The Flyers Almost Had Teal Jerseys

Here is an excellent read for anyone interested in uniform marginalia, design trivia, or just the fashion horror show that was the 1990s. It's the previously untold story of the time the Philadelphia Flyers nearly went teal.

If you are too young or have simply blocked it out, 1995-96 was the season of the third jersey. Five teams debuted alternate sweaters (ranging from the decent to the bad to the sublime to the Burger King), and others came close. That would include the Flyers, whose third jersey concepts, created by Ken Loh for The Mednick Group, appear above.

Loh explains to Icethetics:

The idea was to break the mold and be less traditional with the designs. The league ... wanted us to push the envelope, which is probably why there were some pretty garish patterns and gradients being used for other third jerseys around the league. Personally, I was never a fan of that approach so I tended to stick with solid colors in my designs.

[...]

I don't really remember any specifics around the use of teal, but as I noted, we were encouraged to experiment with "bold" statements so I imagine that was part of where that came from.

You want to know where the teal came from? It was 1995, that's where.

The jerseys never made it to the ice, for whatever reason. (The Flyers introduced black alternates two years later.) But it's cool to see what might have been and thankfully never was.

Read more about redesigning the Flyers at Icethetics, as well as today's Part 2 on the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets.