Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Founded in 1869, the Hamilton Football Club adopted the nickname Tigers. Almost a century later the Tigers would merge with the Hamilton Wildcats, forming the Tiger-Cats. Over the years the team has experimented with its look, wearing bumblebee style striped jerseys in the 1930s with white numbers and khaki pants. In the 1950s it was solid gold, as the helmets, jerseys, and pants were all solid athletic gold. Black and white UCLA-style shoulder stripes and black numbers complemented the golden display. By the mid-1960s the Tabbies would settle into a version of their current seven-stripe pattern, wearing long sleeved jerseys with alternating black and yellow stripes and a white block on the upper sleeves. By the 70s shorter sleeves became the norm, and the stripes were reduced to the classic seven. The next major change would occur in the 1980s, as the helmets would become black from the previous athletic gold. The 1990s and 2000s would see a lot of change in an effort to follow trends, as the Tiger-Cats would experiment with drop shadows, side panels, and different types of striping on the sleeves. The current Hamilton logo was unveiled at this time, in 2005. However, it wasn’t until 2012 that the seven stripe pattern would return.

My Tiger-Cats redesign works the seven-stripe pattern into the brand identity in addition to the uniforms. The primary logo places an H into a diamond containing the team’s striping with HAMILTON TIGER-CATS under it in an industrial-retro slab serif. The secondary mark displays a leaping tiger in gold and black that also appears in the patch logo design. The mascot mark shows a tiger strutting onto the field, ready to hype the crowd. The black primary and athletic gold secondary helmets both show the diamond-H mark on each side, with two stripes down the center. The classic helmet is black with a single gold stripe and no logo on either side. The home, away, and alternate jerseys all use the seven-stripe pattern on the sleeves, with the leaping tiger logo superimposed on the striping. The tops of the sleeves contrast the rest of the jersey with white on the home and alternate and black on the aways. The home, away, and alternate all pair with athletic gold, black, or white pants. The classic uniforms, worn for special weekend like the Labour Day Classic, feature the bumblebee pattern from the 1930s Hamilton Tigers.