Carolina Panthers - Logos and Uniforms

Logos and Uniforms

The Panthers logo consists of the head of a snarling Black panther outlined in blue. It is shaped to resemble the combined borders of North and South Carolina. The helmets are silver, and in 2003, they changed the helmet color slightly to a more metallic shade. The team normally wears silver pants with their black jerseys, and white pants with their white jerseys. Both the black and the white jerseys have blue stripes over the shoulders. The team introduced an alternate jersey in 2002 that is blue with black shoulder stripes. Carolina debuted the alternate light blue jersey for one game at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002. The alternate jersey has been worn twice a season beginning in 2003. The Panthers have worn the light blue jersey a few times on the road when the home team has chosen to wear white due to the heat, as the light blue uniforms are more comfortable in the heat than black. Carolina prefers not to wear black when the temperature is hot or not mild enough. With the league rules permitting teams to wear their third jersey twice in the regular season and once in the preseason, the Panthers reserve the use of their alternate light blue jersey for a home game when there are one or two games that they don't wear them on the road.

Like many other NFL teams located in temperate climates, the Panthers traditionally wear their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season — forcing opponents to wear their dark ones under the warm autumns in Charlotte. When it gets to the second half of the season the Panthers will start to wear their colored jerseys for home games as temperatures will be cooler.

The team's uniforms prompted a 2003 lawsuit by the Oakland Raiders, who claimed that the NFL and the Panthers had infringed upon key trademark elements of the Raiders' brand, specifically the silver and black colors. In the same suit, the Raiders challenged the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1997 uniform design, including the pirate logo. The Raiders wanted the courts to bar the Buccaneers and Panthers from wearing their uniforms while playing in California. However, since the lawsuit was filed in a state California court, the lawsuit was tossed out because only federal courts have jurisdiction over intellectual property issues. The Raiders have yet to appeal the ruling.

The Panthers have played in ten postseason games, wearing the white jerseys in all but their most recent playoff game. Two of those games were at home against the Dallas Cowboys, making the Cowboys wear their "unlucky" or "jinxed" navy-blue jerseys, as the Cowboys are one of three teams who routinely wear their white jerseys at home with limited exception.

On January 29, 2012, for the first time since the team's inception, the Carolina Panthers unveiled a new refined logo and logotype. It has been designed to provide a more aggressive, contemporary look to the logo while making it more three-dimensional for ever-increasing digital use.

On April 3, 2012, it was revealed that the Panthers would not be adopting Nike's "Elite 51" uniform technology, and that aside from the aforementioned logo change and the league-wide revision of the NFL shield on the uniform (replacing the NFL Equipment logo), the uniforms will essentially remain unchanged. One detail has been added to the inside of the collar: the phrase "Keep Pounding", in honor of the late Panthers player and coach Sam Mills. On November 11, 2012, the Panthers introduced a new all black uniform for their first game against former head coach John Fox.