Thought I'd ask what the preference is for Officials jackets. Is there a favorite brand/style prefered by most officials? Is there a standard for having your name embroidered? I have seen many different styles of jackets, and different thread colors used for names.
There seems to be a new standard to wear "beltless" slacks . . . v-neck shirts, etc. Interesting Note: I did see a varsity ref at a 4A game with black shoes which had a large white Nike swoosh. That surprised me! Anybody out there have an opinion?

Officials Jackets:
See what your local association says about the jacket. I know that my association puts out its own jacket with their emblem embroidered on the front. No one i've ever worked with has had their name of a jacket for basketball.

Pants:
Most people are going with the beltless pants. I use them and their great. Honigs makes a great pair if you need a bit of extra room in the rear. I like the flat front pants because i don't wear pleated pants well.

Shirts:
V-Neck, the collar is going out, if not already gone. McDavid makes a good intra shirt that you don't need to wear anything underneath of.

Shoes:
Personal preference. Its hard to find all black shoes, the Converse whistle and the New Balance 609's are good shoes. I personally don't like to see white on the shoes.

Hutbbref, you probably should check locally and see what the requirements are. You may be required to wear a specific style of shirt, slacks, shoes, and jacket.

Also, welcome to the board. ;)

Around here, I've seen a lot of different jackets -- the only constant here is that college (CCA) jackets are not appreciated on the high school floor. My partners and I wear what Honig's calls a "CCA no logo," which, coincidentally, is a CCA jacket with no logo :)

The no white on the shoes is overrated. I wear what's comfortable in every sport I work. Problem with white stripes in basketball is that it's a pain to shine the shoes with black polish if you have to worry about getting black polish on a white stripe.

Ask locally. Many jurisdictions have a state/association jacket. If you tell us where you are from, someone may be able to give you a specific answer.

In my association, we all wear the same type jacket -- black with the association logo embroidered on the left chest area. The only difference with the jackets is that some have zippers and others have snaps. This happened because the original maker went out of business and newer officials (or those looking for replacements) had to get the ones with snaps.

As far as pants/shoes are concerned, probably 95% of the officials wear the beltless pleated pants -- I really like them. We used to have a policy that all crewmembers, at the varsity level, had to wear the same type shoe (i.e., all black or some white). For the past couple of years, we have gotten away from this. Had a VG game on Tuesday and 2 officials had all black shoes and I had nikes with small white swoosh. Blew out the heel portion of my all black converse the night before and did not have time to purchase new shoes.

If you've purchased them within the last year, contact Converse and you can probably get them replaced.

DBL-

Kohl's had NB 608s for $48 around Christmas. Might be worth a shot to check if you still need a new pair of shoes.
OCReferee

And there's no reason to buy NB 608/609s from one of the officiating supply companies if you have a New Balance store where you live. I went to the local NB outlet, got a new pair of 609s for the same $59 I would've paid Honig's or GD Sports without having to pay shipping costs.

Also, the stores carry more widths. The officiating suppliers carry the medium and wide (EE) widths, but these shoes actually come in EEEE and EEEEEE widths.

Last year I worked in Converse shoes, size 10.5. Had to buy longer shoes to hold my wider feet. This year I'm in a 9.5 EEEE New Balance and they feel like slippers, only with support :)

Still wear heel lifts in the shoes, but that's another issue entirely.

That works as long as the sales tax is less than shipping. :)

Academy has NB 609's
 

I just bought a new pair of 609's at Academy for $45 plus tax. It would be hard to beat that deal, based on what I'm reading here. FWIW: they feel great, and did from the very first time I wore them.

New Balance seems to make the most comfortable shoes (espically for those of you with wider feet), but I did find a really good pair of Nike's at an outlet mall for $50. They are the AirMax 9000's. Some grey around the swoosh and the heel, but one of the best shoes I ever put on my feet.

I also use the same jacket for college and HS ball. I just have a state patch that I use over the CCA logo. It has Aileen's Tack It on the back. It is an adhesive that leaves no residue on jackets shirts ect. Useful if you one item for multiple endevors. Word of warning: make sure you take the patch (or whatever) off before you wash it. Found out the hard way that it does take a bit to get that residue off your shirt! Available I beleve through Honig's.

They were about 3 years old and I should have already replaced them. I usually won't go more than 2 seasons (depending on how much I work) with the same pair of shoes.

I was in Kohl's last night and they only had the regular and EEEE -- no EE. The regular width is too narrow and the EEEE is too wide. I guess I am at that "akward inbetween age". :D

Of course you pay use tax, so it doesn't matter :)

Sales tax here is 5.5% so I believe I get a better deal. I have to pay sales tax to GD Sports since they are in WI -- however ground deliveries come overnight.

When in Rome, Do as the Roman Do...
 

I have recently relocated to Montana from California. I was not permitted to retain my Varsity status until I went through a probationary period of one year, during which there are certain hoops I have to go through. I'm not complaining as every transfer has to do the same.
However, part of the process include evaluations by the current Varsity rated officials in the association and the majority of the criticism I have received concerns my uniform.... jacket, shirt, and pants.
Here they use an all black jacket, the "grey" v-neck w/state logo, and beltless pleated pants.
My suggesetion is to start out with the right equipment and as Andre Aggassi once said, "Image is everything."