John Keim
Multiple Authors
ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders have not seen many glory days since final profitable a Super Bowl in 1992. Whether they will match their most profitable interval stays to be seen — however they’re going to put on a look that harkens again to that period.
The Commanders unveiled their new uniforms Wednesday, returning to their extra conventional coloration scheme — and to a look just like when the franchise gained three Super Bowls between 1981-91.
“They’re associated with some incredible moments,” Washington crew president Mark Clouse stated.
When Washington formally modified its title to the Commanders in February 2022, it additionally went away from its conventional look.
The crew additionally unveiled an alternate jersey — dubbed the Hail Raiser — that contains a spear knifing by means of the burgundy W on each side of a black helmet, nearly assembly within the entrance. The franchise featured a spear with a feather dangling from it on its burgundy helmet from 1965-68.
Clouse stated they wished to bridge “the evolution from the Redskins era to the Commander era.”
“The spear is just such a great device,” he stated. “That was part [of] the heritage of the team and also can live in this ecosystem that we’ve been building around defining a Commander.”
Clouse stated they’re attempting to marry the previous with their imaginative and prescient of the longer term. Their new stadium, scheduled to open in 2030, will resemble RFK Stadium, their house from 1961-96 — and the positioning of their biggest groups. All of that is purposeful.
“I’m sure there will be some that are always looking for a full reversal,” Clouse stated relating to the previous title and logo, “and that’s not the path we’re on, but I think this is a great way to continue to celebrate that.
“We’ve been very purposeful in attempting to carry again the celebration and integration of our heritage whereas persevering with to maneuver ahead to construct the Commander model. It’s extraordinarily necessary that the weather of these issues are introduced collectively.”
There’s also a basic explanation for the return to a familiar look.
“We wished to carry again all the normal parts,” Commanders chief marketing officer Patrick Arthur said, “so when folks come to Northwest Stadium subsequent 12 months and so they’re watching the sport, they see their crew that they grew up rooting for on the sphere.”
Washington will use block numbers on their jerseys, and have returned to three stripes down the middle of their helmets — white on the outside and gold in between. The Commanders will continue to use a gold W on their glossy burgundy helmets as well as on the black alternate ones. The black helmet will have two gold stripes with a burgundy one down the middle.
The burgundy helmets will feature a gold face mask.
The team used the Super Bowl era jerseys as alternate ones in 2025 — there was talk last year that these would eventually become permanent. Clouse and Arthur both said they talked to fans, whether at games or training camp or other sites, about potential uniform changes.
But Clouse said the players’ response to those uniforms was “our greatest piece of analysis.”
“They actually appreciated the heritage of the crew,” Clouse said. “That was actual encouragement for us.”
The uniforms will have numbers on the side of the jerseys and return to stripes down the side of the pants: burgundy and gold on the white pants; gold and white on the burgundy pants and burgundy and white on the gold pants.
Over the past year, the Commanders have leaned into trying to define their nickname, dubbing it a “chief of warriors.” They show a video presentation shortly before kickoff at home games — with a medieval “Game of Thrones” look — to emphasize what it means.
The name has not been popular among Washington fans; it hasn’t helped that the franchise has not yet returned to consistent on-field success. The Commanders reached the NFC Championship Game in the 2024 season, winning 12 regular-season games — their most since the ’91 campaign. But they were 5-12 last year and have lost double-digit games three times in five seasons.
And for many fans the new name serves as a reminder of the failed Dan Snyder era. He was the owner during this period; Josh Harris purchased the team in July 2023. Harris has repeatedly said they wouldn’t return to the former name, but that they wanted to embrace the past.
“The precedence is honoring our previous after which trying to the longer term,” Harris said at the NFL league meeting in Phoenix last month. “I lived by means of how superb these groups have been and what an affect it had on me. And I do know that 1000’s of our followers or thousands and thousands perhaps really feel the identical approach. And so I believe it is necessary to return to that as a lot as you may, however on the similar time, we have now a brilliant future forward.”
The new jerseys do not incorporate the word “Commanders” as other uniforms have in the past.
Clouse, who worked in the food industry from 1996 until 2024 when he joined the Commanders, said he learned during that time that “you don’t change a number of issues on the similar time. You evolve very slowly and purposefully.”
He said they still have to convert some fans to their new identity.
“They could not agree with all the things that we’re doing,” Clouse said, “however hopefully a minimum of they’re understanding what we’re attempting to perform.”
