Behind the Design: How the Preds Hometown Remix Jersey Came to Be

As Nudie Cohn - the creator of the famed Nudie Suit popularized throughout country music rodeo tailoring - once said to Rolling Stone, “The costume is the first impression, and it should be flashy.” 

In this case, the costume is the brand new Nashville Predators Hometown Remix uniform - and the jersey is tailor-made for Smashville. 

Designed by the Preds, in conjunction with the NHL and Fanatics, the navy sweater emblazoned with a Gold PredHead logo and accents inspired by the Nudie Suit has officially arrived - and it’s spectacular. 

Announced over the summer, all 32 NHL teams have designed a special uniform that uniquely and authentically celebrates the fans, city and local culture of each team. 

For the Predators, that’s the vibrancy of Music City with a jersey that brings to life the rich history of music, arts and fashion trends in Nashville. 

And there’s never been a Preds look quite like this. 

“It's just cool to come up with something that’s for our fans and for our players,” Preds Director of Creative Services Jackie Fisher said. “We want our players to think it's cool, we want fans to love it, so we’re very much thinking of like, what is neat? What's a little bit outside the box? There’s always these instant places you go when you think of a jersey that can represent Nashville, and we want to make sure not only is it uniquely us, but it's also unique to the other stories that are being told. Yes, we have Broadway and yes, we have these other iconic things, but what’s something a little bit different that still represents the city in a really cool way?”

In recent months, the Country Music Hall of Fame - located across the street from Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville - has been showcasing an exhibit called “Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter.”

Those designers provided plenty of inspiration for the look, including Manuel Cuevas, who has resided in Nashville since the 1980s and is one of the industry’s top tailors. 

“We wanted to find a way to represent an iconic fashion that would tie to the city that still represented music,” Fisher said. “That circled around Nudie Suits… So the true connection to our city for Hometown Remix is the Music City angle with all of these country stars having performed here. That’s part of the spectacle when you think of the Ryman Auditorium or the Grand Ole Opry.” 

The Ryman stage and dressing rooms served as the backdrop to a photo shoot with Preds Captain Roman Josi and Alternate Captain Ryan O’Reilly showcasing the jerseys in advance of their release, another angle that simply only happens in Nashville. 

The unique details of the ensemble were on full display, including the use of floral imagery with the incorporation of the iris, the state flower of Tennessee. Additionally, Nudie Suits are custom-made for the stars who will wear them, and this Preds jersey brings that element to life with a component never used before. 

“It was really boiling down to how do you take a rhinestone one-of-a-kind blazer and apply that to a hockey uniform?” Fisher said. “And the League was really excited and inspired by this angle, and they were awesome to work with in the yoke on the shoulders. That’s a custom seam. They changed the template of the jersey to add that stripe in a meaningful way. It had never been done before in this style either, which is fun.”

In addition to the yoke across the shoulders of the jersey, Fisher’s favorite element is on the cuffs, another area of a Nudie Suit that would often showcase additional flair. For the Preds, that comes in the form of artful piping that includes the use of the iris in the design. 

All in all, the final product is uniquely Nashville, and one Preds fans will surely want to add to their collection. 

“We want people to be excited,” Fisher said. “We want people to be proud to wear it and think that it's cool. At the end of the day, we want our fans to pull it off the rack and be like, ‘This is sick. I have to buy one.’”

The Predators will sport their Hometown Remix uniforms on 10 occasions this season, with their debut coming Saturday nignt, Nov. 7, as the Preds host the St. Louis Blues. Hometown Remix games will be all Saturdays in Smashville from November through March and once on the road; the home match-ups will feature a variety of specialty giveaways, guests, in-game activations and more.

Click here for more information, and visit Nashville Locker Room at Bridgestone Arena - or NashvilleLockerRoom.com to get yours.