Posted on March 16, 2010 – 11:45 in Features | Nick
Mitchell and Ness
All pictures are scans from the Mitchell & Ness Catalogue
Probably a lot of people don’t know this today, but every uniform we see in professional sports, whether its a Nike football uniform or Adidas basketball uniform, none of these people own a single sewing machine. They are all contracted with manufactures scattered across the United States and throughout the world. Then they have the label on. What they are doing today is no different from what Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Ness did in the 1920s.
They happened to have a nice relationship with the Philadelphia Eagles and with Burt Bell, the first owner and first commissioner of the NFL. Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Ness outfitted the Philadelphia Eagles from 1933 to 1963. So, any uniforms you would see in the collectors market or at the Pro Football Hall of Fame of that period, they all have Mitchell & Ness labels at the neck or down on the front tail.
They also outfitted the Philadelphia Athletics from probably 1939 all the way to 1954 when the Athletics left Philadelphia and became the Kansas City Athletics for a few years, before becoming the Oakland Athletics. They didn’t do much basketball or hockey, it was mostly baseball and football.
Watch out for the 2nd part of this interview coming next week.
2 comments for “Mitchell and Ness”
Please note that not all sports leagues uniforms contract out their jerseys. Majestic Athletic make all of the on-field uniforms in their facility in Easton PA.
written by Charles Whitmore on 08. Apr, 2010