It is a new-look University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine volleyball team, but maybe not as much as it had been hoping.
As of late Tuesday the Rainbow Wahine were still awaiting delivery of their new uniforms for Friday’s season opener against No. 21 San Diego in their three-night Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Invitational Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Athletic director David Matlin confirmed that the new uniforms ordered from apparel partner Under Armour had yet to arrive.
“We had a shipment delay for the Wahine volleyball uniforms,” Matlin said in an email. “UA has provided three sets of uniforms that we are currently embellishing. We will use these uniforms if our original order does not arrive in time for our first match.”
The uniforms were reportedly ordered in April. Matlin did not give a reason for the delay.
Embellishment includes numbers and the Big West patch.
Hawaii’s new-look uniforms were to complement a new-look team that features nine new players.
Third-year Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow declined comment.
A spokesman for Baltimore-based Under Armour said he was looking into the situation and declined immediate comment late Tuesday.
In 2017, UH and Under Armour signed a five-year extension to their agreement that will take their partnership through June 2022.
Although the two parties had agreements for nine years previously, the 2017 contract was the first one to include all 21 UH teams. Earlier, the Rainbow Wahine had a “carve-out” arrangement that had allowed it to use apparel and shoes from ASICS.
ASICS had been former head coach Dave Shoji’s preferred supplier. The company is known for its focus on volleyball, which includes shoes and balls, dating back to the 1960s.
Had Shoji still been at UH in 2017 (he retired after the 2016 season), UH said at the time ASICS “might not have been pruned out for a few years.”
Under terms of the Under Armour deal, the UH athletic department is scheduled to receive $220,000 in rights fees this year and more than $1.7 million in product allowance plus a marketing stipend.
UH was one of Under Armour’s first non-Power Five clients when the relationship was established immediately after the football team’s appearance in the Sugar Bowl.
The company was founded in 1996, originally manufacturing dry-fit T-shirts and later branching out to other sports, beginning with Georgia Tech football.
Hawaii is one of 23 NCAA Division I FBS schools under contract with Under Armour.