Heat unveils Miami Mashup uniform. The story behind the design and what fans need to know
The Miami Heat’s marketing and creative departments didn’t want to take a step back after its popular four-year Vice campaign came to an end last season.
So when the Heat learned that Nike’s City Edition uniforms for the 2021-22 season would include design elements from each team’s history as part of the league’s 75th anniversary celebration, the organization’s creative team went to work. But the initial concepts weren’t bold enough.
“My quote to the team was, ‘There’s nothing here that scares me. There’s nothing here that’s challenging us to follow Vice,’” Heat executive vice president and chief marketing officer Michael McCullough remembers. “And I wanted to be scared, and I wasn’t. So we set them back with the attitude of ‘break our own rules, and really come back with something that was groundbreaking and different.’”
The result is the Heat’s Miami Mashup City Edition uniform that was released Monday, which the team will wear debut in Thursday’s home game against the Boston Celtics.
As part of the reveal, the team described the new look in a press release: “The Miami Mashup uniform’s black base color provides the foundation for its Mashup-style “MIAMI” wordmark across the chest, which features assorted letter styles pulled from the team’s Miami Floridians, Classic Home and Road, Vice Nights, and Championship Ring Ceremony uniform sets. Below the wordmark appears the jersey’s front number, in a number style chosen by each Heat player. That same design aesthetic extends to the uniform’s shorts, which feature a Mashup-style “HEAT” wordmark on the lower right leg, as well as a multicolored version of the team’s classic “ball and flame” logo on the lower left leg.”
The uniforms also feature a thin “trophy gold” stripe that frames the combination of elements, which is a “nod to the infamous yellow ropes brought out seconds before ‘The Shot’ during the 2013 NBA Finals.” In addition, there’s a satin band running down the side of the uniform “that references the organization’s ‘black tie’ opening night event in November 1988” and the Heat’s championship years 2006, 2012 and 2013 are stacked vertically on the waistband of the shorts.
There’s also a “15 STRONG” wordmark on the bottom left of the front of the jersey to honor the “rallying cry used throughout the team’s 2006 championship run.”
“An amalgamation of all those moments in the past,” McCullough said when describing the uniform.
But the numbers are the most unique aspect of the Miami Mashup design, as the Heat is billing it as “the first uniform in professional sports to feature unique, individualized number styles across each player’s jersey.”
“This campaign is all about the numbers,” McCullough said.
For the first time ever, Heat players were given the opportunity to choose their own unique number styles to represent their number on their Miami Mashup uniform. The options included a collection of 72 different numbers across eight styles — pulling from the Hardwood Classics black and white uniforms, Back in Black uniform, the traditional core uniform set, the Floridians uniform, the Vice Nights uniform, the Trophy Ring Banner uniform worn on opening night following the 2013 championship and a 15 Strong numerical font.
Those options create 5,256 possible number style combinations to choose from.
For example, Heat center Bam Adebayo chose the Back in Black style for No. 1 and the Trophy Ring Banner style for No. 3 to make up the No. 13 on his Miami Mashup uniform.
“This is super exciting. It has never happened before,” McCullough said. “We had to fight to make it happen. I will say the manufacturer wasn’t that happy with us. But we knew we had something here and we really wanted to make this happen because we thought, ‘This is going to be a game changer for us.’”
Fans will be able to purchase the Miami Mashup “Player’s Choice” jerseys based on the number styles each player picked or they’ll be able to mix and match the number styles to customize their own jersey. Just like the players, fans will have 72 different numbers across eight different styles to choose from.
This customization option will be available for fans on www.miamiheatstore.com and at all Miami Heat store locations. The team also created the “Heat Jersey Lab” outside Section 112 at FTX Arena to offer fans an in-person opportunity to create their own Miami Mashup jersey during Heat home games.
“It’s about player numbers, but it’s about fan opportunity, too,” McCullough said. “We’re going to be the only retailer that is going to allow and offer customization. So what that means is we’re going to allow the fans to do exactly what the players do.
“We want people to pick their own. The beauty of this campaign is you can have a one-of-one Bam Adebayo jersey that no one else in the world has. That’s Miami. Everybody is an individual.”
All Miami Mashup merchandise will be available for in-person purchase beginning with the Heat’s Midnight Madness event at FTX Arena on Nov. 15 at midnight (the night of Nov. 14). All Heat store locations will also have the merchandise available for purchase on Nov. 15, along with the option of buying gear online at www.miamiheatstore.com.
There will also be a Miami Mashup court that will be used for designated Heat games at FTX Arena, which will also incorporate different aspects of the franchise’s history.
“For that infamous yellow-rope game, we brought the yellow ropes back and actually made it part of the court,” McCullough said. “So that is the out-of-bounds line, which gives the court a really cool touch. The black key is homage to the original Heat court, which also had a black lane. And then the Vice three-point line gives the court not only a little bit of color, but a lot of history, too.”
The Heat is scheduled to wear the Miami Mashup uniform in 22 games: Thursday vs. Celtics, Saturday vs. Jazz, Nov. 8 at Nuggets, Nov. 15 at Thunder, Nov. 17 vs. Pelicans, Nov. 18 vs. Wizards, Nov. 27 at Bulls, Dec. 4 at Bucks, Dec. 8 vs. Bucks, Dec. 21 vs. Pacers, Jan. 23 vs. Lakers, Jan. 28 vs. Clippers, Jan. 31 at Celtics, Feb. 3 at Raptors, Feb. 10 at Pelicans, Feb. 12 vs. Nets, March 2 at Bucks, March 11 vs. Cavaliers, March 12 vs. Timberwolves, March 25 vs. Knicks, March 26 vs. Nets and March 30 at Celtics.
“Tyler [Herro] said this is his favorite uniform, this even beats Vice,” said Jennifer Alvarez, the Heat’s vice president of creative and digital marketing. “Which really is incredible for us, because we recognize Tyler and just how fashion means so much to him. To know we’re hitting his particular design aesthetic and to have his endorsement was really, really great.”
For more information, visit Heat.com/Mashup.
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 10:01 AM.
