Tennessee unveiled its new orange Adidas uniforms, and both the Lady Vols basketball and softball jerseys had a new twist to the designs.
When UT unveiled the new uniforms on July 6, both the women’s basketball and softball jerseys included Summitt Blue, which wasn’t the case on their orange Nike jerseys. New designs for white, Summitt Blue and dark mode uniforms will be released July 7-9.
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The women’s basketball jerseys had blue and white trim on the sleeves, collar and shorts, and the softball jerseys had a blue and white stripe around the sleeves and down the sides of the pants.
The women’s basketball jerseys are a classic look and a nod to the Lady Vols’ jerseys when Tennessee was last an Adidas school from 1995-2015. Many of the white and orange Adidas jerseys for women’s basketball over those 20 years included blue accents, whether it was trim or blocking on the sleeves and shorts.
“The orange women’s basketball uniforms feature the Tennessee bold wordmark, a center-collar adidas logo and a Summitt Blue outline on both the top and shorts. Summitt Blue is woven throughout the fabric of the Lady Vol brand,” the school press release said.
The softball jerseys also kept blue trim on the white lettering for “Tennessee” across the chest and the number, which was on the old Nike uniforms.
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It wasn’t uncommon for Tennessee softball’s old Adidas jerseys to include small blue accents, either.
“The orange softball uniforms feature the Tennessee script wordmark, outlined in Summitt Blue and a Lady Vol logo on the left sleeve to honor the rich tradition of the brand,” the school press release said.
The Summitt Blue alternate jerseys were introduced during the 2022-23 season to honor legendary Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt. The change was originally made in honor of the 50th anniversary of Title IX in 2022, but the jerseys stuck and have been alternates for women’s teams ever since.
The blue accent color made its first appearance in 1968, when Tennessee women’s athletics director emeritus Joan Cronan was looking for women’s basketball jerseys. No companies offered Tennessee orange uniforms, so Cronan chose Columbia blue uniforms with orange letters – and the blue has been part of the Lady Vols ever since.
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The softball team debuted their first full Summitt Blue uniforms during the 2025 season. The jerseys included a Summitt legacy patch on the sleeve.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Lady Vols basketball, softball orange Adidas jerseys are nod to past
