In a surprising move — at least to me — this afternoon the Washington Commanders have announced the return of the gold pants to their uniform lineup. As most of you are aware, the Washington franchise has a deep history with gold pants, spanning decades and several different uniform iterations. The team even put out a video showing some of their past looks, plus some shots of the new pants paired with their burgundy jerseys:
Aura pic.twitter.com/RGLkSPDy1Y
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) July 9, 2024
Gold pants have been a part of Washington’s uniform combination for decades and were first worn starting in 1937 and remained in rotation through the 1978 season. In 1979, the team moved to just white or burgundy pants, but the gold pants would return in 1994 for a throwback (as part of the NFL’s 75th Anniversary season), and made additional appearences with throwback uniforms in 2002, 2003, and 2007. In 2010, the gold pants would finally become a regular part of the primary uniforms, and remained so until until 2021. When the team renamed itself to the Commanders and got new uniforms at the start of the 2022 season, the gold pants were no more. You can see the entire uniform history of the Washington franchise here.
The team tweeted two photos of the new pants: one an “artsy” photo featuring camera settings, and the other a multi-image collage:
The team also had fun with a tweet depicting how they might show off the new pants for their social media header.
jk we figured it out https://t.co/hECvIAKTLs
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) July 9, 2024
Right now, the gold pants are only shown with the burgundy tops (a fine combination), but not with the white jerseys. Whether or not they will be an option for the white jerseys remains to be seen. They haven’t indicated when they’ll wear them, nor whether the burgundy tops will be worn solely with the gold pants, or if their mono-burgundy or burgundy over white will still be options.
But regardless, fans have been clamoring for the return of the gold pants since the current uniforms were introduced in 2022. And now they’re back.
This might just be the best uniform news we’ll have all day (and maybe all week)!
Gold pants w/burgundy tops and burgundy pants w/ white tops are the Commies best looks
Agreed! After pretty much going mono (burgundy, white and black) in the beginning, the team has gotten much better about mixing and matching. I could definitely live with burgundy/gold at home and white/burgundy on the road (and maybe once at home, since that was their home look during the Hogs’ years)
Would love to see the maroon/white/gold (pants) combo also.
It would look horrible for one very obvious reason:
The white jersey has more Black than Gold and they need to address it ASAP.
No stripes, it could’ve been SO much better.
None of their other pants have stripes anymore, though, so it doesn’t bother me as much, as it keeps them somewhat consistent in that area. Now, if the white jersey could just be brought more in line with the burgundy one (in particular, getting rid of the Ben Day patterns on the numbers and stripes, and maybe swapping out some of that black trim for some gold…)
“It could have been so much better” is sadly the blanket statement we could use for 90% of uniform changes.
Instantly their best look by a mile, although stripes on the pants would have been better. The maroon/marron/white combo looked like their regular pants had been stolen and they borrowed practice pants for the game.
Now change the white jerseys to look more classic and to be more burgundy than red.
Those old ‘Skins unis from the Billy Kilmer era were such f-ing beauties! Bring those back and just use the current lids. We’d then be seeing one of the best uni combos in the league.
Ditch the BFBS alts and fix the white jersey and this could actually be a decent looking team.
I love any look that takes me back to the Sports Illustrated posters of my youth. And while we’re at it, can we please retire “Commies” as shorthand? It’s always made more sense to use military shorthand, which in the Army is Cmdr.
This!
I actually discussed this with Paul as I was preparing to take over, and I told him if there was *one* thing I didn’t like that he did, it was referring to the team as “Commies”.
I will never (and have never) used it to describe the Washington team. Hopefully no more commenters will use it.
Unless it is specifically banned, I’ve always preferred it to the full name. Only when written, though. It’s quicker to type on a phone that Commanders. And Commanders is a stupid name at any rate, IMO.
LOL. It’s not “banned,” and you’re free to still use “Commies.”
But it will no longer be shorthand for Commanders on any future UW articles.
… it’s three more letters to type out….
I have heard people split the difference between the old identity and the new one and refer to the team as Comanches.
As a fan I’ve always just used ‘Manders, sort of how I used to use ‘Skins.
Phil, you should be permitted to call commenters “Commies” if they call the Commanders “Commies”….
Sala-Manders…
Only if the Jets HC takes over
WFT is 25% fewer letters than “Cmdr.” And it looks like WTF, as in, “WTF is the WFT wearing BFBS?” See how much information you can cram into a few acronyms?
This is a massive upgrade but they do need stripes.
A step in the right direction. Plus, yellow/athletic gold pants go with white or burgundy jerseys. This would be all they need.
Now, just ditch the BFBS and bring back those striped socks from the 1970s.
If I need to watch that godawful team twice a year in the division, at least they can be well-dressed.
This is good. Stripes would be better, but this is good.
A welcome upgrade to maybe the worst unis in the NFL. The best thing about stripeless pants when they’re yellow is that they won’t be paired with yellow socks, so no leotard effect.
Clearly a memo has gone out about no pants stripes. Do the players prefer no stripes? Is there data that no stripes are more popular?
I think it’s just the current trend in uni design. Hopefully in a couple more years, this trend will reverse itself and everyone will have stripes. The alternative to stripes or no stripes, of course, are all the half/semi stripes and truncated stripes and amorphous shapes that started appearing in the 1990s and continued through to the early 2010s.
So, while fashion is cyclical, we need to be careful what we wish for. I don’t think the players honestly care whether their pants have stripes, no stripes or partial stripes.
The pendulum is going to swing so far in a few years that the 1970s Eagles’ stripes will look tame by comparison. Or, practice pants will have the most ornate striping ever.
If going with no pants stripes vs the Titans absolutely stupid pants stripes, I would go with no stripes. Titans unis are not that great. But, ditching the stripes for solid pants would be a minor improvement.
For a second when I watched the video I thought they were going to come out with a full throwback uni but the gold pants are an upgrade to their awful current unis and a step into the right direction. Hopefully, when they’re eligible for new unis they can bring back their classic look.
Looks nice. Hopefully they aren’t shown with the white jersey because the white jersey is unavailable at the moment due to them ditching its terrible gradient numbers. Once that is done they are pretty much set, imo.
The Washington uniforms still suck. They just suck a little less.
Instantly a huge improvement.
YESSS my Commies instantly looking better, now just give us stripes on the pants and the OG stripe design for the helmet!!
Add a gold facemask please
FINALLY……would there be any way they could do a throwback uni (80’s) sans the original logo (of course) and replacing it with the new crest logo on the helmet? respectfully honoring the past.
This is welcome news. There was no reason for the Commanders to change their uniforms with the name change. Change the helmet logo and leave everything else alone. I don’t like the black uniform or think they should have a black uniform, but they could have added the black uniform to their original set with the name change too if they wanted that “change.” Their Redskins era uniforms were perfect. Hopefully they go back to that in 2027 with the W on the helmet.
Hopefully the burgundy jersey with the gold pants becomes the home uniform every game this season. They should never go mono burgundy ever again.
exactly…….NO ONE asked for different unis OR didn’t like the previous ones.
Coms pants need stripes. Good headline for a WAPO article or what? I call them the Coms, akin to the New York Metropolitans being shortened to Mets and the New York Knickerbockers to Knicks. Washington Coms.
And just like that, the Commanders (I hate that name) have a pretty darn nice uni option.
I just don’t understand how this wasn’t a part of the uniform set from the get go.
Now just bring back the gold masks & those uni’s will be
I think the burgundy/gold is one of the greatest color combos in all of sports. I hope having these pants in their uni rotation means we’ll see less of the BFBS, which are absolutely horrible.