On July 1, two weeks from Wednesday, Tennessee Athletics will officially be an Adidas collegiate program. The partnership will last for 10 years, effectively through the 2035-2036 athletic year.
Tennessee first announced the move all the way back in August 2025.
While Tennessee enters a new era with its partnership with Adidas, it’s also a return to form in some ways. Tennessee previously partnered with Adidas from 1995-2015 during a stretch that saw Tennessee football win the 1998 National Championship and the Lady Vols’ basketball program win National Championships in 1996, 97, 98, 2007 and 08.
The big question that fans will be asking over the final two weeks is what the Vols and Lady Vols’ upcoming uniforms will look like. There haven’t been any leaks or hints about the changes or non-changes to the current designs, but we do have an idea of the timeline in which things will roll out.
“Tennessee is switching to adidas, as every Vol fan knows,” Voice of the Vols Mike Keith said back on a May episode of The Mike Keith Show. “The official switch date is July 2. When you will be able to buy adidas merchandise at retail is July 10. So, July 2 is the switch, July 10 is when you’ll be able to buy adidas merch.”
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Starting on July 2, UT will start to reveal what the new uniforms look like. Director of VFL Films Sarah Detwiler said that throughout the week, Tennessee will start to roll out what the new jerseys look like. Each day could be a different color, theme, etc., as we get our first looks.
When the announcement was first made back in August, some Tennessee fans had trepidations about potential uniform changes that Adidas may install. But following that announcement, Tennessee AD Danny White made it clear in an interview with VolQuest that Tennessee is in control of what happens with the uniforms.
“We have creative control, but they have talented creative people. We have talented creative people. I think that anytime you’re a priority for someone, I think that there’s more opportunity for ideation and thinking about how do we continue to have our foot on the pedal in terms of innovation. But we will always make sure we’re honoring our traditions and Adidas knows how important that is,” White said, via VQ.
The internal rollout seems to have already begun on campus, though. In the last week, we’ve seen Tennessee Football players Qua Moss and Tyreek King show off new orange-and-white practice uniforms and shoes, complete with the iconic three-stripe design.
Be sure to mark your calendars as Tennessee Athletics officially begins to reveal its new Adidas uniforms on Thursday, July 2. And make sure to stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for complete coverage of the switch, including full pictures and videos of the new uniforms and merchandise.
