Rank your Top 5 Jersey Manafacturers!

[both-teams-played-hard]

I collect jerseys from the 50s, 60s and 70s, so my list may differ from most. I would like to hear from the vintage collectors as well as the modern collectors. You may not have a "Top 5"...it may just be 1 or 2.

1) Rawlings
2) Wilson
3) Sand Knit
4) Spanjian
5) Powers

All materials and fabrics.
All sports.
All eras.

Refresh....My top 5 still hasn't changed. "King O'Shea" is a strong number "6". "MacGregor is number "7". They could easily make the Top 5 by August.

[sox83cubs84]

I can't get excited about any of the cuurent companies, mainly due to the availability of authentic retail jerseys, so I'll go with the following:

1) Wilson
2) Rawlings
3) Sand-Knit
4) MacGregor
5) Spalding

Dave Miedema

[solarlottry]

I could wipe my sons ass (i dont!) with my 1989 Russell Joe Montana gamer it is so soft. I think that their is nothing quite like the smell and the softness of the mid to late 80s Russell 49ers shirts!

My favorite jersey is the 1994 Wilson 49ers throwback

Paul
garciajones@yahoo.com

Always buying ANY 1994 49ers shirt (YES ANY PLAYER!) and paying whatever it takes to get the deal done.

[warheel]

I could wipe my sons ass (i dont!) with my 1989 Russell Joe Montana gamer it is so soft. I think that their is nothing quite like the smell and the softness of the mid to late 80s Russell 49ers shirts!

Ahh, that smell..I loved to smell it walking into the factory store in Alabama. I remember seeing racks of early/mid 49er Russell game shirts on sale for under $15..NNOB..this was before the real authentics craze so maybe they were overruns. As a 16 year old I could only afford one so I got a #13 Dolphins that hangs down to my mid thigh. I still have it. Yes they are thin and soft..I wondered how they could take the abuse of an NFL game.

[Jayworld]

Top 5:
1. Sand-Knit - fantastic quality for several MLB teams, and I wore this brand in high school (dating myself...)
2. Wilson - great jerseys for many MLB teams; excellent quality, sewing, etc.
3. Rawlings
4. Russell - Lots of SWC football team wore these and they were very rugged
5. Champion - I also wore this brand in high school (baseball and basketball). While not as good as the above, I feel Champion was better than Majestic, of which I have been disappointed since they became the sole supplier for MLB.

Bottom of the List:
Majestic - I just have never really cared for the quality (craftsmanship, sewing, etc.) of this brand since it became the sole supplier for MLB. Would love to see Wilson or Rawlings come back into the mix.
Mitchell and Ness - while the quality of materials seem to be good, I am constantly amazed that a company that makes its "bread and butter" on throwbacks for the leagues consistently has errors (wrong fonts, wrong stripes, etc.). In many cases, just a little research would help. The 1978 San Diego Padres gold alternates that M&N produced a few years back (Gaylord Perry and Dave Winfield) were so very wrong and were never corrected. When I pointed this out to M&N, they actually sent me a jersey of my choice for free and promised to correct the mistakes with a future release (Winfield, which they never did).

[G1X]

My rankings pertain only to football as that is the main focus of my collecting:

FOOTBALL
1. Sand Knit durene (but not their mesh)
2. Russell mesh, especially 1970s and '80s
3. Wilson mesh from the late 1980s through mid '90s
4. MacGregor durene
5. Southland durene from 1960s through mid '70s

Least favorites include:
1. Just about anything Champion ever made
2. Just about anything made over the past decade (mainly dislike the style/cut of modern jerseys)
3. Spanjian
4. Sand Knit mesh, especially 1970s that had only one layer of mesh shoulder material
5. Russell heavy knit cold-weather jerseys from the 1980s (double-knit type of material)

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for Atlanta Falcons jerseys, World Football League jerseys, NFL/AFL durene jerseys, and any Willie McGee and Darren Lewis game-used equipment.

[both-teams-played-hard]

Least favorites include:

3. Spanjian

Mark with all due respect, I don't think you've seen a mid 60s Chargers Spanjian durene.


Pre-1970 made in Pasadena, after the move to San Marcos, the quality slipped.

[gwh11]

My rankings pertain only to football as that is the main focus of my collecting:

FOOTBALL
1. Sand Knit durene (but not their mesh)
2. Russell mesh, especially 1970s and '80s
3. Wilson mesh from the late 1980s through mid '90s
4. MacGregor durene
5. Southland durene from 1960s through mid '70s

Least favorites include:
1. Just about anything Champion ever made
2. Just about anything made over the past decade (mainly dislike the style/cut of modern jerseys)
3. Spanjian
4. Sand Knit mesh, especially 1970s that had only one layer of mesh shoulder material
5. Russell heavy knit cold-weather jerseys from the 1980s (double-knit type of material)

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for Atlanta Falcons jerseys, World Football League jerseys, NFL/AFL durene jerseys, and any Willie McGee and Darren Lewis game-used equipment.

If there was a "Like" button for this post, I'd click it.
-Guy

[G1X]

BTPH,

Thanks for contributing yet another valuable piece of information to this Forum. I did not know that Spanjian made the mid-1960s Chargers (one of the sharpest football jerseys ever made) as my experiences with Spanjian are strictly from their 1970s mesh era. With this knowledge about Spanjian now in hand, I am clarifying item #3 in my "Least Favorite" category to state "1970s mesh Spanjian jerseys".

Thanks again for bringing this to my attention. Now, if I could only find a blue mid-1960s Chargers jersey for my collection

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for Atlanta Falcons jerseys, World Football League jerseys, NFL/AFL durene jerseys, and any Willie McGee and Darren Lewis game-used equipment.

[both-teams-played-hard]

I did not know that Spanjian made the mid-1960s Chargers (one of the sharpest football jerseys ever made) as my experiences with Spanjian are strictly from their 1970s mesh era. With this knowledge about Spanjian now in hand, I am clarifying item #3 in my "Least Favorite" category to state "1970s mesh Spanjian jerseys".

Yes, the 70s Spanjian mesh were weak. Through the 50s and 60s they made some incredible durenes for college and high school teams, also. Their development of Spandex, was instrumental in producing pants for every major college football team of the late 50s and 60s.