The Sixers unveil black city edition uniforms featuring Boathouse Row
“Growing up in Australia, I always associated the 76ers with a black uniform that Allen Iverson wore in early 2000s,” said Ben Simmons, who collaborated in the uniform design.
There had been some anticipation about a possible 76ers jersey reveal the moment team legend Allen Iverson tweeted out a dark picture of himself on Friday. The Hall of Famer’s tweet had the message “Be on the lookout next week!!!”
With that, there were countless people on social media wondering if the Sixers were going to bring back the black uniforms from Iverson’s teams of the early 2000s.
Well, the Sixers did unveil a black 2020-21 city edition uniform on Tuesday. It was just not the one some people expected. Instead, the team opted for a black uniform with the Boathouse Row skyline to spotlight its connection to Philadelphia.
The player’s number is on top of the skyline. Underneath it reads PHILADELPHIA printed in white. There’s a blue drop shadow underneath the Boathouse Row image, and a continuation of the row on the back of the uniform. The uniform has blue and red trim.
“We love telling stories through the 76ers brand, specifically of our great city and always honoring our history,” Chris Heck, the team’s president of business operations, said in a statement. “This year, we celebrate our city edition uniform by blending the old and the new specifically for the greatest fans in the world to enjoy.”
Boathouse Row is a national landmark along the Schuylkill west of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Since the late 1970s, each boathouse has been outlined with lights. The uniform mimics the view of the lighted boathouses at night. The uniform was designed in collaboration with two-time All-Star Ben Simmons.
“Growing up in Australia, I always associated the 76ers with a black uniform that Allen Iverson wore in the early 2000s," Simmons said.
A self-proclaimed lover of fashion and basketball, Simmons said combining the two and being part of the first black uniform in over a decade is amazing. This season will mark the first time the Sixers will don primarily black uniforms since the 2008-09 season.