My least favorite USA singlet

Before I go into too many details as to why the 2019 Gold and Red singlet is my least favorite USA Wrestling singlet, I need to clarify how I evaluated the singlets.   Since fabrics and printing process have evolved and the governing body has implemented different regulations on the design, I weighted designs differently.

As an example, in the pre-sublimation era, patterns, gradients and bold graphics were difficult to achieve on a singlet.  Thus, I did not overly penalize singlets of the 1970s for their simplicity.

And some years the Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées, United World Wrestling’s predecessor, had strict rules on design.  Thus, I did not penalize USA’s regulation-compliant singlet from the 2004 Olympics.  

With that established, the 2019 Gold and Red is my clear least favorite. The UWW ruleset in 2019 was pretty loose, leaving a lot of room for creativity.  The design itself that year was pretty good.  The problem was the base color.  That year UWW listed gold as one of the approved base colors for the red striped singlet.  

As a designer, I could see gold very tempting to use.  It is the color that signifies achievement in the sport, with the winner receiving a gold medal atop the podium.  However, (a) some may find wearing gold a little cocky (who wants to lose a match in a gold singlet?) and (b) gold is very challenging to use as a fabric. Part of the beauty of gold is the way it shines when it captures light.  Singlet fabric can’t really achieve that shine.  It becomes just a flat color.  And when it’s just a flat color, there’s almost no room for error in the hue.  Too dark and it’s brown.  Too light and it’s yellow.

The gold base in the 2019 singlet was a vertical gold gradient.  The top of the gradient was almost white and the bottom was an old gold.  However, the lower portion of the gradient never seemed to look like a proper old gold.  In low lighting, the gold looked mustard brown.  When the singlet got sweaty, the gold looked mustard brown.  And the blue from the USA flag accents seemed to pull out a greenish tint in the gold. 

It’s a great example of how color choices can ruin a good design.  The 2019 Grey and Blue singlet used the exact same design, but was a much stronger singlet with a clean, solid grey base.  The gold base may have looked good as RGB pixels, but as a fabric on a wrestling mat, the gold overwhelmed the design…in a bad way.