Old Gold Sports

When Johnny Jones retired from coaching, he took certain knowledge with him. He knew how much the fans of the Gladiators loved their traditional colors and he also knew that old gold colors were becoming harder and harder to purchase.

The first thing needing to be established was the answer to the question, “What constitutes Old Gold?” The answer proved to be as varied as the amount of people doing the questioning. Though many NFL teams have old gold in their color scheme, no two teams have the same color palette.

Jones than began looking at the various Pantone shades and thought he found his match in a hue named 8495C and quickly ordered track suits, even increasing the amount of the order when our local team said it would purchase many in their first order. However, when Jones made shirt samples, the dye reacted differently than expected to a different fabric and he began to scramble. Aiding in his search was present Italy ISD Athletic Director and long time Gladiator, David Weaver, and they settled on a hue numbered PMS 146C. Jones then ordered shirts based on the new color swatch.

After much trial and error, Old Gold Sports was created! The company applied and received a RN number from the FTC to facilitate importing items. Searching diligently for manufacturers in the United States did not bear fruit, as the minimum order for the scarce color could not be met and Jones took his search overseas. The shirts are being made in China, of the finest fabric available. Its moisture wicking properties help keep the wearer dry and comfortable. The track suits are made in Pakistan of a rich polyester trinda fiber. Jones designed the track suits with a narrower calf to keep the legs from being under foot of the wearer.

“One of the troubles, I always had when buying jogging outfits or track suits, was the length needed to fit most wearers. The fit was always long and I found myself walking on the hems. I have addressed that issue with the narrower calf design," explained Jones.

Jones is also having compression gear made thru a different firm in Pakistan. He will carry a cold weather top, he calls Cold Gold, a cold weather compression tight and a conventional compression top as well.

Thru Old Gold Sports, Jones has Caps and adjustable Visors made in Bangldesh. In fact, the factory in Dhaka has been most accommodating according to Jones,“The owner had some trouble with our Pantone and how it reacted to the cotton fabric in the visor, but stayed with it and has really made a good product. We also are getting adjustable caps from him in Old Gold, with a black bill, button, and eyelets. That, coupled with the Italy Shield logo, makes a good look.”

Another popular item he is manufacturing are cage jackets. These ¼ zip, short sleeve, batting cage jackets are popular, not just with players, but with fans also who like the casual comfort they provide. Old Gold Sports is importing two styles from Pakistan, one in Black with old gold accents and one in White with old gold accents. When people reacted positively to the color of the coaching shirts, Jones then contacted with the Chinese factory that produces them to commission a third cage jacket in Old Gold with black accent.

After coaching baseball and softball for a number of years, Jones also had his own opinion about gloves and what he wished to see in a glove. To that end, he formed Gladiator Gloves. In the baseball line, he will be producing a higher-end catchers mitt, first base mitt, an outfield glove and two infield gloves. The gloves will be made of either Japanese Kipp leather or Premium US steer hide. The lacing is ordered with a tensile strength of 100 pounds. On the softball side, Jones has seen that not many true softball gloves exist and he will, therefore, be producing fast-pitch gloves with wider web areas, increased upper palm padding, with the premium leathers found in the baseball gloves.

Batting gloves are being made from kid (goat skin) in both Black, White and in Old Gold, of course. These gloves are sewn with a slight inward bias to help fit the natural curve of the fingers and will have padded palms to aid in vibration damping on a mishit ball.

Jones, has an online store at www.oldgoldsports.net. The store is powered by Shopify and all credit card transactions go through the Shopify secure system. You can email Johnny Jones directly at [email protected].

The Italy booster club will be selling many Old Gold Sports products at home games. If you look around town you will already see many of our leading citizens and boosters proudly donning Old Gold again!

Specials for Italy High School

Old Gold Sports thanks you for your business!

Old Gold Sports
PO Box 657
Palmer, Texas 75152
[email protected]