Welcome to this website’s off-season sports sartorial content. We are counting down the world’s top 50 most iconic sports uniforms. Only current uniforms apply, we are not including one-off or alternate uniforms. Let’s stick to the basics.

#41

Indiana Hoosiers Warmups

Yes, we are stretching the definition of a sports uniform. There’s no doubt that Indiana basketball and their arena Assembly Hall are defining icons of college basketball. But, are the Hoosiers uniforms in that same category?

I don’t think they are quite in that stratosphere. For college basketball they are way up there but for sports overall I’ve never looked at Indiana’s uniforms quite that highly. Now, the warmups…

These hit way different.

Of course, the red and white candy striped pants are known by everyone with at least a tiny bit of basketball knowledge. The early 1970’s was a wild time for fashion all across the United States and the bold designs quickly found their way into basketball, too. Whether it was based on Indiana’s striped tube socks at the time, or inspiration was found from the Harlem Globetrotters’ shorts that had been worn for 20 years or more up to that point, the Bobby Knight-led Hoosiers nevertheless debuted the candy striped pants for the 1971-72 season.

Other schools have tried to imitate this look (Tennessee switched to orange and white candy striped pants for 1973-74) but nothing has made its mark quite like Indiana.

Also, don’t sleep on the tops either. They pull the whole warmup together with the buttons, large collars, and the fancy Indiana script on the back.