Back to the College Football Uniforms
California will unleash a much-needed swoosh redesign in 2013, tossing out the current navy, yellow and white digs – complete with bearclaws — in play since 2008.
Cal’s “Yale Blue” and “California Gold” are mainstays in gameday apparel and will continue to weave their way into the Bears’ new look even if the program decides to move toward a more classic design rather than Nike’s recent eye-catching threads.
Cal’s current look includes nine different combinations of three colors with two different helmets – a white shell and a navy shell. Player numbers are located on the backs of helmets within a bearclaw graphic. On the sides of pants, a pair of contrasting bearclaw slashes adorn each thigh. Prior to Cal’s modern look, the Bears wore West Virginia-styled uniforms in the mid 2000s with wide piping down the tops and pants.
All-navy with gold and white accents was a home game tradition during that stretch, as was all-white with navy helmets on the road.
In 2011 at Oregon, the Bears unveiled a head-to-toe all-white look for the first time in school history with white shells, white tops and white pants. In 2006, Cal’s gold alternate jerseys debuted for home games played at night. Since, the Bears have worn an all-gold combination (with navy shells) on occasion.
Cal debuted its current “Cal” wordmark on helmets in 1978, back when the shells were yellow. The Bears last donned yellow helmets in 1981, moving to dark lids the following season with an updated logo. The graphic, a giant bearclaw with “Cal” inscribed in the center, lasted five seasons.
The navy shells have been with the program since, but the current helmets received an updated “bear slash” gold stripe down the center in 2008.
