The Best and Worst Dressed NFL Players

Here at Joseph Wendt Custom Clothiers, we have a bit of an obsession with football. We can’t wait for the season to hurry up and get here! Our love for football has even landed us a few big name clients. Former NFL Star and Current TV Anyalyst, Michael Strahan wears our suits! St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Jake Long also ordered his wedding wear from us. NFL superstars Darrelle Revis and Adrian Peterson also got their custom suits from Joseph. We love combining our passion for the NFL with our love of creating great-fitting suits.

Kerry Rhodes

There is a huge movement in sports for athletes to look professional both on and off the field. Players that used to wear ill-fitting clothing for press events, are now ordering custom three piece suits. We love seeing these athletes in perfectly fitted suits, especially ours!

Larry Fitzgerald

Now that so many athletes are expected to wear fashionable clothing, there is a growing trend of creating their own look. Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals has been known to rock three piece suits. He also adds a bit of flair with bright shirts and pocket squares. Fitzgerald’s teammate Kerry Rhodes is also known for his off the field style.

Terrell Suggs in a not so formal, black tie outfit

Although there are many NFL stars making fashion statements off the field, many are not hitting the mark. Terrell Suggs made an impression at a black tie event, though not a favorable one. His white blazer choice puzzled many. Who wears a white blazer with dark black stripes? He also didn’t bother tying his bow tie. Michael Vick didn’t bother wearing a full suit for this event. Luckily nobody in the crowd could see his legs or those sandals! We hope he has a full suit for events where he’s not standing behind a podium.

It’s important for NFL players to present themselves well off the field. Many NFL franchises are paying for their star power. Being well dressed is an important part of this persona. Any athletes out there reading this should definitely come to Jospeh’s for their custom suit needs! Just ask any of our former clients how much they love their outfits.

NFL Draft 2014 – Fashion Recap

The 2014 NFL Draft did not disappoint. The best part of the Draft is the realization that the NFL season is nearly upon us! But as we know, the Draft is more than about football. The red carpet is rolled out and these men show up in one-of-a-kind custom suits. For more than 20 years, Joseph Wendt Custom Clothiers has worked directly with professional athletes including over 100 NFL players and head coaches. So, as you can imagine, I have a vested interest in seeing what the up and coming stars are wearing.

Virginia tackle Morgan Moses poses for photos with his mother Marion Graves upon arriving for the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft

Justin Gilbert made a big statement showing up in a light-colored suit for an evening event — but it without a doubt paid off. Gilbert looks amazing and fresh in his light blue ensemble, and the red accents in his pocket square and tie are the perfect slash of color!

Mike Evans also got lucky with his color combinations. I admire his bravery to mix patterns between shirt and tie.

Southwest Florida’s very own Sammy Watkins kept it simple and classy with his draft-day outfit, and the subtle plaid pattern of his suit made it one of my favorites of the night.

Jadeveon Clowney knew well before the draft that he was going to be holding up a Texans jersey, because that tie matches the his new jersey well. The rest of his accessories are sleek and simple.

CJ Mosley is making a bold choice with the patterned bow-tie and light suit. I’m always happy to see a non-black suit make its way into the sea of traditional mens formal wear.

Why Custom?

Custom tailoring is almost a lost art, but there’s nothing like having a suit designed to your exact specifications and body or wowing other gala goers with a one-of-a-kind suit no other man in the ballroom

 — let alone the world — could be wearing.

I have earned a loyal following among business leaders, executives and major NFL players whose sheer size can create additional measurement challenges. All of them realize the benefits of having their clothes custom-made.

So why custom? Naples is a small town and you don’t want to run into anyone else with the same suit, which is why I only make one suit with each fabric. If you buy a Joseph Wendt custom suit, you won’t see it on anyone else!

I think a lot of men don’t realize the tremendous power of dressing well and being unique. It’s an absolute advantage when you utilize it. I have always said, clothing is psychology. It’s a visual psychology versus a verbal psychology, but it’s totally psychology.

Plus, fit is so important, and it’s hard to get that with a department store suit. It’s so difficult to get that perfect fit with a suit you buy off the rack. That’s another reason, custom is key. I understand that young guys just starting out need a bunch of suits and maybe have to go to Men’s Wearhouse or a department store. If you do have to buy off the rack, make sure you spend time to have it properly tailored.

Joseph Wendt Custom Clothier now offers tailoring services at our Fifth Avenue South store. Tailoring services are available during business hours to assist customers with altering suits and dress shirts, resizing and hemming pants, re-lining jackets or pants, special occasion dresses and more. Customers are asked to call ahead for an appointment, but walk-ins will be accepted. Call (239) 530-0070 to make a reservation, or visit our Fifth Avenue South store, located in Downtown Naples, Florida.

Stylish in the NFL

Our own intrepid leader, Joey Wendt, attended the 2014 NFL Owners’ meetings in Orlando this week, where all of the NFL’s coaches, managers, GMs and owners were putting their heads together to discuss the future of the League.  We’ve dressed a lot of NFL players and personnel in our time, and Joey is always out there making sure that the NFL’s finest are looking their best!

In honor of the occasion, let’s take a look back at some of the NFL’s most stylishly sartorial men from over the League’s long history.  Let’s be honest, being stylish and in the NFL is a relatively recent development (which we’d like to think we had something to do with! :D), so most of these guys are of a recent vintage.

CAM NEWTON

VICTOR CRUZ

DAN MARINO

TOM BRADY

REGGIE BUSH

 

HANK STRAM

JOE NAMATH

ADRIAN PETERSON

TIKI BARBER

BRAYLON EDWARDS

TOM LANDRY

JIM BROWN

#100

It’s our 100th post!  …Sort of.  There were two posts there that were lost to time, so this is our 98th completed post, but, you know what?  Whatever, let’s celebrate early!  When we started this blog back in October 2011, we had two stores, one on Long Island and one in Manhattan, we were called “Joseph’s Custom Clothiers,” our colors were red and white, and we had never written a single blog entry before.  What a difference two and a half years makes!  Now we have two stores, on in a different part of Long Island and one in Naples, FL, we’re called “Joseph Wendt Custom Clothiers,” our colors are dark blue and gold, and we’ve written 100 of these things!  Let’s take a look back at 100 entries, and pick out some of our favorite, as we look forward to the next 100!

Your Sartorial Foundation – December 28, 2011

A look at the perfect base for your menswear wardrobe.

Halftime?! – February 8, 2012

A comical look at how far the Super Bowl Halftime Show has come over the years.

Weddings 101: The Ring – February 22, 2012

The first part in our comprehensive three-part series on preparing for the big day!

Perception is Power – March 14, 2012

A look at how what you wear can influence everything everyone is thinking about you.

Fashion of the Future! – April 14, 2012

A look at what people, past and present, thought the future would be wearing.

Shoes: From Ugly to Outstanding – May 16, 2012

A history and overview of that oft overlooked part of the men’s wardrobe: the shoe.

The Happiest Place on Earth: The DMV! – May 30, 2012

An overview on making that license picture better than it usually turns out!

Expansion, Contraction and Relocation (Not of Waistlines!) – September 25, 2012

An in-depth, absurdest look at the strange history and future of NFL teams on the move.

Bond, James Bond, Part 1: The Ian Fleming Novels (1953-1962) – October 5, 2012

The first part of our 4-part James Bond fashion introspective, this part covered the pre-film novelized Bond, and tastes of his deeply sartorial creator, Ian Fleming.

Ties, Ties, and More Ties! – December 7, 2012

All about ties, from top to bottom.

Revenge of the English Shooting Jacket – March 25, 2013

Full coverage of the history and usages of the English shooting jacket.

Starfleet Fashions: Semper Exploro! – May 23, 2013

We went super nerdy here, with a full look at Starfleet uniforms from the “Star Trek” franchise in celebration of the 2013 release of “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

The Four Major Tie Knots (Plus One) – June 28, 2013

A look at the four most common necktie knots, and when and where to wear them.

Women’s Menswear – July 26, 2013

A look at the history and current trend of fashionable women wearing clothing styles traditionally worn by men.

Best and Worst NFL Uniforms – August 20, 2013

A humorous look at the best and worst of the usually stolid and sometimes insane NFL uniform.

Bow Ties 101 – February 27, 2014

A look at the always overlooked bow tie, and how to wear it.

Here’s to 100 more, everyone!

NFL Fandom Post-Mortem

Football fans that we are, after an incredibly lopsided Super Bowl, we need a little bit of NFL fun before we let football go into hibernation for another six months.  So let’s take a look at how football fans broke down across the country during the NFL Playoffs this year.  Facebook compiled this data last year, and we shared it then, you might recall.  It was an amazing set of maps, shading each county by what team had the most fans of that team on Facebook in that county, and then doing the same for each round of the Playoffs.  They did it a little differently this time, shading the counties by percentage of fans for a specific team in a specific game in the Playoffs.  Just like last time, there’s some weird stuff in there, like random pockets of Seahawks fans in South Jersey, so let’s dive right in and have some fun!

DIVISIONAL ROUND – SAINTS AT SEAHAWKS

DIVISIONAL ROUND – COLTS AT PATRIOTS

DIVISIONAL ROUND – 49ERS AT PANTHERS

DIVISIONAL ROUND – CHARGERS AT BRONCOS

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – 49ERS AT SEAHAWKS

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP – PATRIOTS AT BRONCOS

SUPER BOWL XLVIII – SEAHAWKS AT BRONCOS

 

Living Far From Sports

As we’ve said many times in the past (especially when it’s football season, but then, we’re biased), we’re big fans of sports.  But being in two locations, one of which is in the largest metro area in the United States, makes us very lucky.  We have so many teams to choose from!  Our Huntington showroom is well within “fan territory” of 9 New York-based and 1 New Jersey-based major league sports teams, and our Naples office is inside the fan range of both the 3 Tampa-area teams and the 4 Miami-area teams.  Throw in an Orlando team for good measure!  The point is, we have an embarrassment of sports riches, but not everyone is so lucky.  The folks over at Deadspin put together a great little study that shows exactly what we mean.  They ran calculations to figure out the range at which two-thirds of all Americans live from a particular member of the “Big Five’s” major league sports teams.  Here’s what they came up with, in map form:

Smallest metro with team: Columbus (2.3 million, 28th-largest)
Largest metro without team: Miami (6.4 million, ninth-largest)

Smallest metro with team: Buffalo (1.2 million, 50th-largest)
Largest metro without team: Houston (6.4 million, 10th-largest)

Smallest metro with team: Milwaukee (2 million, 33rd-largest)
Largest metro without team: Portland (3 million, 19th-largest)

Smallest metro with team: Oklahoma City (1.4 million, 46th-largest)
Largest metro without team: Seattle (4.4 million, 13th-largest)

Smallest metro with team: Green Bay (population 357,000, 103rd-largest metro area)
Largest metro without team: Los Angeles (18.2 million, second-largest)

In short, if you’re a football fan or basketball fan, odds are good you’re not TOO far from a team.  Soccer fans and hockey fans aren’t so lucky.  Check out the full article for some more insights, and happy cheering!

Unused NFL Logos

It’s the height of the football season, so let’s take another quick trip into the world of the NFL.  The last couple of times we were here we took a look at some of the more questionable design choices of the current NFL…

No comment.

What about logos, though?  Those contribute just as much to the overall “feel” of a team’s image as the uniform designs themselves do.  The NFL is very good at logo continuity and integrity, especially compared to some other leagues.

We’re looking at you, NHL.

But what about the logos that we almost got?  The lost logos of the NFL, if you will?  …Well, let’s just say there was a reason they were lost.

Seattle Seahawks

Seattle’s less-than-threatening mascot, a sea hawk, better known as an osprey, never lent itself well to logo design with its small head and ruffled feathers.

Less “scary football player,” more “eccentric college professor.”

The Seahawks did their best with this slightly sleepy looking osprey head for many years, mostly relying on the strength of their great color scheme to get by.

In 2002, the team decided to do a makeover to bring the logo more in-line with modern team logos.  They came up with this:

An improvement to be sure, with the osprey looking genuinely ready to kick butt.  Ultimately, they rejected it, opting instead to go with this…

Otherwise known as the exact same logo with a different helmet color.  Well, not all of these are going to be that drastic, right?  After all, NFL teams aren’t crazy.  They wouldn’t go completely off the deep end, right?

Indianapolis Colts

…Okay, maybe they would.  For many, many years, this has been the logo of the Colts, both in Baltimore and in Indianapolis.

For the 2001 Season, the team wanted something new, something exciting, something that just screamed “Indiana” and “Indianapolis” and “not hideous.”  How could they go wrong, with one of the simplest, cleanest logos and color combos?  They couldn’t possibly muck this one–

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!  KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!

What the heck are we even looking at here??  The blue has gone purplish, the font design is lifted from a cereal box, and the horse head is some sort of terrifying, abstract Picasso-esque monstrosity!  What were they thinking?  Thankfully for everyone, the Colts didn’t go with this, instead choosing the following update:

A new, slightly darker blue.  Don’t mess with success, people.

New England Patriots

The Pats used to have a rather busy logo for their first few decades…

They didn’t replace it until 1996, but in 1978, someone in New England got the idea to toy with the logo.  After several different versions, here’s what the team almost went with.

Not bad, and definite shades of what they chose later…

But it looks more like a logo for a special branch of the US Postal Service than a football team.  Pass.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Oh, poor Jacksonville, here you are again.  Before deciding on the Jaguar head for the logo in their inaugural 1995 Season, the Jags had an entire logo and uniform set all ready to go from 1993 to late 1994 featuring a very different Jaguar…

A bit minimalist, and darker, without the aqua in the later logo.  We rather like this one, actually, and considering the extreme “’90s-ness” of the one they eventually went with…

And then updated this year…

We kind of would have liked to have seen how that other, more dignified logo would have fared over the years.

Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins started out with another AFL-staple clearly hand-drawn logo design, which they kept through the 1996 Season.

For 1997, the team finally wanted something new.  This…  This is what they came up with.

?????

Uh…  Well, if we’re talking airline livery…  Circa 1981…  Sure, good design.  But for an NFL team?  It looks like they swiped it from the dolphin enclosure at SeaWorld.  The logo was outdated the moment it was designed, and accentuates the orange and aqua of the Dolphins logo over the much more prominent and well-known lily-white.  The team scrapped it, opting instead to update its existing logo, making the titular dolphin more three-dimensional, well-defined…

..And crankier, apparently.

This year, the team went back to the abstract, with a logo that…  Looks more like the scrapped 1997 logo, actually.

Fly Dan Marino Airways!

Buffalo Bills

The Bills logo has been the same since 1974.  This familiar, sleek, and very functional design, that was actually rather ahead of its time in terms of logo design, looking for all the world like a logo from the late ’80s or early ’90s.

In 2002, the team tried to finally swap it out with a new logo, one that was less abstract, and referenced the “B” in “Buffalo Bills.”

Is it just us, or does this look like the logo of an investment firm?

It’s probably for the best that they stuck with the old logo…

San Francisco 49ers

You may know this logo well, it or some slight variation on it has been the 49ers logo for basically forever.

Did you know that in 1991, the team changed it, even going so far as to make entirely new helmets, and introducing the new logo and helmets at a press conference before the 1991 Season?  Why haven’t you ever heard of this?

This is why.

Yeah, the Bay Area basically went insane, demanding it be changed back.  The response was so overwhelmingly negative, the team did so just days later.

Cleveland Browns

Oh, my, where to start?  The Browns have never had a true logo, per se, always just being represented by their helmet, in one way…

Or another…

Or another…

Oh, come on, really?

The Browns have always had secondary logos, though, that served as something, anything, to put on products and flags for the fans, like…  Uh, “Brownie the Elf”?  What the heck?

Pictured: your childhood nightmares.

And then a “B” in a football…

And then a…  Dog face?  Because of the “Dawg Pound,” whose name has nothing to do with the team name or colors or city, but is actually because of a really obscure story involving Hanford Dixon, a Browns cornerback in the 1980s?

Well, he’s angry, at least.

Well.  Whatever they actually flirted with as an official logo in 1965 can’t be any worse than those, right?

Presenting your local high school football team.

Yeesh.  Go with the dog, guys.  He’s much better.

Best and Worst NFL Uniforms

Last week, we took a quick look at the three new uniforms being donned by NFL teams this year (we were fans of only the one).  Well, we’re another week closer to the official start of football season, so let’s take a look at the other 29 uniforms, too, and pick the three best and the three worst of them.

BAD

Cincinnati Bengals

This one is always controversial.  Some people love it, some people hate it, and no one is in-between.  We actually like the colors and the basic lines…  But the stripes.  Oh, the stripes.  This uniform makes the team look like they came onto the field via a time warp hidden inside your trapper keeper in 1987.  Considering the Bengals’ history since the ’80s ended, maybe that’s not surprising.  The helmet stripes aren’t that offensive, but using the pattern in place of stripes, like some kind of unholy union between football and the female cast of “The Jersey Shore”?  No, no, no.

GOOD

Oakland Raiders

Yeah, we’re pretty much required by football law to have this one on the “best” list.  It’s just a classic in every way.  Virtually unchanged in 40 years, and with good reason.  The colors are fantastic, the use of them is great, and balanced, the lines and fonts are old-fashioned, but in a wonderfully classic way, not a way that feels “old”…  Even the borderline absurd pirate logo is perfect (can you imagine what horrors would have come out of some ’90s or early 2000s redesign?).

TERRIBLE

Carolina Panthers

So, so dated.  The Panthers uniform is another that has barely changed over the years…  And that is not a good thing.  The Panthers debuted in 1995, and boy, does it show.  The stripes are too wide and awkwardly placed, and that fluorescent blue is eye damaging.

GREAT

Green Bay Packers

The Packers uniform almost always tops these sorts of lists.  They are, like the Raiders uniform, a perfect example of only making minor tweaks to an otherwise unchanging design over the decades to amazing effect.  The color combo of deep green and yellow is surprisingly pleasing to the eye (we dare you to try wearing street clothes that color and making it work), and the logo is as perfect as sports logos get.  The image of the uniform by itself automatically brings to mind images of Brett Favre, Bart Starr, Aaron Rogers, and the entire state of Wisconsin.

HORRIFYING

Jacksonville Jaguars

Oh, yes, here it is again.  Just like last week, this one is just the worst.  The worst of all 32, in fact.  As we said then, the almost embarrassing attempt to be “XTREEEEEM” is terribly done, with the absurd shoulder stripes, chest badge, and insane two-toned helmet.  It looks like something a supervillain in a comic book circa 1994 would wear.

FANTASTIC

Chicago Bears

Perfect, in every way.  The wonderful, old-fashioned stripes, the great combo of navy blue and burnt orange with white, the “GSH” label honoring George Hallas…  Classy from top to bottom.  The logo isn’t quite as good as the Packers logo, but it’s close.  And, a special bonus, it looks just as good in its road colors as in its home colors, something you don’t see often in the NFL.

New NFL Uniforms

Our beloved football season is almost here again, and what better way to celebrate than with a quick look at the minor “fashion” changes in the league this year.  Namely, the new uniforms three teams have adopted.  Let’s dive right in!

Minnesota Vikings

Very nice.  Very, very nice.  The Vikings have fully embraced their true purple color scheme now, eliminating the white and yellow highlights nearly across the board, and brightening the purple to a much more vibrant shade.  The leg stripes are gone altogether, while the sleeve stripes have been greatly minimized. There’s also some minor, nifty altered touches to the fonts on the uniforms, too.

The logo was only slightly changed, with the viking’s hair braids a bit looser, his horns a bit more curved.  Don’t mess with a classic!  This is  a pitch perfect modernization of an otherwise set-in-stone, and classic look.  Perfect.

Miami Dolphins

Less perfect, but still pretty good.  The colors appear to have been made more vibrant, just like the Vikings upgrade, and the fonts have been made more futuristic.  The orange in the uniforms has all but disappeared, relegated to only minor touches here and there.

The logo, on the other hand, has undergone a complete makeover, with the old dolphin, which had barely changed since the team’s inception, replaced with an entirely new one.  It’s in a different position than the old, and instead of leaning down, as if jumping through something, is now pointed upwards, soaring into a jump.  We’re not sure about it, it’s a bit bland, and the old logo, though it was kind of silly, was honestly lovable.

Jacksonville Jaguars

…Oh.  Oh, dear.  Well, points for trying something new, at least.  This one is a nearly complete overhaul, and virtually eliminates the teal in the uniform in favor of black and more black.  Do we really need another all-black uniform in the league?  But the minor details are a bit bonkers.  It looks like they’re trying to attract the middle school set…  Circa 1993.  Everything is XTREEEEM (if you were a kid in the late ’80s/early ’90s, you will instantly know what we mean)!  The spikes on the fonts, and the stripes on the shoulders look more at home on a supervillan than a football team.  And what’s with the sleeves being different colors?  We are not fans.

Agh!  What?  The logo has been updated a bit, with slightly altered, more rounded and realistic features on the Jaguar head: this we like.  But a two-tone helmet?  It’s unique, we’ll give them that, but it looks a little too much like a college team, to be honest.  They could look truly awful in bright Florida sunshine.