Reporting by John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MADISON – Some fans may virtually create an alternate uniform in popular video games like Madden or NBA 2K. That’s what Nick Black does in real life for the Wisconsin Badgers and other Under Armour-connected schools.
“If only it could be that easy – you could click a button, and then you can press ‘go’ and then it’s immediately on the field for you to play with,” said Black, Under Armour’s director of design.
In reality, it’s a several-step process that takes Under Armour and Wisconsin more than a year to take across the finish line.
That process most recently played out with Wisconsin football’s all-red alternate uniforms that were unveiled for the Badgers’ Sept. 6 season opener against Notre Dame at Lambeau Field.
Black estimated that the beginning of the uniform design process was in the fall of 2024 as Under Armour and Wisconsin identified “the moment and the impact that they wanted to make on this stage.”
“Obviously a venue like Lambeau is one of the most revered and highly elevated sports venues in the country,” Black said. “So we wanted to make sure that the story that our brand and their brand wanted to tell together was harmonious and sort of spoke to what that moment means for the Badgers when they take the football field that Sunday.”
Wisconsin focused heavily on Lambeau Field – of course, home of the Green Bay Packers – with the design of the alternate uniforms. The Lombardi Trophy, for example, inspired the metallic chrome numbering, lettering and other accents across the uniform.
“Trying to tie Wisconsin football – between Badgers and Packers – was kind of that design inspiration that we gave Under Armour,” said Erin McMillan, Wisconsin’s associate athletic director for brand marketing.
The influence of Lambeau Field’s primary tenant also was evident with the stripes on the top of the shoulders that blend the Packers’ three-stripe look with the Badgers’ two-stripe look. (The two outer stripes are chrome, and the middle stripe is subtly red on the all-red uniform.)
The uniforms have many other nuances. The slight break in the aforementioned stripes on the top of the shoulder represent the Camp Randall arch’s voussoirs. The rose-red accents represent UW’s Rose Bowl history.
The chrome Wisconsin logo and numbering – while being one of the most obvious differences from the standard UW uniform appearance – has a texture that connects back to Camp Randall as well.
“That was literally brought from the bricks of the arch,” McMillan said of the chrome texture. “That’s how we ended up with kind of that pebbled finish a little bit on the numbers and the motion W.
McMillan and the UW staff want to make sure “we’re not trying to introduce something that is technically a challenge.” But the discussions during the uniform design process still get fairly specific.
“We did talk about, ‘OK, that pop of that bright red rose color, how could we bring that in more?’” McMillan said. “And their feedback was like, ‘Accessories, that’s going to be the easiest way to do it. And then you could add literally the rose motif.’”
When it was time to actually unveil the uniforms in the summer, Under Armour let UW take the lead on how to share the news.
Wisconsin timed its uniform tease video on social media for 6:08 p.m. on the day before the uniform unveiling – a subtle nod to the 608 area code that encompasses Madison.
The uniform release itself was timed for 9:20 a.m. ET, which was a tribute to the 920 area code that encompasses Lambeau Field and Green Bay. The video featured aspects of both Lambeau Field and Camp Randall, with former UW standout (and 2017 Packers fourth-round pick) Vince Biegel narrating it.
“We really wanted to tie Arch March and the Arch and all of the things that we love about Camp Randall to Lambeau,” McMillan said.
How did the color-out uniform combination happen?
Notre Dame – one of the other prominent schools to have an outfitting agreement with Under Armour – released alternate uniforms for the Lambeau game that also highlight the school’s connections to the Packers.
The Fighting Irish have metallic gold numbering and lettering (rather than UW’s chrome). The navy blue color is intended to be a tribute to the uniforms from the 1920s Packers, the numbering takes inspiration from the Paul Hornung era. Even the texture of the mesh within the numbering is intended to be small silhouettes of the Packers’ oval G logo.
Wisconsin and Notre Dame’s shared outfitter still handled the alternate uniform processes for each school largely separately. McMillan said UW did not see Notre Dame’s design until UW’s uniforms were done.
“It did not impact the process, but it was definitely something that we were all mindful of – Under Armour, the University of Wisconsin and Notre Dame as well,” Black said. “Because there’s such a shared interest in all of it and such a high-profile moment for all three brands.”
They did have early discussions, however, about having a “color-out” combination of uniforms. Neither team is wearing white uniforms that the road team would usually wear at the neutral-site game in Green Bay.
The color-out uniform combination was something that “made a ton of sense for the authenticity for both schools,” Black said.
“Notre Dame – there was a reference and an understanding why that shade of blue meant a lot for them in context of playing at Lambeau,” Black said. “But also for the Badgers, wearing home Badger Red in their home state was also really important to represent the fan base and the alumni that would travel up for that game.”
How does Under Armour keep Wisconsin uniforms looking like Wisconsin?
The finished product for Wisconsin – an all-red uniform with heavy use of chrome – is an obvious departure from the red-and-white look that many Wisconsin fans might expect to see on a typical college football weekend.
McMillan has to “walk this fine line of what’s going to make fans excited” while also not making them unrecognizable in a nationally televised game with especially high visibility on the Sunday of Week 1. It’s also something Under Armour keeps in mind when designing uniforms.
“We’re always hypersensitive on color, on branding, on logo treatments because that consistency represents who your brand is on the athletic field,” Black said.
Then there are the opportunities to go beyond the typical realm of what a Wisconsin uniform might look like and introduce a new look while “staying true to those core principles of what’s most important to the Badgers.”
“Those are a little bit more singular moments, and those are the opportunities where you step outside of brand standards for what we internally refer to as brand advancements, where you’re doing it intentionally for the right reasons.”
In the case of the Lambeau uniforms, Wisconsin’s motion W was nonnegotiable. (That’s different from the 2025 alternate uniforms, which were a retro design that had the classic block W logo.)
“Motion W has to be there; we’re not exploring alternate logos for these,” McMillan said. “But maybe there’s a play on it that makes it something that the fans are excited about.”
When will Wisconsin have black uniforms?
For as much as Wisconsin and Under Armour have creatively used red and white for football alternate uniforms, they have yet to introduce black alternate uniforms. Men’s basketball players notably wanted to go with all-black uniforms for their alternate in 2025-26, but that was not an option.
“Black uniforms are so popular with players,” McMillan said. “I think every year, if we put something out for football, the first comment is, ‘Why aren’t they black? When are we going to do black?’ As a brand ambassador, I love leaning into our core colors of red and white.”
Volleyball has been an exception, as Kelly Sheffield’s team wore black alternate uniforms in 2025 for the first time since 1997. The uniforms debuted in a nonconference win over Florida at the Kohl Center, and UW wore them again in the second and third weekends of the NCAA tournament.
Other factors in Wisconsin’s alternate uniform design
Winning in an alternate uniform could superstitiously impact how often a team decides to wear a specific alternate uniform. But McMillan said on-court or on-field success does not necessarily impact future uniform designs.
Merchandise sales naturally can be a factor in what future alternate uniform designs could entail. But the logistics of alternate uniform design make it more of a long-term factor rather than an immediate one.
“By the time you roll out and see how it performs, your next year is already done,” McMillan said. “So it’s a discussion probably for, like, two seasons out. ‘Oh my gosh, we know we continue to see such strong sales for those retro marks. Where should those show up? Where should they not?’”
The number of alternate uniforms Under Armour will design varies by school and “varies by the stories that our partners want to tell,” Black said. The number of drafted mockups of a design before a final product is “honestly not a ton or as many as you would think.”
Player input also is part of the process in cases such as men’s basketball’s fittingly named “By the Players” alternate uniforms. The 2025-26 uniforms were red with a script “Badgers” on the front. The retro block W was on the corner of the shorts.
“Obviously you can’t have the whole team trying to design something,” McMillan said. “But working with a handful of players to talk about what type of design and what pieces or parts that they really like.”
Under Armour also goes through testing, which can be as simple as ensuring the shade of red is consistent across the various materials that make up a modern college football uniform. It’s one of many steps that turn uniform design into such a lengthy process.
“The secret sauce to it is the creation, manufacturing, delivery and elevated quality of it that Under Armour always strives for and delivers in our product,” Black said. “That’s really the part that takes up the entirety of the two years. It’s not two years of just going back and forth with, ‘Hey, what do we think?’”
Some aspects of alternate designs may have a long shelf life after their release. Others might not. For now, though, Wisconsin’s chrome version of its logo will at least live on for the Sept. 6 game against Notre Dame.
“I’m OK if it was great for the year but isn’t something 10 years from now that everyone’s like, ‘Oh, bring it back,’” McMillan said. “That’s OK. I think sometimes there’s versioning of your logos that work for the moment. But I hope the chrome W lives.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How Wisconsin, Under Armour created Lambeau Field alternate uniforms
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