Buffalo Bills Jersey Histor - HELP!!!

Billsfan, I need some help here. I have been into buying vintage Bills jerseys, of established players. My question is, is what years were the uniforms made by Sand Knit? And what is a legit looking Sand Knit jock tag? Like this? And did the jerseys have screened on numbers, or stitched? I would LOVE to have a database of all this information.

Hey Tim,

Sand knit made jerseys for a decade, 1980-90. All their tags were pretty similar throughout the period. The Bills were the last team to go to twill numbers in 2002, using painted, screened or vinyl numbers.

As far as i know there is no full history of the materials used only jersey styles. Perhaps one day i'll get around to makingna stab at it.

I have been hoping someone would make a Bill Henderson-esque guide for NFL jerseys. I'd certainly buy a copy.

Does that jock tag look legit? And on that jersey, the numbers are tackle twill.

Yes the jock tag is legit. Looking at your picture those numbers look original. I forgot to say i was talking about the game worn jerseys. When this jersey was made there was no large scale counterfeiting as everything was made in the US by various companies.

Back in this time period the teams sorted out their own merchandising, the good old days before Reeboks monopoly. I suspect that twill was used occasionally, but i don't have any research to back this up.

You wouldn't have a list or a resource, to know what years the Bills wore what brand jersey's? Like when they used Sand Knit, Puma, Reebok, etc? That will help out tremendously!

This to me, looks like it was player issued, by the location of the tags, you think?

I haven't got any timeline, but i will get onto it tomorrow for you. As to the jersey being a team issue, i'm not sure as Ssand Knit didn't really use different tags so it's hard to tell.

Here,s an interesting thread from back in January.

https://nfljerseyfanparadise.forumotion.com/t1740-the-original-throwbacks-starter-wilson-puma-champion

Nice thanks. Seen a Wilson with the gold W and thought it was a fake.

Try this:

http://www.jerseycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6830&p=131502&hilit=sand+knit#p131502

I stumbled across this guide a couple of months ago and was pretty impressed by the coverage.

Hopefully it may answer some of your questions.

Sweet, thanks!

Just bought this Cornelius Bennett jersey last night

Just bought that Shane Conlan Sand Knit off ebay!!! Can't wait to get it!

Dude you,re building up a great vintage collection there. Well done.

Yeah man, LOVIN' IT! I figured the Bills of the past are already well known, and solidified in the Buffalo Bills HOF, so I'll start getting more of the old school jerseys

Yeah, well, got them both in yesterday. Both are TOO SMALL. The Conlan is tight, and the Bennett, well, fuhgettaboutit! I am going to, however, take the Conlan to a tailor, and have them split the sides and sew in some white spandex, to make it bigger and fit. Not sure if I'll do that with the Bennett though.

Well, I took the Conlan jersey into the tailors to get altered. They are going to make it so I can actually wear it. They're going to add material to the sides (like the spandex on the authentics) and I hop it comes out okay. Also having my Posluszny XL premium jersey taken in to make it a large...

That sounds good, keep us informed how it goes.