Two years after updating their storied and iconic uniform in 2015, it appears that the Cleveland Browns may be doing another rebrand entirely.
According to media reports, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam stated that the Browns are considering a uniform change including plain white helmets after unveiling new uniforms back in 2015.
Universally reviled by fans and media alike, the current set of Browns uniforms rank among the worst in terms of merchandise sales, aesthetics and brand projection.
To think that the likes of Marion Motley, Leroy Kelly, and Lou ‘The Toe” Groza, once donned one of the most iconic looks in all of football. Regardless, to see it reduced to a punchline on social media in today’s era is the biggest disgrace.
To paraphrase from this site’s own Rick O’Donnell—a Miami Dolphins fan, who LOVES his Ryan Tannehill all day, every day—quipped that the only uniform change that worked for the Cleveland Browns was changing to black and purple when they moved to Baltimore and were reborn as the Ravens. Eventually, Cleveland needs to worry more about putting a winning team on the field.
Burn!
The ironic part is that I completely agree with the above statement regarding the Browns putting a winning product on the field.
Honestly, the idea of new all-white helmets and updating—or rebranding—the current look isn’t exactly the worst idea. What is sad and truly laughable is that many Cleveland fans blame the new uniforms for the porous play of the current team.
Hello! The Browns sucked in their old uniforms due to incompetent ownership, constant upheaval, lack of direction and perennial dysfunction. Blaming a new set of uniforms for the Browns on-field performance is sad. Even more, it’s an example of lazy logic and reasoning and old-school uniform homers run amok.
Even though I think they are passable and are a step in the right direction, there are some minor tweaks that could be made to make them better.
Off the top of my head I would;
– Remove the “BROWNS” watermark on the side of the pants legs. It’s too loud and cluttered.
– Narrow the stripes on the pants, as a nod to the old-school and classic look.
– Invert the lettering on the brown home uniform. So that the current orange lettering with white drop shadow would be flipped. Either to white lettering with an orange drop-shadow or an accent around the lettering.
– Narrow the shoulder stripes, so that they don’t seem so forced and tacky. Seattle can pull of the shoulder stripe-running into the chest look fine because they have a more versatile color palette. Cleveland does not.
– Draw more design inspiration from the 40’s era drop shadow and the brief 1984 uniforms sleeve striping.
– ‘CLEVELAND’ watermark in the center of the jersey. Love it. leave it, but it kinda stands out.
I am a sports jersey collector as well as a sports historian and uniform honk. The idea of a plain white helmet is actually intriguing. For those who don’t know this, the Browns used white helmets from 1946 to 1949 before introducing the storied orange helmet in 1950.
Whether it is as an alternate or a replacement for the orange helmet. I’m dying to see the Cleveland Browns channel their inner Penn State in terms of wearing a white helmet.
In terms of what the new-new uniforms will look like, that guess is as good as one’s own imagination. Consequently, Browns fans everywhere will have to wait till 2020 to find out.