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On an otherwise typical afternoon last fall, prototype Tennessee football uniforms by Adidas were slipped into Neyland Stadium and the gates were closed behind them.
It was a need-to-know operation.
Alicia Longworth, UT athletics chief marketing officer, and her creative team carried the package they were all eager to open.
At the time, UT was finishing its final year with Nike, but it was preparing to launch a 10-year contract with Adidas as its official apparel on July 1, 2026.
Adidas had just shipped prototype uniforms from its North American headquarters in Portland, Oregon, to Knoxville as its first attempt at the Vols’ unique tone of orange.
Specifically, the orange is Pantone 151C. But different fabrics and lighting display the color differently, so Longworth’s team brought those uniforms into Neyland Stadium to see how they looked in a gameday setting.
They looked at them in daylight. They looked at them under stadium lights at night. They looked at them on the green grass and how the orange paired with white.
Those uniforms weren’t meant for the public eye, at least not yet. The boxes in which they were carried didn’t reveal the contents inside. And they weren’t opened until the coast was clear.
No players were allowed to see the uniforms at that time out of fear that a photo of the prototypes could leak onto social media.
“We’re creative and branding folks, so it’s not like we do covert ops missions that often. But it kind of felt like that,” said Longworth, acknowledging the humor of the situation.
“At a place like Tennessee with a brand this size and a fan base this passionate, we all get a little anxious about it. Getting the color orange right was the first thing that we needed to do.”
Tennessee will unveil its new Adidas uniforms in multiple sports with daily releases on social media: Orange uniforms on July 6; white uniforms on July 7; Summitt blue uniforms for select women’s sports on July 8; dark mode football uniforms on July 9.
New Adidas merchandise will hit stores on July 10, and more products will be added throughout the football season.
Uniforms are usually designed more than a year in advance, so Adidas had to work quickly after UT signed the apparel contract that ended an 11-year relationship with Nike.
In August, UT’s creative team handed over its uniform designs to Adidas. And Adidas brought fabric samples to campus to review.
In September, Adidas started shipping prototype uniforms to UT. The covert operation to see the uniforms in Neyland Stadium was repeated in Food City Center to evaluate prototype basketball uniforms and in Lindsey Nelson Stadium for baseball uniforms and Sherri Parker Lee Stadium for softball uniforms.
Each fabric and lighting presented different challenges at getting the orange just right.
The uniforms were reviewed and critiqued by UT’s creative teams. Tweaks were made. Coaches and athletics director Danny White approved them.
In October, the Adidas uniforms for 2026-27 were finalized. Then work immediately began on the 2027-28 uniforms.
Due to the time crunch, UT’s creative team gave Adidas the uniform designs for the 2026-27 season. However, it will be more of a collaborative effort beginning with the 2027-28 uniforms.
UT retains creative control and final approval in all instances.
Switching from Nike to Adidas was initially a questionable decision for some fans.
But UT argued that Adidas made a financial offer too good to refuse. Neither side has disclosed terms of the deal, but Yahoo Sports reported that its value would be at least $10 million annually in product and cash.
Plus, Adidas promised to make UT a flagship program of its brand, and it comes with a strong emphasis on signing college athletes to NIL deals.
UT administrators say that Adidas has exceeded those expectations in the past 11 months in anticipation of the launch.
“It’s definitely been what we signed up for,” White said. “Adidas has an innovative leadership group, particularly as it relates to the modernization of college sports and the importance of NIL. They prioritize college and high school athletes, and that’s our wheelhouse. And they’re prioritizing the Tennessee brand.”
Adidas placed a brand representative on campus last fall. UT’s creative team has daily calls and meetings with every branch of Adidas, including marketing specialists and sports-specific staff.
"No matter what time we call or what question we’re asking, they’ve been responsive,” Longworth said. “They have certainly treated us like we’re a top-tier partner of theirs.”
The lucrative Adidas contract will help fund UT’s revenue sharing pool to pay athletes.
Plus, Adidas prioritizes college sports, so its relationship with UT should grease the wheels toward bigger NIL marketing campaigns for the Vols’ most prominent athletes. At Nike, most of those opportunities were reserved for NFL and NBA players.
White said he’s been impressed by Adidas’ collaborative and aggressive NIL strategy.
“We have an NIL (operations) team. Adidas has an NIL (operations) team. And those people are talking daily,” White said.
“And I learned after we started talking with Adidas (during negotiations) that they already had active NIL deals with some of our student-athletes even though we were a school with another brand.”
Also, every UT athlete will be eligible to participate in Adidas’ NIL Ambassador Network, which touts more than 12,000 college athletes who earn a percentage of the sales they drive for key products and campaigns.
The NIL Ambassador Network is only available to athletes at Adidas-partnered Division I schools.
“I think the vast majority of our fans are savvy enough to realize that if Adidas makes us a priority, that has inherent advantages,” White said. “I think our fans will rally around that.”
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Tennessee secretly designed new Adidas uniforms and when you’ll see them
Continue reading...
It was a need-to-know operation.
Alicia Longworth, UT athletics chief marketing officer, and her creative team carried the package they were all eager to open.
At the time, UT was finishing its final year with Nike, but it was preparing to launch a 10-year contract with Adidas as its official apparel on July 1, 2026.
Adidas had just shipped prototype uniforms from its North American headquarters in Portland, Oregon, to Knoxville as its first attempt at the Vols’ unique tone of orange.
Specifically, the orange is Pantone 151C. But different fabrics and lighting display the color differently, so Longworth’s team brought those uniforms into Neyland Stadium to see how they looked in a gameday setting.
They looked at them in daylight. They looked at them under stadium lights at night. They looked at them on the green grass and how the orange paired with white.
Those uniforms weren’t meant for the public eye, at least not yet. The boxes in which they were carried didn’t reveal the contents inside. And they weren’t opened until the coast was clear.
No players were allowed to see the uniforms at that time out of fear that a photo of the prototypes could leak onto social media.
“We’re creative and branding folks, so it’s not like we do covert ops missions that often. But it kind of felt like that,” said Longworth, acknowledging the humor of the situation.
“At a place like Tennessee with a brand this size and a fan base this passionate, we all get a little anxious about it. Getting the color orange right was the first thing that we needed to do.”
Here's when Tennessee will unveil new Adidas uniforms
Tennessee will unveil its new Adidas uniforms in multiple sports with daily releases on social media: Orange uniforms on July 6; white uniforms on July 7; Summitt blue uniforms for select women’s sports on July 8; dark mode football uniforms on July 9.
New Adidas merchandise will hit stores on July 10, and more products will be added throughout the football season.
Uniforms are usually designed more than a year in advance, so Adidas had to work quickly after UT signed the apparel contract that ended an 11-year relationship with Nike.
In August, UT’s creative team handed over its uniform designs to Adidas. And Adidas brought fabric samples to campus to review.
In September, Adidas started shipping prototype uniforms to UT. The covert operation to see the uniforms in Neyland Stadium was repeated in Food City Center to evaluate prototype basketball uniforms and in Lindsey Nelson Stadium for baseball uniforms and Sherri Parker Lee Stadium for softball uniforms.
Each fabric and lighting presented different challenges at getting the orange just right.
The uniforms were reviewed and critiqued by UT’s creative teams. Tweaks were made. Coaches and athletics director Danny White approved them.
In October, the Adidas uniforms for 2026-27 were finalized. Then work immediately began on the 2027-28 uniforms.
Due to the time crunch, UT’s creative team gave Adidas the uniform designs for the 2026-27 season. However, it will be more of a collaborative effort beginning with the 2027-28 uniforms.
UT retains creative control and final approval in all instances.
How Adidas prioritizes Tennessee as flagship program
Switching from Nike to Adidas was initially a questionable decision for some fans.
But UT argued that Adidas made a financial offer too good to refuse. Neither side has disclosed terms of the deal, but Yahoo Sports reported that its value would be at least $10 million annually in product and cash.
Plus, Adidas promised to make UT a flagship program of its brand, and it comes with a strong emphasis on signing college athletes to NIL deals.
UT administrators say that Adidas has exceeded those expectations in the past 11 months in anticipation of the launch.
“It’s definitely been what we signed up for,” White said. “Adidas has an innovative leadership group, particularly as it relates to the modernization of college sports and the importance of NIL. They prioritize college and high school athletes, and that’s our wheelhouse. And they’re prioritizing the Tennessee brand.”
Adidas placed a brand representative on campus last fall. UT’s creative team has daily calls and meetings with every branch of Adidas, including marketing specialists and sports-specific staff.
"No matter what time we call or what question we’re asking, they’ve been responsive,” Longworth said. “They have certainly treated us like we’re a top-tier partner of theirs.”
How Adidas could help Tennessee pay NIL to athletes
The lucrative Adidas contract will help fund UT’s revenue sharing pool to pay athletes.
Plus, Adidas prioritizes college sports, so its relationship with UT should grease the wheels toward bigger NIL marketing campaigns for the Vols’ most prominent athletes. At Nike, most of those opportunities were reserved for NFL and NBA players.
White said he’s been impressed by Adidas’ collaborative and aggressive NIL strategy.
“We have an NIL (operations) team. Adidas has an NIL (operations) team. And those people are talking daily,” White said.
“And I learned after we started talking with Adidas (during negotiations) that they already had active NIL deals with some of our student-athletes even though we were a school with another brand.”
Also, every UT athlete will be eligible to participate in Adidas’ NIL Ambassador Network, which touts more than 12,000 college athletes who earn a percentage of the sales they drive for key products and campaigns.
The NIL Ambassador Network is only available to athletes at Adidas-partnered Division I schools.
“I think the vast majority of our fans are savvy enough to realize that if Adidas makes us a priority, that has inherent advantages,” White said. “I think our fans will rally around that.”
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Tennessee secretly designed new Adidas uniforms and when you’ll see them
Continue reading...
