The New Orleans Pelicans, along with many of their NBA brethren, have released their new City Edition (CE) uniforms for the 2024-2025 NBA season.

Let’s start with the hype video:

#Pelicans The City Edition uniforms are here 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hn24AuQO0M

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 14, 2024

According to the team, the new uniforms are “inspired by the city’s rich cultural heritage, the updated uniforms build on the success of last season’s design and incorporate new elements that reflect the dynamic spirit of the Crescent City.”

I generally avoid parroting a team’s press release when reviewing uniforms, and yes, the Pelicans have some cringe-worthy stories, but overall it’s a clear description of how these uniforms came to be.

“Inspired by the nightlife and culture of New Orleans.” The new uniforms feature an updated color palette, including vibrant purple and bright green, representing the glowing lights and energy of New Orleans nightlife. The addition of gold and dark purple takes the design further to the next level, combining traditional elements with modern flair.

“Design features: a fusion of tradition and modernity.” The City Edition uniform is inspired by iconic elements of New Orleans typography and architecture, creating a visually striking blend of old and new. The custom fonts seen throughout the uniform are influenced by the signature typography found throughout the city, while still incorporating the angular block letter treatment of the Pelicans’ core brand.

“Colors and patterns.” The design’s primary colors, vibrant purple and bright green, are a nod to the energy of the streets of New Orleans after dark, while the introduction of gold and dark purple gives the uniform a more sophisticated touch. The new herringbone pattern woven into the fabric is a subtle yet powerful tribute to the city’s culture.

“Wordmarks and Fonts.” Inspired by local typography, the uniform’s fonts reflect New Orleans’ rich artistic history while staying true to the Pelicans’ brand identity with sharp, angular letterforms.

“Waistband logos.” The logo on the waistband features a partial version of the Crescent City Basketball logo, now skeletonized to complement the unique ‘Skelican’ design on the shorts. The Skelican, a pelican with skeletal bones, returns to enhance the uniform’s bold, sharp aesthetic.

“Jock Tag.” A notable feature of this season’s uniform is that the jock tag features the words “New Orleans” written in letters formed from bones, a playful yet powerful symbol of the city’s history and resilience.

The team did a good job of turning the story elements into graphics, which are below:

I like the pattern formed by the bones. The team calls it “skelican”.

If you watched the video, and you have somewhat As can be seen from the images above, it appears that the team has used reflective material that is particularly visible under blacklight.

How practical this is remains to be seen, but it plays into the voodoo/creepy feeling the uniform is trying to convey.

The Pelicans will debut the new City Edition uniform on November 27, 2024 against the Toronto Raptors. The team will also have a special edition court that will be used when the CE uniforms are worn. You can view more photos of the uniform here.

This seems like another nice (albeit completely unnecessary) CE uniform. As you may know, I’m a fan of bright colors, especially when they’re used as accents on uniforms. I’m not sure if I need the highlighter colors to glow under blacklight, but the bright purple and green will work well on this uniform. It looks like the designers had fun with this uniform. Leaving all the stories behind, I definitely like this one as a uniform.

Your thoughts?