I went to Nats School to learn, not for a fashion show

The new unis are in and early reviews seem mixed. I think most people will agree that the new ones are better than the old ones, but are they good? The whole new look seems focused on the Curly W of the Nationals, trying to make it a iconic symbol of the team like the interlocking NY of the Yankees, or more specifically the gothic D of Detroit. They've even changed the logo removing the interlocking DC (which I have really liked) in favor of the W. It's an attempt at really creating a brand that the team can sell to the fans as an idea, but more that they can sell for cash money. I hope you love the Curly W because that single letter IS the Washington Nationals now. Personally, I'll miss the interlocking DC, but think the overall look is an improvement. Uniwatch has his opinions and this is what he does so read that here

Some of my thoughts:

General:

• Glad to see the beveling gone on the numbers and the name. I don't like attempts to add depth on jerseys.
• Glad to see the Nats pare down their official colors by one. I'm not sure I would have gone with dropping the gold (probably would have dropped red) but red, white, blue and gold was too much.
• Sad to see double piping on the jerseys. Single piping just looks cleaner.
• Sad to see a double color hat. Again - single color much cleaner.
• Not sure how I feel about the front numbers on the jerseys. On one hand it helps to break up the big block of color left by no script name, especially needed on the red alternate. On the other hand the placement seems awkward - a remnant of where it would be if the script name was on the uniform. Directly opposite the Curly W might have worked. Then again it might not have.
• Not sure how I feel about the numbers in general - really blah.
  
• Some alternate ideas to mix-up the jersey keeping the same basic idea - not sure any of these would actually work:
  
• Name under symbol / remove piping - ala old expos.
• Just collar color - ala the 1915 Tigers (scroll down for Cobb)
• Solid button area color - ala the 1933 Indiana

New alternate #1

I hate the all red look. Bright red doesn't lend itself to large swatches of uniform. I do think that both the double piping and the front number work best here.

New Alternate #2

Obviously hideous. You just can't do that with the W, it's far too busy. I know they want to get stars and stripes on the uniform somehow. (and a strpied or starred uniform is out of the question) How about a striped W on a background of a single star?

New Home

Best of the bunch by far, but the double piping and the number looks the worst here. On the piping, the red and blue don't contrast enough to totally separate out for me. My first choice would have been a flag blue curly W and flag blue piping, but that's a color scheme change they aren't going to make. My second choice would have been the same with the dark blue they use now. However, I can see where dark blue wasn't an iconic option as both the Tigers and Yanks are dark blue. Even as my third choice I would have been fine with just red.

As for the number, part the iconic look that the Yanks and Tigers have worked out is based on the only thing on the front of the jersey being the symbol. It works very well. The number may help the Nats stand out from being a direct Tigers clone but there's nothing wrong with copying something that was done right.