officially was ditched for the 2011-12 season..
The shield — or “home plate” — look that was primarily black and white, with silver reduced to accent striping, wasn’t universally well-received. But hordes of Kings fans still bought the jerseys, and the sight of them worn at games was ubiquitous. New hockey sweaters also spark interest. But success also can influence the popularity of an item, and it didn’t hurt sales when the Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012, the first season of their full-time uniform shift, and then again in 2014.
So why shift away from it, if it is synonymous with success? The reception of the heritage jersey certainly played a huge part. But it was more than fans that drove the rebranding process, which started prior to the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020.
“Our players loved playing in that jersey,” Cheeseman said of the heritage jersey. “Feel good, play good. Getting their feedback is really important. We asked them, ‘You guys open to doing this?’ They were like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ … Their excitement level for playing in that Gretzky-era jersey as a group was really, really high. It was exciting to see.”
The Kings wore their heritage jerseys 15 times last season. Many players from the past and present – most notably the current leadership group and other long-term veterans – were consulted several months ago for feedback about a change. That helped shape the decision to wear the white alternates for Games 1, 2 and 5 against Edmonton, and to whet the appetite of the fan base.
“It was even the conspiracy theorists that thought we were going to walk out in Game 3 (at home) and have a new black one on with the brand,” Cheeseman said, laughing. “I think it led to where we’re headed, in the right direction.”
Are the new jerseys a direct pull from what Gretzky wore when he set the NHL’s goals and scoring records, or the Kings’ magical run to their first Cup Final in 1993? Mostly. There are slight differences between then and now, which Cheeseman concedes are “minimal.”
Quinton Byfield wears the new home jersey. (Courtesy of Los Angeles Kings)
“To the average eye, they will probably ask, ‘What’s the difference?’,” he continued. “To the casual fan, to the fan that maybe comes one or twice a year or once every three years, then maybe it’s, ‘Oh, the Kings are wearing the 90s logo now.’ But to the super-fan and to the hardcore, they’ll notice all the differences. Shapes and shadings. Stripes and crowns and all that stuff, and that’s where it gets fun.”
The most noticeable difference is in the official logo. It is inspired by the past, but there are alterations. The “KINGS” word-mark along with the left and right edges are not as sharply angled as the previous version. Fewer “speed lines” extending from the letters, to represent motion, are being used.
The black and white outline is thicker, and the black “Los Angeles,” on top of a lighter shade of silver base, is in a different, bolder font. The crown is the most noticeable change, as it is more reflective of the original that debuted with their 1967-68 expansion season and was used up until Gretzky’s arrival. Also, black numbers will be used on the white jerseys instead of silver. (The Kings switched from silver numbers to black in 1992-93). Sleeve numbers that were on the armbands in the 90s are located higher up in this version.
The Kings teamed with Delaware-based House Industries for this mark. An initial month of meetings stretched across two years. There were countless mockups to agonize over. Fanatics, which is taking over as the NHL’s official jersey provider, allowed the Kings and Anaheim Ducks to proceed with their rebranding since the teams were already deep into the process.
“I can’t venture to guess how much time and effort (House) put into it,” Cheeseman said. “Many different iterations. Fonts. Essentially many different looks that were not even close to what we landed on. That’s what you go through. Interviews with alumni, past broadcasters. Lot of people that we gave them access to and they went into our archives. Really dug through things to land on the final product before we brought it to our leadership and then ultimately to our ownership to stamp it and say, ‘All right, let’s go.’”
This Kings home-jersey look is now a thing of the past. (Harry How / Getty Images)
There will not be an alternate jersey for 2024-25, but Cheeseman said it’s expected one will be worn in 2025-26. Matte black helmets will be used with their home jerseys instead of those with a glossier finish. The shiny silver helmets, or “chrome domes,” that the Kings deployed on occasion will disappear for now.
This reveal also ends any hope of the Kings returning to Forum blue and gold as a primary color scheme. There’s still strong sentiment for that scheme, and Cheeseman emphasized that the Kings remain proud of their original look. He pointed to occasions when throwback jerseys were used, for their 30th anniversary season or on “Legends Nights.”
There was discussion of a return to that scheme. But black, silver and white have been part of the Kings’ identity for even longer. It differentiates them from the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, and they’re the only team in Southern California using those colors, with the NFL’s Raiders long since gone. Cheeseman understands and takes seriously the emotional attachment that fans have to jerseys of their favorite teams. Emotion can run particularly deep when it comes to a hockey sweater.
“It’s fandom,” Cheeseman said. “Sports. It’s not rational. Being a fan of any team or anything this much, it doesn’t take a rational mindset to be that ingrained in something. But that’s what makes it great. For the fan that loves our jerseys that much and wants to look at it and our logos that much and wants to critique it or celebrate it, those are what we live for. That’s what we do this work for every day. And all of that was brought into consideration as we’re doing the research.
“Are we going to make everybody perfectly happy with this? Absolutely not. I’m hyper-focused that there’s going to be a group that want it to be purple and gold. We’re a black, silver and white team, but we’ve shown there’s flexibility in that for special instances. That’s what I think this brand really will celebrate and give us the flexibility over time.”
(Top photo courtesy of Los Angeles Kings)
