Heat unveils Miami Mashup uniform, which honors moments in team’s 34-year history
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 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.”
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
For more information, visit Heat.com/Mashup.