Durene's Last Hurrah?

The familiar Packers uniform scheme, ushered in with the Lombardi era, basically remains in place today (with some minor changes along the way, of course). For many collectors, the durene jersey from the period (particularly the green home variety) represents an iconic representation of the team's dominance in those golden days of the 1960's. Unsurprisingly, game used Packers durenes fetch good money, and even unused "team issued" examples have exceeded $1,000 in price.

On occasion I've been asked: When did the Packers make the switch from durene jerseys to nylon mesh? The answer isn't necessarily straightforward, as the team began utilizing Sand-Knit's mesh jerseys, along with the standard durenes, beginning in 1971. From '71 through 1973, the team used durene jerseys almost half the time (6 games in 1971, 7 games in '72, and 6 games in '73). During this time span, the team wore mesh when the temperature was around 50 degrees or warmer. 1973 was the last season the team wore durene jerseys with any standard-issue regularity.

Durene has a toughness and luster that mesh can't match, but an increase in the number of heat-related football deaths in the 1960's made a transition to cooler mesh jerseys easier:

Here's an unassuming little announcement from the January 13th, 1969 Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, concerning Sand-Knit's new mesh fabric:

The Packers didn't cease using durene jerseys altogether after 1973. Occasionally, certain players used durene jerseys for cold-weather games through the 1980's. Here's a game used Karl Swanke durene, circa 1984:

This is a Philip Epps durene, with built-in hand warmer, from the mid-'80s:

A few NFL teams, such as the Steelers and Jets, regularly employed durene jerseys until fairly recently. But for the Packers, durene jerseys are emblematic of a celebrated past (the '80's examples aside, I suppose), and are certainly valued as such.