The Task
Ebbets Field, a legacy sportswear brand with a focus on vintage craftsmanship, reached out to me in January 2025 to shape the editorial direction for their brand refresh set to launch mid-March. The pivot wasn’t huge , but required some finesse — the brand was shifting gears to position itself as a heritage-inspired lifestyle brand as opposed to a replica sportswear company.
The product itself wasn’t changing very much at all. Core Ebbets fans would still find wool caps with hand-sewn patchwork and real flannel jerseys, but Ebbets’ new design director Sunny Chang was bringing a fresh lineup of baseball apparel made for modern wearability. Think jackets inspired by groundskeeper uniforms, embroidered sweatshirts, pieces still in the realm of old-school baseball but which could easily be styled with a contemporary wardrobe.
My editorial direction needed to thread the needle between stoking excitement about a new era of Ebbets without making fans feel like the brand and product they’ve loved for decades was going to disappear. The final message would be used to shape the relaunch email, social media posts, a new brand video, and website copy including lookbooks and collection pages.
THE WINNER
FINAL DRAFT
THE LEGENDS LIVE ON
Since we were founded in 1988, Ebbets Field has been rooted in history. We fell in love with the kind of stories that echo throughout time because they’re more important than sport. But stories that great demand to be retold to new generations, so we’re digging back through the archives and breathing new life into heritage designs by ushering them into the modern era.
STEEPED IN YESTERDAY, MADE FOR TODAY.
Real wool flannels with hand-sewn details. Collections inspired by legends of the game. Styles that belong to this generation while honoring the ones that came before.
As Ebbets moves forward, the legends live on.
Why It Works
The Legends Live On has a mythic quality to it. At first glance it both tells the story of what we're doing with the history we're trying to preserve (by letting them live on in the modern era), but it also has a touch of that rebrand-y, we're-back-baby, long-live-the-king-type feeling.
Below I’ll show you how we translated this message into a 360º campaign, but first lets back up to see how we landed on this copy.
THE PROCESS
It took a couple rounds to get this message dialed in. I emailed with the exec team including the founder to get a feel for the history of the brand, and I visited Sunny at their office to check out some of the new pieces firsthand. While these drafts didn’t make the final cut, showing them here is a great way to illustrate how important a good editing process is to achieving not just great copy, but perfect copy.
DRAFT 1
REMAKING HISTORY
Ebbets Field was founded on an old-school way of doing things. We do our research, obsess over the details, and don’t take shortcuts. And yeah, the culture has gone through quite a few changes since we got started — but instead of mourning the good ol’ days, we decided to take them with us.
We made history back in 1988. Today, we’re remaking it.
WHY IT WORKS:
1) We’re re-shaping and re-contextualizing the history we love into something new.
2) Leans into the heritage authenticity of the garments.
3) A confident stance: we made history once, now we’re doing it again.
Feedback
The trouble with this one is that “remaking” can be interpreted too many different ways. If folks read it like “rewriting” it could have a negative connotation, especially when connected with a brand famous for highlighting Negro Leagues teams and black players who never got their due because their stories were never told.
Redirect: Aim for something that feels fresher. Like baseball history is the foundation that allows us to build and grow.
DRAFT 2
CARRY THE TORCH
alt. Take Up the Mantle
Ebbets Field has been rooted in baseball heritage since day one. But the truth is, history isn't made by people who only look backwards. It's made by innovators, trailblazers, and mold breakers. To us it's not enough to honor that legacy in our designs, we have to honor the spirit in which it was made. And that means boldly stepping into a new era of sportswear, history books in tow.
WHY IT WORKS:
1) Hits on both the modern/contemporary feeling in the forward movement — carry implies we're marching on — and the legacy message with the "torch" or "mantle" being something that was passed to us.
2) "Mantle" has a lot of cool connotations, the metaphor comes from picking up a cloak left behind by a prophet, so a mantle is a garment. But also, Mickey Mantle comes to mind. "Torch" just sounds and feels more powerful, but I wanted to include both.
Feedback
This was close, but too much of a swing in the other direction. The team was worried the innovation talk would make their core fans believe the brand was changing too much. They wanted to get across the idea that even the new designs would be inspired by baseball history, just like the replica jerseys and hats.
Redirect: Make it feel like we’re heritage to the bone. So that even though we’re developing new styles, those looks will be born out of the same history we’ve always strived to honor.
CAMPAIGN EXECUTION
The Legends Live On | Brand Film
This film showcases our first collection as the new Ebbets Field, and plants our flag in the modern sportswear landscape with a collection that honors the heritage it pulls from with every stitch.
WEBSITE LANDING PAGE
The Spring / Summer 2025 Lookbook
We’re kicking off our first season as the new Ebbets Field with a roster of fan-favorites and fresh designs inspired by the great stories of baseball history. We drew from legends like The Homestead Grays, The Black Yankees, and the one and only Jackie Robinson to put together a line-up that honors this heritage with authentic stitchwork and contemporary silhouettes. The result is a collection steeped in yesterday, yet made for today.
CONTENT PAGE
Under the Brim
A brief history of baseball caps
From the early days of baseball, players experimented with various headgear before settling on the design we recognize now. It started in 1849 when the New York Knickerbockers donned straw hats to take the field, and since then tons of unique variations popped up over the decades. At Ebbets Field, our assortment of ballcaps takes inspiration from several heritage styles, all with their own special place in the history books.
Ongoing
The message and tone I helped set for this brand refresh is still being used to inform new collection drops, emails, and social posts. I still occasionally work with Ebbets Field on ad hoc copy projects, but now that the editorial direction is nailed down the assets nearly write themselves.