For a stretch of the eighties, being a Winnipeg Jets fan meant getting very familiar with the Edmonton Oilers. Spring after spring, the road out of the Smythe Division ran through Alberta, and spring after spring the Jets found the Oilers waiting. Winnipeg had good teams in those years, sometimes very good ones. They just happened to share a division with one of the greatest dynasties hockey has ever seen.
That rivalry, and the wider world of the Smythe Division, gives vintage Winnipeg Jets clothing a particular flavour. These were the years of Western Canadian hockey on Saturday nights, of long bus rides and longer winters, of a division that put the Jets alongside Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. This piece looks at the clothing of that era through the lens of the division itself: what it was, what it produced, and how to wear the colours of a team that kept running into a wall.
A division built for Western Canada
When the NHL reorganised its divisions along more geographic lines at the start of the eighties, the Smythe Division became the home of the league's western Canadian teams. Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver shared it, along with the Los Angeles Kings, and later the expansion San Jose Sharks. For Canadian fans, it was a division with a strong regional identity, with long rivalries, short distances on a map that still meant long travel, and plenty of games on Canadian television.
For the Jets, the division was both a gift and a curse. It gave them natural rivals and big crowds, with fans travelling between prairie and mountain cities. But it also put them in the path of the Oilers and, later in the decade, a powerful Calgary team. The playoff format at the time meant that division rivals met early, which in practice meant the Jets often faced one of the best teams in hockey in the first or second round.
The result was a team that won plenty of regular-season games and very few playoff rounds. Fans of that era remember it with a mix of pride and frustration, and both feelings show up in the clothing they kept.
Living next door to a dynasty
The Oilers of the eighties, led by Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr, won the Stanley Cup five times between 1984 and 1990. The Jets met them in the playoffs again and again across that decade, and the Oilers won every time. Some of those series were close. One, near the end of the decade, saw the Jets take a commanding lead before Edmonton came back to win. Others were over quickly.
Winnipeg did have its moments. The Jets beat Calgary in a couple of playoff series during the eighties, and Dale Hawerchuk, the team's franchise centre, was one of the best players in the league throughout the decade. He arrived as a teenager, won rookie of the year and scored at a remarkable rate for years. In almost any other division, he might have led the Jets much deeper into the spring.
That context matters for collectors. Clothing from the Jets of the eighties is not championship merchandise. It is the gear of a loyal, determined fan base supporting a good team in a hard neighbourhood. There is something very appealing about that, and many people who wear old Jets clothing today do so with exactly that spirit in mind.
Rival colours look better side by side in a closet than they ever did on the ice.
What Smythe-era Jets gear looks like
The original Jets of the eighties wore royal blue, red and white, with the plane-and-stick logo on the chest. Fan clothing from these years follows the general shape of eighties sportswear: trimmer cuts than the nineties, lighter sweatshirt fleece, simpler graphics and a lot of knitwear. The pieces most likely to surface include:
- Crewneck sweatshirts in royal blue, white or grey, with a printed or flocked logo on the chest.
- Nylon and satin team jackets, often with quilted linings and striped ribbing at the cuffs and waist.
- Replica sweaters in the blue home and white road designs, sometimes with Hawerchuk's number 10.
- Knit toques with stripes in team colours, a practical staple of prairie winters.
- Souvenir tees, sometimes referencing the division, playoff appearances or specific seasons.
- Mesh-backed caps and snapbacks, more common toward the late eighties.
As the nineties began, the look shifted toward the bolder, heavier style of the decade, and a refreshed uniform appeared. Late Smythe-era gear, from the early nineties, often feels bigger and heavier than eighties pieces, with larger graphics and more saturated colour. The arrival of Teemu Selanne in the final Smythe season, when he scored an extraordinary number of goals as a rookie, produced its own burst of player merchandise.
Collecting the whole division
One of the most enjoyable ways to approach this era is to think about the division rather than a single team. Smythe-era clothing from Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver makes a fascinating set. The Jets' royal blue and red, the Oilers' blue and orange, the Flames' red and yellow, and the Canucks' bold black, red and gold of the eighties look surprisingly good together, a snapshot of Western Canadian hockey at its loudest.
Collectors who take this approach often look for matching garment types across the teams: four crewnecks, four toques, or four jackets from roughly the same years. It turns random finds into a coherent story and makes for a striking display. It also helps you compare how different makers handled the same kind of garment, which sharpens your eye for quality.
For fans of one team, it can feel strange to own rival gear. But time softens these things. A Jets fan who grew up watching the Oilers win can enjoy an Edmonton sweatshirt from 1985 without any betrayal, simply as a piece of the era.
Checking eighties pieces
Clothing from the early to mid-eighties has had more time to wear, so condition checks matter more. On sweatshirts, look closely at the ribbing at the cuffs, waist and collar. Eighties fleece was often lighter, and its ribbing could stretch more easily. Flocked logos, with their velvety texture, tend to wear away at the high points and can peel at the edges; light wear is charming, while large missing sections are not.
On jackets, test snaps and zips, inspect the lining around the armholes and collar, and look for shoulder fading on the shell. Royal blue holds up reasonably well but can turn slightly purple or dusty with sun exposure. Red trim can bleed into white areas over many washes, leaving pink tinges that are very hard to remove. Knitwear should be checked for moth holes, stretched cuffs and loose pom-poms.
When age matters to you, look at the whole garment. Tags, fabric weight, stitching and print style together give a much better sense of age than any single clue, and heritage reissues of the classic look have become common in recent years.
A note on eighties sizing
Fit is where Smythe-era pieces often surprise people. An eighties crewneck marked large can measure noticeably narrower and shorter than a nineties sweatshirt with the same label, with higher armholes and a body that stops at the waist rather than the hip. That trimmer shape can look sharp, especially under a jacket, but only if it actually fits across your shoulders. Lay a sweatshirt you like flat, measure the chest from armpit to armpit and the length from the shoulder seam to the hem, and bring those numbers with you. If an old Jets piece comes up short in the body, wearing a longer tee underneath, with a little hem showing, is an easy and period-appropriate fix.
Wearing royal blue on a grey day
Jets royal blue is bright, cheerful and slightly cold, a colour that suits a clear winter morning. Grey is its natural partner. A blue Jets crewneck over a grey hoodie, under a charcoal wool coat, looks warm and composed. Add dark jeans and boots and the outfit is ready for anything a Toronto or Winnipeg winter can throw at it.
A white Jets sweatshirt or tee works well with light-wash denim and a navy jacket, especially in spring. Satin and nylon team jackets look excellent over a heavy knit sweater in cream or oatmeal, which softens the shine and adds texture. For the bolder red pieces, keep everything else neutral and avoid other bright colours.
If you are wearing a replica sweater, think about proportion. Old hockey sweaters are wide and long, cut to go over pads. Wear one over a long-sleeve tee or a thin hoodie, with straight-leg jeans and solid boots, and push the sleeves up a little if they swamp your hands. A toque in matching colours finishes the look, but a plain grey or navy toque can feel more modern.
Small stories, worn often
Vintage Winnipeg Jets clothing from the Smythe years carries a story that does not get told often enough. It is not about trophies or famous wins. It is about a team that kept showing up, a city that kept believing, and a division full of rivalries that defined Western Canadian hockey for a decade. That story makes the clothing feel personal in a way championship gear sometimes does not.
Look for these pieces wherever vintage NHL apparel turns up, from team racks in downtown shops to general sweatshirt piles. Check them carefully, choose the colours that suit your own wardrobe, and then wear them through the cold months the way they were meant to be worn. A Jets crewneck from the years when Edmonton always seemed to win is not a reminder of losing. It is a reminder of loyalty, which never really goes out of style.
