It was Michael Jordan who first voted for the argyle trim.
I spent some time with old friend and Chapel Hill icon Alex Julian over the weekend, and he recounted the story about how he redesigned the Carolina basketball uniforms almost 30 years ago. Dean Smith decided the bell-bottom warm-ups and the style of unies the Tar Heels had worn for the last 10 seasons or so needed a makeover. So he called Julian, the famous fashion designer who had recently done the old Charlotte Hornets togs.
Though he had already made millions with some of his sportswear and formal wear, Julian admitted he was nervous upon getting the assignment of his life from the coach he had long idolized. “If I screwed up, I could never go home again,” said Julian, who then had his studios in Connecticut and New York.
Julian said he went to work on several different designs and called Smith to tell him he was sending some samples down to Chapel Hill. The self-proclaimed dictator over an otherwise democratic basketball program, Smith said he wanted to show the designs to his coaching staff and players to get their opinions.
Julian didn’t like that idea because, after all, what do basketball coaches and kids know about fashion design? So he came up with a brilliant idea. He suggested to Smith that he send what he had done to Michael Jordan, who by then was winning NBA championships with the Bulls, and of course was the first pro basketball player to have a shoe named after him – the Air Jordan.
Alex packed up swatches of his designs and overnighted them to Jordan at the Bulls office in Chicago. Jordan liked the new argyle trim Julian had invented with various shades of Carolina blue woven in because, even back then, there were different light blues associated with UNC.
When Smith later showed the designs to his staff and players, he prefaced it by saying that Michael Jordan had seen them and liked the argyle best. Which one do your think the committee here in Chapel Hill liked? They wanted to be like Mike, and the argyle, now gracing most of UNC’s garb, came to life.
So not only did Julian craft the new uniforms around the argyle trim, he learned a valuable lesson in getting what he liked too.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Related Stories
‹

Chansky's Notebook: Bailing OutRoy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]

Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.

Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps UpDean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]

Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) StarBen Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]

Chansky's Notebook: Goals and AmbitionsGarrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]

Chansky's Notebook: A COVID DebateClemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]

Chansky's Notebook: Draft DodgersCarolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]

Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]

Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To CarolinaUNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]

Chansky's Notebook: Extra MotivationCarolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines