Johnathon “Hank” Hankinson starts his day at the Simpkins Stadium Center at South Campus, the hub for San Jose State athletics, the same way that he does most days: with the smell of fresh laundry at 7 a.m.
He brews his morning cup of coffee in tandem with the obnoxious mechanical hum of industrial washing machines set up near the door of the facility, then is off to his first meeting by 7:30 a.m.
Hankinson was named the university director of football equipment in August 2018 and is now entering his fifth season arming the Spartans for battle.
However, this season he decided he wanted to bring some flair onto the field by way of newly-designed black jerseys that were worn by the team in a Sept. 24 game, in which the Spartans won 34-6 against Western Michigan.
The new drip was in homage to the City of San Jose and is not going to be worn again this season.
“To go from creating things online and coming up with a vision of what you hope for a uniform to turnout like,” Hankinson said regarding seeing his jerseys on the field for the first time. “Then to see it actually out on the field under the lights, that glow, the smile on the players faces, in the staff's faces and even the fans.”
Hankinson said taking a look around the field and seeing the quality of the jerseys and the overall reaction was “priceless.”
SJSU football equipment manager Nathan Franzino described the feeling on the sideline as the team took the field with their new kit that day.
“I’ve been watching San Jose State since I was a kid and it was just an awesome experience,” Franzino said.
Wide receiver Elijiah Cooks said new gear can be the extra push to get more juice on the field and thought he looked faster on first watch of the Sept. 24 game film.
“When you look good, you play good, you feel good, everything, I promise you,” Cooks said. “I love the black jerseys. I wanna bring them out again the way they look.”
Jersey design hasn’t always been Hankinson’s main focus, but after players kept mentioning the colorway, he said he knew it was a priority.
“We don't have black [jerseys] in our program,” Hankinson said. “My first four years here, it's the color that everybody's just clamoring for, hey, we need black, we need black, we need black.”
The actual fabrication process took Hankinson and Adidas 10 months from first drawing to seeing them on the field.
The jersey was designed on the Adidas’ jersey designer site and is the first collaboration with Adidas to feature all chrome-colored sleeves and chrome-colored name plates, Hankinson said.
When asked how he approached the aesthetics of the jersey design, Hankinson said he had interest in maintaining the team's branding guidelines but also wanted to push the envelope as much as SJSU could when it came to the design.
San Jose’s sans serif logo can be seen on the front of jersey chest section as well, in an official collaboration with the city of San Jose.
“Oh, and they fell in love with it too,” Hankinson said regarding the feedback the Spartans received from the city. Hankinson said the team’s reaction to the jerseys made all the back and forth and attention to detail worth it.
“I had a smile ear to ear, seeing their reaction, seeing the joy in their faces and then just guy after guy walking into the office to say, ‘Hey, you outdid yourself, this was outstanding,’ ” Hankinson said. “Even having the head coach come in multiple times and say how appreciative and how great they looked is just amazing, like, that's the biggest reward you can get, right?”
