Nationals Wizards Unveil Cherry Blossom Kits.jpgw1440

Nationals, Wizards Unveil Cherry Blossom Kits

The collaboration with Nike is the first unified campaign between MLB and NBA teams from the same market.

“It will show the rest of the United States and the rest of the sports industry how important cherry blossoms are to DC and how much they are part of the fabric of DC,” said Monumental Sports chief marketing officer Hunter Lochmann. “I mean, there’s a reason we both thought of doing it separately as teams.”

The franchises began working on their designs separately two years ago, but then found themselves working on similar projects.

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The Nationals and Wizards wanted to work together even though their seasons fall at different stages of the calendar year. There was an additional roadblock — special 75th-anniversary uniforms for NBA teams — that pushed the Wizards’ look into next season.

The Nationals jerseys will be available at the team store in Washington and online starting Wednesday. The Wizards jerseys will not be available until November.

“I think doing things together speaks to how united we are as a city,” said Jacqueline Coleman, senior vice president of marketing for Nationals. “This is cherry blossom season right now so we should do this together to make sure we both walk into this great moment together for both of our franchises.”

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The Nationals jersey changes the team’s color palette, mixing cream, gray and pink. It features elements that connect DC, including cream block lettering representing memorials and pink cherry blossom petals. The city’s flag is also featured on the uniform, which is complemented by cream trousers.

Coleman said her team went through four or five versions of combinations before settling on the design. The Nationals will likely wear the jerseys about twice a month, Coleman estimated.

The Wizards jersey tops are pink with “Washington” across the chest and a cherry blossom dot on the “i”. The shorts have a gradient from pink to purple to blue, meant to represent cherry blossom petals falling into the Tidal Basin, Lochmann said.

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“Whenever you release a jersey, you’re never going to hit 1,000,” Lochmann said. “But we’re happy about it. And I think our two jerseys are so different but unique in their own way that we’re going to cover a wide spectrum, I think, for the DC fan base as well.”