Why Star Trek Uniforms Make No Sense
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- A new week for Star Trek! Which means there was probably a new uniform. Sean's here to explain why the 2380s and 90s have too many uniforms... and why he'll be broke soon.
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#StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #Uniforms - Zábava
I've been in the us army for 21 years and gone through four combat uniform changes and three dress uniform changes. So it would kinda make sense that an organization as big as starfleet would have uniform fragmentation
Including temporal anomalies, mirror universe and alternate timelines.. If Star Trek was ever consistent would it even be Star Trek anymore?
I was in the military and they changed the uniform, it took almost a year for supply to have the uniforms to issue to everyone. So some people were still wearing the old uniforms.
well in universe lore is its to help Starfleet Temporal agents know what year/era they are in without having to ask
@@jcorrea8597 which fits with background characters wearing the seasons 1-2 TNG uniforms past season 3
@@jcorrea8597 But you could just replicate the new uniform so distribution should not be an issue.
Actually, prodigy uniforms are the same as L. decks. You just have to consider that Janeway is an admiral and admirals uniform were always inconsistent. The andorian and trill crewmembers are a better comparative.
Plus we don’t even know if the Dauntless and the Protostar are even from 2384. For all we know both ships are from the Future maybe from the same time as ST:Picard which would explain why Picard didn’t contact Janeway during S1.
@@kevintran5901 oh yea, I find it highly likely that the Protostar is extremely new and S2 will likely play into that since Janeway seems pressed to get that ship back
One thing I do like and actually find impressive, is that despite so many uniform types and looks, they all easily read as Starfleet/Star Trek in origin.
Me too, when you see one, you know it’s a Star Trek thing… even people who don’t really know Star Trek
Agree
Agrees ! I prefer the Black and grey, but am loving the new Picard season 2 uniforms !
The shoulder outline design started by TNG really cemented what Starfleet uniforms have looked since then. Emphasizing the shoulders always made Starfleet officers looked strong to me.
Not too long ago I bought a button down shirt that was blue but with the shoulders outlined in black that looked like a TNG Starfleet uniform. The shirt was full priced and I almost never buy clothes that aren’t on sale. But this shirt looked too much like a TNG Starfleet uniform that I had to buy it right there and then.😁
It's the Cochrane Delta
I'd like to think that Starfleet has many approved uniform styles. It's up the ship captain to pick one, same with the comm badge to a point.
That seems really likely. Especially when you consider a ship may be gone 20 years and come back with a uniform that's changed appearance five times since then.
@@foegettergames252 Then what was with STD'S Fleetwide Mass Effect cosplay?
@@hellacoorinna9995 To be fair, they sre really far in the future, and have considerably fewer members in Starfleet. So it's probable that they just keep in contact very well, and keep them up to date on it all, that and there aren't many expedition missions yet in Starfleet, due to well, the Burn...
This is what I think as well. Lower Decks should do a whole episode with them bugging the Captain about picking a new uniform.
Look at the British army. Every division has a significantly different dress uniform.
The comm badge is required to interface to a specific ships or Ground installations communications hardware.
Funny thing about uniforms. On a day to day basis they rarely look “uniform”. Go visit a large military base, or in the US the Pentagon. One of the first things that leaps out at you is how, while everybody is very clearly wearing service uniforms, nobody seems to be dressed quite the same. There are complex rules about what to wear when. What to wear for heavy work garb vs casual office garb vs less casual office garb vs variations of formal up to affairs of state or funerals. And the concept of Uniform of the day which can vary by unit. For example Picard liked a certain decorum maintained so had the standard dress on the Enterprise be while not formal, the 24th century equivalent of collared shirt and tie. Whereas Sisco in DS9 was running a unit needing to get their hands dirty. Work coveralls were the order of the day. Janeway ran a ship that kind of split the difference with the equivalent of golf shirts and khakis. They are all Starfleet uniforms, and all can exist at the same time. Also differences in the uniform may indicate different units, divisions, internal organizations etc. Remember the Original breast patch in TOS had a lot of variation to indicate ship, division, etc. we may see a return to that with the com badges. A return to ship or fleet specific badges. (By fleet I mean not “Starfleet” but the smaller administrative units such as 1st Fleet, 3rd Fleet etc) Different Unit types can have unique uniforms. Paratroopers standard uniform has some differences from a Tanker or an Infantryman. With the classic example being the Paratroopers and only the Paratroopers we’re allowed to “Blouse” their pants, or tuck them into their jump boots. And finally uniforms don’t get rolled out all at one time. They will trial them in smaller units first. Some will fail and be retired without widespread adoption. Heck those godawful cavalry pants with the weird flared hips still show up from time to time almost a century after the last horses were retired and most units swore never to wear those silly things again.
That's a logical way to look at the Trek uniforms! I like it.
This ☝🏼
The uniforms change so often because they're a way for time travelers to figure out when they are without polluting the timestream too much. So blame the temporal cold war
This but also same reason for viewers
No. that is just fan speculation and theorizing. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that is the real in universe explanation.
Exactly.
@@waltermc3906 google “No Prize”
Actually it makes total sense that Star fleets temporal division is behind it all, they can tell at a glance if they are in the correct time period.
I was in the USAF for almost 10 years, and I think we had...4? major uniform changes during that time. This all seems perfectly normal to me...
I've been a corrections officer for 16 years and in that time, I'm already on my third uniform.
I only did four years, and I think the uniforms went through more changes than that when I was in...
I've been out for years and years and I was surprised to see how enlisted rank showing an E-9 was no longer 6 down, 2 up, but 5 down and 3 up. Everything else seems to be the same. USAF, I mean.
especially since uniforms can be updated easily with replicators
Same. USAF, 14 years. Even with entire uniform changes, small things like insignia changes happened all....the...time.
My headcanon is that Starfleet got really uppity about making uniforms *unified* in the 2280s, and they got their way until the 2340s, when the TNG season 1 style emerged alongside the TWOK / Ent-C style, and once they retired the TWOK style, the powers that be allowed a lot more freedom for COs to choose uniforms from among different options.
My headcanon agrees with your headcanon, except my headcanon is pretty sure that crews gets to vote on their uniforms, and there is at least one crew wearing sparkly PJs and kitty ears.
@@darkwing3713 as long as the pjs have collar pips, your headcanon is approved.
It’s fiction
@@a2diogenes99 it's SCIENCE-fiction. Water is also wet.
Why have uniforms if they're not uniform?
I mean the royal navy has gone through around 6 uniform changes in the last 10 years so it's plausible that with unlimited resources that uniforms would change fairly frequently
The starfleet costume museum must be huge, maybe there is a planet just for it.
I like to say the only thing Star Trek changes more than the Klingons are the uniforms.
Is it really that hard to believe that the organization that apparently for centuries can’t figure out how seatbelts work would also fail to make any uniforms make sense?
Not forgetting their computers' inability to copy without deleting the original information.
I'd guess the Inertial Dampeners were the excuse not to have seatbelts. In fact I recall Picard doing one up on a new ship and exclaiming 'At last!'
Tbf, Inertial Dampeners _would_ render seatbelts completely obsolete... _if_ they didn't spectacularly fail with every minor gust of space wind.
@@stephenwaldron2748 You mean Cosmic Strings.. or is that a completely different phenomenon? *lol*
The Star Trek Beyond uniforms for both the Franklin and the Enterprise were amazing. They really did an amazing job with them.
Ooookay, here's my five cents: I explain the different uniforms from Lower Decks this way iny my head canon: the Cerritos is a Second Contact ship. The Titan, on which the First Contact uniforms are still in service, is a First Contact ship.
Riker and crew meet new people, then ships like the Cerritos make deeper contact. For this job, they wear less militaristic looking uniforms. More brighter, dress uniform like, simply more friendly looking uniforms.
In Star Trek Online it was explained as every ship crew has it's own uniform style. Maybe CBS acknowledged this as canon?
And comm badge stuff doesn't change that much, so they may take liberties with their design, or just only replace the old ones when they break or DO eventually become obsolete.
CBS has made STO ships cannon too so i think this holds water
@@youdontknowjack6682 was just about to say the same thing bro.
indeed.
I mean, in a universe where virtually anything can be replicated, there’s no longer any economic argument for standardization. Theoretically, every ship in the fleet could have their own unique uniforms, and as long as they conform to certain regulations, no one cares.
It doesn't bug me that much, but I like to imagine at some point, with replicators being able to recycle and remake clothing, Starfleet just introduced a very lax uniform policy where as long as the uniform meets specific standards (com badge, visible rank insignia, visible division color), officers can play fashion designer
Or the captain can just choose the uniform style for their ship. Seems reasonable.
Thats what online does to excuse the character customization. And even then, command officers and above have casual variants,
The British Army has a different dress uniform for each division…
I have to laugh.I am a US Navy Retiree. I watched the Navy (and I'm still watching) change uniforms once every 2 - 3 years for the last 15 years. It's crazy. Maybe Star Trek is getting their "Q" (pun intended) from the US Navy!
A few years ago, if you went overboard, that uniform blended in to the water. Done for at that point! lol
@@blacktronpavel I've watched a few videos about water rescue, and in large part, it doesn't matter how well your clothes blend in, because the only part of a floating person that is visible from a distance is their head. The helpful exceptions are if the lost person is wearing very bright colors (which most people don't, most of the time) and able to wave their arms while a ship is looking at them (which most people would be too tired to do while needing rescue from the water).
Here’s how I see it in my head canon- When Doctor Bashir was held captive by the Dominion, he was in the original DS9 uniform. But his changeling replacement was in the new First Contact uniform right? So having frequent uniform updates post-dominion war could be a security measure that escalates as Starfleet descends into the paranoia surrounding the Romulan Supernova / Attack on Mars.
How would this deter changeling infiltrators? They can adapt to whatever uniform is rolled out.
I always assumed that they just couldn't get the memo out to every starship that there's been a new uniform. Would be nice for there to be a gag in Lower Decks where two people realise that there's been yet another uniform change they weren't told about.
I hope next season has something like that
Look around any military. a) most have mulitple uniforms running simultaneously. b) many wear test prospective uniforms using active units. c) most change uniforms periodically, but not on any set time schedule. d) most have long running traditional uniforms.
Basically, take all that into account, and everything we see on screen can very easily be very much in line with what modern day military forces already do - in other words, it all makes perfect sense, you just need to have a little experience with how uniforms work.
Plus, it's a visual medium. You gotta make things interesting to the eye as well.
When TNG and DS9 first ran side by side, I assumed the TNG uniforms were for ship personnel only, with the DS9 uniforms for station / starbase / planet side etc.
Same here and by the time they got to generations they decided to replace them all with the DS9 style, regardless of whether they were serving on a ship or station.
Sean nearly hyperventilating as the uniforms keep on getting redesigned and altered.... shout out to Kris for the editing on this as well!!
DS9 having a variant uniform made sense as being for use by distant space stations etc (and is where I figure the California class uniforms fit too), and this is backed up by the fact that when Sisko visits Starfleet Headquarters he changes into the more appropriate TNG style uniform. Voyager and Generations throw a spanner in the works by then allowing those variants on starships.
They probably did this to see if they can make someone over analyze the situation to the point there head explodes.
It gives costume designers job security. I think uniforms match the series budget.
Modern day military has so many uniform variations depending on the mission, formality, branch, rank, department, deployment, etc
In TOS the badge (wasn't a commbadge back then) was unique to each ship/starbase. The insignia that was later retconned to be the Starfleet insignia was originally just associated with the enterprise, if I'm not mistaken.
I love the “All Good Things” uniforms that we saw several times. I have been hoping that they would make a comeback. It would made things feel like they came full circle now that we are getting stories that take place around the time those future/alternative episodes took place. I also just really like the design.
I would love to see Sean in a different uniform for each video! I would have an extra reason (not that i need one) to anticipate these wonderfull video's!
More changes than an airline cabin crew uniform. 😁
I was in the Australian army, our main uniform had very little change from before WWII until 1992 when we were issued with our camo uniforms. These from what I have seen have changed very little (beyond the material) in 30 years.
I’m going with Starfleet gives a lot of autonomy to ships regarding their uniforms, perhaps due to moral (i.e. voting, crew suggestions, etc) and maybe how vast the Federation is, it could difficult to keep everyone in sync. Also everyone in Starfleet due to space travel would likely be experiencing time at different rates, likely complicating fleet-wide consistency.
Most militaries have different uniform styles for different occasions - dress uniforms, basic duty uniforms, battlefield dress, etc. But Trek doesn't use the uniforms that way. It's one uniform for all occasions, which is why seeing so many different styles is so jarring. It would make sense if Starfleet had different branches, each with a distinctive uniform style and variations based on duty/occasion. But they don't, so it doesn't make sense.
Well, there is a dress uniform
On DS9, we saw the two standart duty uniforms (the Voyager version and the First Contact version), a combat uniform, a cold weather uniform, a desert uniform, dress uniform. On Voyager the "cave uniform", a sports uniform... so there actually were very different uniforms for various different occasions.
Depends on what the wardrobe designers feel like that day
@@STAntares The Original Series also had different uniforms. There was the standard duty officer's uniform, dress uniform, a coverall jumpsuit, the captain's wrap-around, doctor's smock, and a briefly used velour mock turtleneck.
US Navy currently has 14 (non maturity) active uniforms, they also have coveralls and camouflage variations besides those. Just sayin'. Everyone like a new uniform type. :)
Especially when you don’t need to pay for them
I wish they would have just kept the Dominion war uniforms throughout this whole time with some minor adjustments
I agree
For me, the more simple design a uniform has, the better it looks. It is also more timeless which makes sense for a sci-fi show.
I like the uniform variations, even if the designs occur during the same general time period, as you can cosplay and its generally clear from which ST show you are cosplaying.
Even today most military services have multiple uniforms that can be worn depending on everything from what season it is to what duty assignment you have.
I've always assumed that the uniforms are weird because ships are out on missions and would only update whenever they're in port.
they just need to upload the datafile for the uniform and print it with the replicators
You need to make a uniform tier list now.
Apparently there is no uniformity is the Star Trek universe. Great video Sean.
you forgot to include the space pjs from the motion picture. Or - we could just choose to forget those.
I look at all the confusion as Star Fleet mandates upgrades of the comm badges. However they provide uniform "guidelines" and each ship can replicate their own uniforms and badges meeting said "guidelines". Saves my brain for blowing up.
Many military members here are talking about how they went through plenty of uniform changes, which makes this plausible. I'll add a little headcanon that it's possible that at any given time captains and crew have multiple uniform options to pick from, with their relatively isolated places on their ship they'll be seeing it often so I can imagine that a little bit of flexibility there in the form of options is offered to the crew, or at least to the captain to pick from.
My personal head cannon is each ship, outpost, starbase, etc. is allowed to choose its own uniform and sometimes ships chose the same one as another ship.
Thats a good theory. Say that they have 5 styles they can choose from, and they can choose whichever that want. I like that.
I think it makes sense that each crew would have its own identity. The captain chooses a uniform style/com badge so when visiting other starfleet ships you are easily identified as a visitor.
You missed my favourite, the Enterprise era blue jumpsuit. The only one that has ever looked practical to me.
I'd love to see you try and explain how STO fits in too 🤣 The Captain uniform with the white shoulders 👌 Also, can we just stop and ask, how 64% aren't subbed? What are you doing with your life? 😂😂
Hi thanks for the upload and great work you guys! I honestly never worried about details like uniforms, com badges ext...What I care about is a great story and an entertaining story.
Perhaps it’s related to the role of a ship or a station. The uniforms for Starfleet Command are almost full dress uniforms, while the uniforms for a ship like the Cerritos which has a lower role on the ladder as a “second contact” vessel reflect this role. Meanwhile flagships and major space stations get another level of uniform(s) (since the grey shoulder and red/gold/blue shoulders show up on Enterprise-D and DS9.)
The First Contact/DS9 uniforms are my favorite 🥰
In the modern day uniforms are manufactured in mass for cost effectiveness. In Star Trek with replicators, every single thing can be custom made at very little cost. So it would be strange if they did not have so many different uniforms.
Great video! Any thoughts on the cadet/junior officer jumpsuits for the motion picture era?
Sean, you look positively spiffy in that Disco S4 uniform. I said the instant I saw it, if it weren't for the weird asymmetry in the front bottom, that would be my favorite uniform design full stop.
Ultimately I think it's Paramount cashing in on all the new shows. More uniforms means more merch.
By the way, are you planning to do an episode on how / why all the crews from various ships and bases started using the Enterprise insignia? I know I've asked before but I'd love to know
All these new shows with their unique uniforms... Paramount had come a long way from redressing old sets and making excuses to recycle uniforms from old shows...
Actually, they don't do a lot of merch anymore. Most uniforms nowadays are unlicensed products from China you can get for 30 quid on ebay.
My head canon for the color switch between TOS and TNG is that some intern/junior officer messed things up for the uniforms that came out after the maroons were fully retired, and nobody noticed until it was too late. And that change stuck at least through the 32nd century.
My favorite uniform is the ST 2-6 uniform, followed closely by the Dominion War uniform.
You know the real reason for all the changes is to sell new toys.
Dude this is Star Trek not Saturday morning cartoons, or super hero movies. Star Trek has never been concerned about selling more toys. The uniform changes have absolutely NOTHING to do with selling more toys.
@@waltermc3906 I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Wait, you are. You're giving us the business, yeah?😁
Thank you!
For a few years now I was convinced I'm the only one that was bothered by those uniforms!
I've been thinking this for years.
Once heard a fan theory that the various uniforms are a way for time displaced individuals to quickly understand when and where they are if theybend up on a Star Fleet ship and that's always worked for me.
I have a preference for consistency in uniforms, like we had from the Original Series through Nemesis.
It's all about the visual appeal on the screen so, yep all over the place. Love your analysis and opinion!
My guess is since Janeway is an Admiral now, and the Dauntless is her flagship, they’re all wearing a dress uniform all the time.
I loved this, as it's the sort of thing I obsess about too! I was going to write about the various different uniforms and badges in alternate timelines/universes/illusions. However, I know the video's mainly about the Prime universe. An additional thing I do remember is the use of multiple different uniforms being used at the same time. In "Generations", characters are allowed to keep changing between the TNG uniforms and the DS9 uniforms (obviously due to the behind-the-scenes hiccups). In DS9, "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost", Sisko goes back to Earth and has to change back into a TNG uniform (this was Season 4 of DS9!). Then, in the very last DS9 episode, when the Dominion War ends and the Founder signs a peace treaty, there's a crewmember in the background in a TNG uniform, despite the First Contact uniforms having been in use for a few years by this point! I know there was also the big outcry about the Voyager crew remaining in the early-DS9 uniforms long after having regained contact with Starfleet and seen the updated FC uniforms. Some fans put that down to them not wanting to waste replicator energy. However, the crew were still seen regularly making new clothes, such as Tom and Harry's racing uniforms in "Drive". I think the easiest explanation for the many different confusing uniforms being done at the same time is with STO's thing where every crewmember/ship/station can have their own uniforms from ANY period. Now that Picard Season 2 has made some of the STO ships canon, maybe this little uniform explanation could become canon too?
My hc is that Starfleet gives individual units a lot of leeway on how they want to uniform their crew. Which if true is cool because it gives like an edge of fun competition, a way for crews to express themselves, identify themselves, or for uniforms to become iconic and gain prestige.
I worked on a military base convenience store and I saw a great many different uniforms.
Always love to see a Trek Culture video with Seán Ferrick.
I always thought that Starfleet chooses 5 uniforms. The Captain chooses one for their crew. This is why different commands have different uniforms.
I’m rediscovering this video over a year later while Picard season 3 is airing and the lack of UNIFORMITY (see what I did there?😜) is even worse and more fragmented now in ways that are so unnecessary. Ultimately the issue isn’t even changes in uniforms, it’s the lack of consistency and a respect or collaboration between shows on what era has what uniform. It feeds like each show just made up the uniforms they wanted to see and didn’t consult or care how it fits with other shows? Back in the syndicated 90s shows you might be able to get away with saying budgetary restraints made things an issue but new Trek as a whole has immense budgets, the inconsistency just stands out no matter what dismissive hand waving is used to justify it.
That's because the "monster maroon's" are simply BRILLIANT please make one :) I missed the chance as years ago "many many years" was in a small comic book shop and they had one, never got and when I went back about a month later the shop had closed. Have not seen one since...
They're are some people that sell them on eBay. If I find myself in the mood for another, I'd probably get one there and modify it to fit well.
Yeah but you can never tell of the quality on Ebay, the only one I found, the shop closed by the time I went back to it and was totally gutted. @@AlexandarHullRichter
You should check out the changes in US Army uniforms over the last 20 years....
Is it possible that there is a uniform guideline, with which variation is allowed per ship/station/post?
Sean, I ALWAYS enjoy your videos.
All I want to know is where you get your uniforms
Thanks for this, Sean. I do just generally settle on the idea that it’s okay for Starfleet officers to have more than one uniform spread across the fleet at the same time. Might be a bit confusing, but i can roll with it.
Your video here has helped me to decide that I want to buy uniforms for Lower Decks and Discovery. Although if you do record anything with me in a different get-up, you’ll probably need to sort that for me 😜 But we’ll see.
If you're after "glaring omissions" Sean, there's a few in TOS: Kirk's wraparound thing, landing-party field jackets becoming landing party belts, before being abandoned entirely, The Cage uniform differing from the standard adopted throughout the rest of the series...in it's infancy Star Trek had SID (Sartorial Indecisiveness Disorder), that nowadays, untreated, has become full blown SHAD: Sartorial Hyper Activity Disorder. Star Trek needs our help, not our complaints...
In TOS, the badges were patches, not communicators, and characters used handheld devices.
I personally don't include the animated stuff. I was surprised that the uniforms for Picard season 2 were updated again. I really like them though!
I always thought that every ship got it’s own uniform or that there has always been a selection of uniforms and the commanding officer (captain) do chose a style of uniform and com badge for their ship. So you can already see what ship someone is from based on uniform-badge combination.
In the Voyager episodes Future's End and Relativity, we see another uniform in, I believe the 2800s. Also, a video about how this cannon and the Discovery timeline makes sense, I'd love to see a video on.
I think they do mention that time travel in Discovery’s future time is outlawed but I don’t remember any details
I have never looked at the uniform as a way to SPECIFICALLY tell _when_ they are from, but I DO look at the uniform to inferr service assignment and rank and every uniform to date clearly does that for me. Apprecieate all the ST love TrekCulture!
They should have just stuck with the DS9 era type uniforms which are by far the best uniforms in the series. Hate the colorful looking uniforms that had to make a comeback.
Honestly just head canon different ships can choose which uniforms they use
Disagree, the colorful uniforms are the best kind in Trek and I'm super happy they're back
What about the Star Trek:Enterprise uniforms?
and Kelvin, and Franklin Uniforms heh
The simplest explanation within Cannon could be that
local command Authority Fleet Admirals and sector commanders
have the authority to set local uniform regulations within certain parameters
Did you forget about the ST:Enterprise uniforms? The ones with actual pockets and modeled after actual military uniforms?
And used the TOS division colors
Well, at least the fact that you can easily make uniforms in the replicator makes it pretty easy to redesign them again and again. At the time of Picard, Prodigy and so on, I could imagine that there are simply many variants and you can choose an your uniforms depending on the ship, planet and use. The only important thing is to be able to recognize your rank and your department.
all these awesome new uniforms esp the season 2 picard ones, and ihave not the slightest idea where to go to look to buy any
Thank you! As soon as I saw yet another new uniform I just felt my wallet shrivel up. I love the variety but to have so many different uniforms in rapid succession is odd. Unless... Paramount is counting on us to buy up all the merch associated with each show. I have a commbadge collection that keeps growing. The box I keep them in has become too small. I've bought 5 since Discovery premiered!
Watching Lower decks and looking back at DS9-First Contact, the first contact "Greys" seem to be a combat uniform, with the classic TNG uniforms being exploration branch (possibly replaced or updated by the Prodigy era to incorporate the All Good Things combadge?) and Lower Decks being a "second contact" federation utility uniform.
The Prodigy main crew could specifically be an Advance Starship Bureau uniform. I havnt seen Pickard, but the new uniforms there seem to be related to the pre-war DS9 uniforms (colors on top), so could be one for planetary officers or post-war update to planet/station uniforms?
My head cannon on uniforms is whatever admiral or commodore the ship works under they are the ones who chooses what uniforms their fleet uses. Which would give you multiple different uniforms in use
Here's something else to think about: in the photograph of Picard holding a baby Thaddeus Troi-Riker, Picard is wearing his uniform from the 2385 flashbacks. But Thaddeus was born in 2381, so those uniforms must have existed earlier than 2385--maybe even being introduced soon after Lower Decks season 3?
TOS era was supposed to have different badges for each ship so badge variation isn't a huge deal. We also see admirals and captains have several uniform variations throughout the franchise.
Maybe the comm badges are like challenge coins? Each captain get to make/choose their own?
to be fair on the commbadges maybe they went back to each ship having its own logo design like back in TOS but using comm badges. also there is some Beta canon prcedent for ships having different uniforms if they eased uniform regulations like in STO.
Remember all of the comms badges in service in Starfleet would all have to technically compatible to work together. So the internals would have to be the almost identical, even if the external shape is different.
I think they create a new uniform whenever the federation gets a new member to deal with an negative assosiation that species might have had before joining, with replicators its easy to change. But captians have discression to keep old uniforms, which they usually do to keep crew cohesion.
Two thoughts. One (illuded to earlier), it might be up to the captain. Similar to how McDonald's restaurants have multiple and similar themes. Another is more Hollywood production giving you something new to attract the senses like how a new computer operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) gives you new desktop icons giving that "new" feeling (that new car smell).
It makes perfect sense the ferengi keep selling them new style uniforms
I remember in TOS different ships had different symbols (comm badge area) and the delta seemed to be assigned to the Enterprise.
Now, with the movies it seemed like the uniforms were being... uniformed.
The latest shows feel all over the place, hopefully it gets streamlined.
There's only been one that I absolutely didn't like and that's the one used in Picard during the Mars flashback where Picard resigned... just plain ugly...