Nike's rollout of the new uniforms has been controversial and has included see-through pants. The Braves have been forced to change their uniforms to accommodate the new template, and it looked like they'd also have to strip away a unique belt loop design.
Thankfully, that's not the case. The Braves had their photo day on Friday and Uni-Watch was tipped off to the fact that the new pants kept the belt loop piping the team has had since the 1940s.
The Braves are keeping the belt loop piping after all!
— Min Sub (Mitchell) (@MinSub4) February 23, 2024
Maybe Nike can fix the sleeves next.
(photo from @ajc, story from @UniWatch)https://t.co/iJY5znrgFj pic.twitter.com/hvS7qZIdgU
It's not clear whether the road pants the team has been wearing throughout Spring Training will eventually get piping added to the belt loops. It's also unclear whether the road pants could be different depending on what jersey the club is wearing.
In fact, it wouldn't be the first time the team wore different pants depending on the jersey, and it wouldn't be the first time the club went without belt loop piping in the last few years.
From 2013 until 2019, the Braves paired their navy road alternate with pants that had single navy piping instead of the triple piping they paired with the road greys.
Somewhere along the lines in 2019, however, they dropped the alternate road pants and started pairing the navy alternate with the traditional road pants.
Before the season's end, the team added back the iconic piping they have long been known for having as you see below.
The Braves home cream alternate, which they wore from 2012 until 2021, also includes pants without the belt loop piping. In all nine seasons the club wore the uniform (they didn't wear it in 2020), but the pants never included beltloop piping.
Still, this writer prefers the pants to have the belt loop piping and is glad to see it remain part of the Braves uniform design. If Nike added the belt loop piping after the fact due to the negative reaction, one could also hope they change the sleeve piping back as well.
It seems likely that Nike and Fanatics will have to revisit things sooner than they probably imagined. Fan and player reactions have been largely negative and probably not the press they hoped to receive. Uniform changes are inevitable so there's always a chance things can be improved.