Houston Astros

 In early 2012 the Houston Astros were a franchise that was literally in search of a new identity. 2011 was the club’s 50th anniversary season. They lost 106 games that year, the beginning of an epic teardown that resulted a string of painful seasons before culminating in a World Series championship in 2017, the first in franchise history. 

An ownership change, combined with the team’s impending shift from the National to the American League, meant that the time was right to reexamine the look of the Astros. Working in close collaboration with longtime partners at MLB and Fanbrandz, the Astros’ visual refresh was centered around the restoration of navy blue and orange as the club’s color palette.

When the Houston Colt .45s took the field for their first game on April 10, 1962, they sported uniforms of navy blue and orange. When the franchise made its historic move to the most modern sporting facility in the world, the Astrodome, three years later, the team wore navy blue and orange. Navy blue and orange were the dominant colors during the Astros’ technicolor era of the 1970s and 80s, right up until 1993. Embracing this vestigial piece of the team’s brand DNA made sense. Additionally, a refinement of the club’s original “H-star” headwear mark—now built for the digital age—serves as the focal point of the team’s visual identity, a fitting symbol for the Lone Star State’s first MLB club.

A subtle nod to the Astros’ singular and proprietary “tequila sunrise” era was included in the Astros’ batting practice jerseys.