The original designs of the jerseys, pants, and socks have remained mostly the same, but the helmets have gone through many significant revisions throughout the years.
Jerseys: 1. Home Uniforms: brown (officially "seal brown") with white numerals and a white-orange-white-orange-white stripe sequence on the sleeves. 2. Away Uniforms: white with brown numerals and a brown-orange-brown-orange-brown stripe sequence on the sleeves. The three white or brown stripes are approximately twice the width of the two orange stripes. (The original 1946 jerseys featured block-shadow numerals.) 3. A third orange jersey was used for night games in the 1954 season, as well as from 2002 to 2005 when the NFL encouraged teams to create a third jersey.
Pants: 1. White – white with an orange-brown-orange stripe sequence on the sides (the stripes are of equal width). 2. Brown – solid brown (no stripes). Orange pants with a wider brown-white-brown stripe sequence were worn from 1975 to 1983 and become symbolic of the "Kardiac Kids" era. The orange pants were worn again occasionally in 2003 and 2004.
Socks: Brown or white with matching stripe pattern to jerseys (1946–83; 1985–95; 1999–2002 mid-season); solid brown with brown jerseys and solid orange with white jerseys (1984); solid brown when worn with white pants (2002 mid-season–2008); white striped socks with brown pants (2009) Exceptions: White striped socks appeared occasionally with the white jerseys in 2003–2005 and again in 2007. Brown striped socks appeared with 1957-style throwback uniforms in 2006–2008.
Helmet: Solid white (1946–1949); solid white for day games and solid orange for night games (1950–51); orange with a single white stripe (1952–56); orange with a single white stripe and brown numerals on the sides (1957–59); orange with a brown-white-brown stripe sequence and brown numerals on the sides (1960); orange with a brown-white-brown stripe sequence (1961–95 and 1999–present).
Over the years, the Browns have had on-again / off-again periods of wearing white for their home games, particularly in the 1970s and 80s, as well as in the early 2000s after the team returned to the league. Until recently, when more NFL teams have started to wear white at home at least once a season, the Browns were the only non-subtropical team north of the Mason-Dixon line to wear white at home on a regular basis.
Numerals first appeared on the jersey sleeves in 1961. Over the years, there have been minor revisions to the sleeve stripes, the first occurring in 1968 (brown jerseys worn in early season) and 1969 (white and brown jerseys) when stripes began to be silk screened onto the sleeves and separated from each other to prevent color bleeding. However, the basic five-stripe sequence has remained intact (with the exception of the 1984 season). A recent revision was the addition of the initials "AL" to honor team owner Al Lerner who died in 2002.
Orange pants with a brown-white-brown stripe sequence were worn from 1975 to 1983 and become symbolic of the "Kardiac Kids" era. The orange pants were worn again occasionally in 2003 and 2004.
Other than the helmet, the uniform was completely redesigned for the 1984 season. New striping patterns appeared on the white jerseys, brown jerseys and pants. Solid brown socks were worn with brown jerseys and solid orange socks were worn with white jerseys. Brown numerals on the white jerseys were outlined in orange. White numerals on the brown jerseys were double outlined in brown and orange. (Orange numerals double outlined in brown and white appeared briefly on the brown jerseys in one pre-season game.[138]) However, this particular uniform set was not popular with the fans, and in 1985 the uniform was returned to a look similar to the original design. It remained that way until 1995.
In 1999, the expansion Browns adopted the traditional design with two exceptions: 1.) Jersey-sleeve numbers were moved to the shoulders, and 2.) The orange-brown-orange pants stripes were significantly widened.
Experimentation with the uniform design began in 2002. An alternate orange jersey was introduced that season as the NFL encouraged teams to adopt a third jersey, and a major design change was made when solid brown socks appeared for the first time since 1984 and were used with white, brown and orange jerseys. Other than 1984, striped socks (matching the jersey stripes) had been a signature design element in the team's traditional uniform. The white striped socks would appeared occasionally with the white jerseys in 2003–2005 and 2007.
Experimentation continued in 2003 and 2004 when the traditional orange-brown-orange stripes on the white pants were replaced by two variations of a brown-orange-brown sequence, one in which the stripes were joined (worn with white jerseys) and the other in which they were separated by white (worn with brown jerseys). The joined sequence was used exclusively with both jerseys in 2005. In 2006, the traditional orange-brown-orange sequence returned.
Additionally in 2006, the team reverted to an older uniform style, featuring gray face masks; the original stripe pattern on the brown jersey sleeves (The white jersey has had that sleeve stripe pattern on a consistent basis since the 1985 season.) and the older, darker shade of brown.[139]
The Browns wore brown pants for the first time in team history on August 18, 2008, preseason game against the New York Giants. The pants contain no stripes or markings. The team had the brown pants created as an option for their away uniform when they integrated the gray facemask in 2006.[140] They were not worn again until the Browns "family" scrimmage on August 9, 2009 with white-striped socks.[141] The Browns have continued to wear the brown pants throughout the 2009 season.[142] Browns quarterback Brady Quinn supported the team's move to wearing the brown pants full-time, claiming that the striped pattern on the white pants "prohibit[ed] mobility".[143] However, the fans generally did not like the brown pants, and after being used for only one season, the team returned to their white shirt-on-white pants in 2010. Coach Eric Mangini told The Plain Dealer the Browns won't use the brown pants anymore. "It wasn't very well-received," Mangini said. "I hope we can get to the point where we can wear fruit on our heads and people wouldn't notice."[144]
The Browns chose to wear white at home for the 2011 season, and wound up wearing white for all 16 games as when they were on the road, the home team would wear their darker colored uniform.[145]