Chicago Bulls - Name, Logo and Uniforms - Uniforms

Uniforms

The Bulls have three different uniforms: a white home uniform, a red road uniform, and a black alternate road uniform. The design of the white and red sets are nearly identical, with the team name featured on the front over the number, and the player's last name over the number on the back and under the Bulls' logo. The shorts have the Bulls logo in a diamond shaped design on the sides of the legs. The red and white uniforms have remained mostly unchanged since 1966, with minor modifications from off-centered numbers to a cursive "Chicago" lettering on the road uniforms. The less-often used black uniform (often used about 10 times per season) shares the same design as the white and the red ones, except that "Bulls" is replaced with "Chicago" on the front of the jersey. It was first introduced during Chicago's 72-win run in the 1995–96 NBA season, in which it shared a similar design to the Bulls' regular road and home uniforms except that it featured pinstripes and a diamond that is not featured around the Bulls' logo in the shorts. This design was resurrected as part of the NBA Hardwood Classics Nights program, as well as NBA Heritage Week presentations (Dec. 7–14, 2007) throughout the 2007–08 season. In the 1997-98 NBA season the pinstripes were removed. In 1999 "Chicago" replaced "Bulls" above the number in the jersey front. Beginning in the 2006-07 NBA season, the player's name on the back of the alternate jersey changed its color to white from the red/white combination, and the red diamond was added to surround the logo in the sides of the shorts. The player's name was reverted back to the red/white combo in the 2007–08 NBA season.

The Bulls wear white shoes at home during the regular season, but black shoes on the road and black shoes all throughout the playoffs, both at home and on the road. The unofficial playoff tradition goes back to the Jordan era, recommended by Brad Sellers as a show of team unity. The Bulls also wear only their red uniform on the road during the playoffs. During the 2008–09 season and first three games of the playoffs, however, the Bulls wore black sneakers on away games only while wearing white sneakers on home games. Since the 2009–10 season, however, the NBA has relaxed its rules on specific sneaker colors on home and away games, and several Bulls players are seen wearing white sneakers on the road, or black at home during the regular season, even seen wearing red on occasion.

In 2006 the Bulls were one of three teams to take part in the NBA's first ever St. Patrick's Day uniform program (with the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks). The program consisted of the teams wearing specially designed green uniforms. For the program The Bulls' changed their red road uniforms to green while maintaining the traditional red and black bull's head on the shorts and the back of the jersey as well as the wording of "Bulls" on the front remaining black. The Bulls wore these uniforms on March 18 against the Miami Heat.

The following year the Bulls once again participated in the St. Patrick's Day uniform program altering their road jerseys in the same way as before. This time the special edition uniforms were worn twice by the Bulls: once on March 13 at home against the Celtics and then again on March 17 in Memphis versus the Grizzlies. In the 2007–08 season they wore them on March 17, 2008 (at New Orleans) and March 18, 2008 (vs. New Jersey). In the 2008–09 season, they wore the uniforms on March 17, 2009 against Boston.

The Bulls also participated in the NBA's "Noche Latina" celebrations throughout March, beginning in 2009. They used a slightly altered version of their regular red road uniforms, with the wording "Los Bulls" to honor Hispanics throughout Chicago. During the NBA's "Green Week" celebrations, the Bulls also wore green uniforms, but with a slightly darker shade from their St. Patrick's Day counterparts. They used their black alternate uniforms as its template. They donned the uniforms in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on April 9, 2009.