CLEVELAND, OH – The Cleveland Cavaliers will return to the court this season outfitted in new threads that feature the team’s refreshed brand identity introduced earlier this summer. Cavaliers Creative Director and internationally renowned contemporary artist Daniel Arsham oversaw the design process for the Cavs Nike Collection that includes the Association (white), Icon (wine) and Statement (black) core uniforms. The three jerseys will be worn on rotational basis beginning in the upcoming 2022-23 season.
The updated brand identity and logo collection was created to reflect today’s Cavs, a young and talented team defining a new era for the franchise. The new look brings back the reflective, shiny, proper Cavaliers Gold that originated in the early 80’s and re-emerged in the details of the 2003-10 uniforms.
“We wanted to put our players in a uniform that would make them feel strong, confident and proud to represent this new chapter of Cavaliers basketball,” said Arsham. “It’s a very clean, reductive, modern design that pays homage to all of the players and fans that have been a part of our team’s remarkable journey in becoming who we are today.”
The uniforms will feature new patch partner Cleveland-Cliffs, the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. Earlier this year, the Cavs and Cleveland-Cliffs expanded their existing multi-year marketing agreement, which included putting the Cliffs logo on the Cavs player uniforms beginning in the 2022-23 season. Since 1847, Cliffs has been headquartered in downtown Cleveland, less than a half a mile from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Cleveland-Cliffs is the only steel company to have a jersey patch partnership within the NBA.
“Our creative team has been working on the evolution of our brand and uniforms for some time. We are excited to now share this new on-court look with our fans, especially as anticipation builds for the upcoming season around the potential of this young and exciting squad,” said Chris Kaiser, Cavaliers senior vice president and chief marketing officer.“There is also a great deal of pride to have Cleveland-Cliffs represented on the new uniforms and part of the literal ‘fabric’ of our team. The threads of this partnership are real and natural, and we know that organic hometown connection will shine brightly on a national and international stage each time our players step on the court.”
The Association, Icon and Statement uniforms were uniquely designed with seamless, monochromatic layering around the collar, arms, shorts and waistbands.
The white Association uniform is accented in wine and gold and shows off a new secondary “V net” logo centerpiece on the jersey top and refreshed primary “Cavs C” logo on the shorts.
The new “CLEVELAND” wordmark is featured in gold on the chest of the wine Icon uniform and the primary “Cavs C” logo can be found of the left shorts panel.
The Jordan-branded Statement uniform, inspired by the iconic uniforms worn during the Cavs first NBA Championship in 2016, displays the “Cavs C” logo on a black shell, while the side paneling of the shorts features the secondary logo.
Additionally, all three uniforms feature a gold patch on the back center collar with the number “1” positioned inside an outline of the Larry O’Brien trophy – a standard feature on the uniforms of all teams that have won an NBA championship.
