Bullfrog said:
But doesn't being obsolete make it more exclusive? You can say "and here's my jersey from the Sochi Olympics" instead of "here's my Getzlaf jersey, probably from Sochi, but maybe it was the Olympics before that? Can't remember."
Well, it's been a while since I wore jerseys but as far as I remember they weren't really talking points like that and, if they were, it would be more of a general "Here's my Team Canada jersey" sort of thing. I don't know that there's a ton of cache in saying "This is my Wendel Clark jersey from his rookie season" as opposed to "This is my Wendel Clark jersey that I bought last week" if it's still just, you know, a shirt.
Bullfrog said:
I don't believe the knowledge that a particular design is obsolete is detrimental to its value or makes it undesirable.
Well, there isn't necessarily but there's a reason why teams tend to not sell their older designs unless those designs form some sort of connection with the public. The previous Blue Jay uniforms, for instance, aren't likely to ever be big sellers because they were worn by some pretty forgettable ball clubs.
But more than that, if we assume that a certain degree of how a jersey sells is because of it's design then a policy of constantly changing them requires you to keep inventing designs of a certain quality when, really, these things are finite. If Hockey Canada's policy had resulted in each redesign leaving previous ones in the dust then, yeah, there'd be a strong argument for continuing them but I certainly don't see these new ones as an improvement.
Bullfrog said:
I think there's value in having distinct jerseys for a distinct event.
Maybe, but it's worth mentioning that this isn't that. Whatever the jerseys are for the National team are going to be worn at lots of different events. The WJC's, the World Championships and whatever Women's Team events come up. So a redesign doesn't necessarily form that association. It's a jersey that's going to be worn for the next four years by various teams of various quality.
Bullfrog said:
I can also see the value in maintaining tradition, but find it can often be forced.
For the record I'm not really talking about tradition so much as I am design. The reason, I think, that teams like the Yankees or Giants or Bruins or Red Wings don't redesign their jerseys all the time is because they are great, not because they're stuck in the past.
