The Blue Note isn’t going anywhere—but it is receiving a fresh coat of paint.
The St. Louis Blues unveiled a brand makeover Tuesday that includes updates to their classic crest, redesigned home and road uniforms, and a revised color palette, among other visual updates.
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The changes trace back to the 2017 Winter Classic at Busch Stadium, when the team debuted throwback blue-and-yellow sweaters inspired by the franchise’s inaugural 1967-68 season. The retro style was a hit with players, alumni, and fans in St. Louis and beyond, becoming the go-to look for Saturday home games and influencing the team’s sartorial choices in ensuing Winter Classic appearances.
“When we unveiled those sweaters for the 2017 Winter Classic, the response from our fans was unbelievable,” says Steve Chapman, the Blues’ executive vice president and chief revenue and marketing officer. “We had that response from a lot of different people over the years. Brett Hull once grabbed me and told me that these are the prettiest sweaters he’d ever seen.”
Now, the look is here to stay. Here’s what you need to know about the team’s brand evolution.
The Blue Note
One of the NHL’s most iconic logos, the most recent version of the Blue Note debuted during the 1997-98 season on a white alternate jersey. By the next season, it had become the team’s primary logo. But after 27 years, it was time for a change—driven by a desire to simplify reproduction across marketing and retail, and to honor the franchise’s past.
The updated crest pares down from three colors to two, dropping the beige outline from the Heritage version. Thicker blue and yellow keylines help the logo pop, and the Note itself has been subtly reshaped for a fresh look. The colors themselves are a nod to the original palette introduced in 1967.
“We treasure our mark,” says Chris Zimmerman, the Blues’ president and CEO of business operations. “The work has been done with what I call both precision and care to protect and enhance. It’s an interesting word to say we’re modernizing that. I’d say people could get confused by that. As much as that, we’re refining. We’re refining one of the stronger marks in the sport. I think that’s really important for people to recognize.”
Along with the logo revisions, the team is rolling out new wordmarks and fonts, including typography details inspired by W.C. Handy’s 1914 St. Louis Blues sheet music cover. There are also new tertiary marks that will be featured on the uniforms and other branding materials, including:
Fleur: Inspired by the Fleur-de-lis featured on the city flag, the mark infuses a treble clef footed by a note head.
STL: Similar to other versions of the interlocking letters seen around town and made famous by the St. Louis Cardinals, this secondary logo was used on the helmets for last year’s Winter Classic. It will now feature on the right pant legs of the uniforms beginning next season.
River Music: This mark pays homage to the city’s historic music scene, the Mississippi River, and the Gateway Arch.
“We went through a bunch of iterations of those—and the STL [specifically] to really get that one right,” says Brenda Wilbur, the Blues’ vice president of brand, retail, and creative services.
The jerseys
The new home uniforms borrow heavily from the popular Heritage jerseys that became a staple of Saturday home games in recent years. The biggest changes? Numbers are now a single color to promote legibility, and piping has been removed from the pant legs.
“I think it’s just a cleaner look and feel,” Wilbur says.”I did a lot of mockups with this—with the keylines and without—and I think it’s just a bolder look and feel.”
The new road jerseys resemble those worn in the 2022 Winter Classic, but come in white instead of cream. During a photoshoot last week, defenseman Colton Parayko was reportedly a big fan of the update road uniform.
“The players have responded great to these uniforms throughout the Winter Classic experience, and the ones we’ve worn on Saturdays,” Zimmerman says. “That’s an important part of it.”
Meanwhile, the team will maintain sets of alternate uniforms. The royal blue jersey worn at home during the past two-plus decades will now be the Blues’ official third jersey. The Blues will also wear the 1990s-inspired blue and red jerseys for a few select home dates.
“This was well-thought out about our entire fan base,” Chapman says about maintaining the royal blue jersey. “It’s like, ‘What’s important to them?’ It’s a beautiful sweater. One of the challenges about this is the Note’s so iconic that, at times, you’re just like, ‘It’s perfect. What do we do with this?’ This isn’t about changing everything. It’s just about bringing [these new] elements forward. It’s still our sweater and we wanted it to be part of the system.”
The new jerseys are not expected to be available for retail purchases until early September. But fans will now find new apparel—including shirts, hats, hoodies, and more—featuring the updated primary colors and logos available online and in-person at the STL Authentics team store at Enterprise Center.
“This is just another case of us wrapping ourselves deeper around our heritage, and yet bringing it forward in new ways,” Zimmerman says. “That’s, I think, based on our city, based on our fan base. You’re constantly looking at that. How do we deepen the connection to who we are, as well as keep it fresh and new? That’s, essentially, the ongoing challenge.”
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