The History of the
Wildcat Uniform
 Page Six

2022 - Present





Black Jerseys, 2022-2024




Purple and White Jerseys, 2022-2023



Purple and White Jerseys, 2024-2025




In 2022, NU switched to uniforms that tied back to more traditional styles that the team wore in the 1990s and earlier.

JERSEY: Purple, white, and black jerseys are standard.
  • By far, the biggest change in 2022 was the removal of the 2012 - 2021 chest stripe and the addition of traditional Northwestern Stripes on the sleeves. The chest stripe was a bold stroke and set Northwestern apart, but it served its purpose, and the school chose to reclaim its famous sleeve striping. The current jerseys are more traditional. All three jerseys keep the shoulder, or "TV," numbers and the Northwestern wordmark (still in Morgan Poster Avec font) and Big Ten logo on the chest.
  • The purple and white jerseys are identical in style to each other (HTP shows both of them on this page because we show all jerseys in the Under Armour era, even if the road jersey is stylistically the same as the home jersey). They are both very similar to the classic 1976 - 1977 uniform set, with single-color Northwestern Stripes and TV numbers.
  • The purple and white jersey numbers are slightly different from the earlier Under Armour numbers and have dropped the color outline.
  • The black jersey is nearly identical to the short-lived late-season 1994 uniform: white numbers with purple outlines, TV numbers, and a white-purple-white sleeve stripe, in keeping with the Barnett-era jerseys.
  • For 2024, NU returned to using a small N logo on the jersey collar, which it had dropped after 2011, when the team moved from Adidas to Under Armour. This change applied ONLY to the purple and white jerseys. The black jerseys did not get the N logo.



HELMET: NU's classic 1981 helmet design remains the standard, with a few minor modifications.

For 2022 through 2024, NU used purple, white, and black helmets as standard, with the traditional Northwestern N. In recent seasons, the N logo was both the fuller, slightly rounded version typical of the 1990s and 2000s, as well as the thinner version from the 1980s.

The purple helmet's color now matches the jersey and pants even closer, giving the set a true uniform appearance. The black helmet is matte. The 2022-2024 helmets still carried the WIN wordmark on the front bumper plate

During the 2024 season, NU still wore its standard purple helmet with the white N for two games, but most of the games featured the 2023 purple and white helmets with the "Northwestern" script.

For 2025, NU considers only the purple and white helmets (with a white faceguard) as standard. Black has gone back to an alternate choice. The WIN wordmark has been moved from the front bumper to the back of the helmet; the helmets feature a new "WILDCATS" wordmark on the front bumper:



PANTS:The pants appear identical to the 2019 - 2021 versions. The team continues to use purple, white, and black pants interchangeably, at home and on the road. The pants are plain, except for the standard Northwestern N on the left hip and the Under Armour logo on the right.

While HTP's tracker doesn't usually include shoes, it should be noted that the 'Cats have purple, white, and black UA shoes to mix and match with their unis.
    As with the previous Under Armour years, HTP tracks the various uniform combinations used during the season. Note: if an entry in the list is in purple, that indicates the debut for that particular part of the Under Armour uni.

    See the bottom of the page for the description of any alternate uniform components.
     
    2022 Game Helmet Jersey
    		 Pants
    Nebraska - @ Dublin Alt. Purple, Irish N Purple Purple
    Duke - Home
    		 Alt. White, Flag N Black White
    So. Illinois - Home
    		 Standard Purple, White N Purple White
    Miami, O - Home
    		 Standard Black, Purple N Black Black
    Penn State - Away
    		 Standard Purple, White N White Purple
    Wisconsin - Home
    		 Alt. Gothic Black Alt. 2019 Gothic Black Alt. 2019 Gothic Black
    Maryland - Away
    		 Standard White, Purple NWhite Purple
    Iowa - Away
    		 Standard White, Purple N White White
    Ohio State - Home
    		 Standard Black, Purple N Black Purple
    Minnesota - Away
    		 Standard Purple, White N White White
    Purdue - Away
    		 Standard Black, Purple NWhite Black
    Illinois - Home
    		 Standard White, Purple N Purple Purple

    2023 Game Helmet Jersey
    		 Pants
    Rutgers - Away Standard White, Purple N White White
    UTEP - Home
    		 Standard Purple, White N Purple White
    Duke - Away
    		 Standard White, Purple N White Purple
    Minnesota - Home
    		 Standard White, Purple N Purple White
    Penn State - Home
    		 Standard Purple, White N Black Purple
    Howard - Home
    		 Standard Black, Purple N Black Purple
    Nebraska - Away
    		 Standard Purple, White NWhite Purple
    Maryland - Home
    		 Alt. Gothic Black Alt. 2019 Gothic Black Alt. 2019 Gothic Black
    Iowa - Home @ Wrigley
    		 Alt. White, Purple Script
    		Purple Purple
    Wisconsin - Away
    		 Standard Black, Purple N White Black
    Purdue - Home
    		 Alt. Black, Flag NBlack Black
    Illinois - Away
    		 Standard Purple, White N White White
    Utah - Las Vegas Bowl
    		 Alt. Purple, White Script Purple Purple

    2024 Game Helmet Jersey
    		 Pants
    Miami (O) - H @ Martin Standard Purple, White N Purple             White            
    Duke - H @ Martin
    		 Alt. White, Purple Script Black White
    Eastern Ill - H @ Martin
    		 Standard Black, Purple N Black Black
    Washington - Away
    		 Alt. White, Purple Script White White
    Indiana - H @ Martin
    		 Standard Purple, White N Black Purple
    Maryland - Away
    		 Standard Black, Purple N White Black
    Wisconsin - H @ Martin
    		 Alt. White, Purple ScriptPurple Purple
    Iowa - Away
    		 Alt. Purple, White Script White Purple
    Purdue - Away
    		 Alt. Purple, White Script White White
    Ohio State - H @ Wrigley
    		 Alt. Gothic Black Alt. 2019 Gothic Black Alt. 2019 Gothic Black
    Michigan - Away
    		 Alt. White, Purple ScriptWhite White
    Illinois - H @ Wrigley
    		 Alt. Purple, White Script Purple Purple

    2025 Game Helmet Jersey
    		 Pants
    Tulane - Away Standard White, Purple N White     White      
    Western Ill - H @ Martin
    		 Standard Purple, White N Purple Black
    Oregon - H @ Martin
    		 Standard Purple, White N Purple Purple
    UCLA - H @ Martin
    		 Standard Purple, White N Purple White  
    ULM - H @ Martin
    		 Standard Purple, White N Purple White  
    Penn State - Away
    		 Standard Purple, White N White   Purple
    Purdue - H @ Martin
    		 Alt. Black, '95 Special
    		Alt. Black, '95 Special Alt. Black, '95 Special
    Nebraska - Away
    		 Standard Purple, White N White   White 
    USC - Away
    		 --- ---Likely White ---
    Michigan - H @ Wrigley
    		 --- ---Likely Purple ---
    Minnesota - H @ Wrigley
    		 ------Likely Gothic ---
    Illinois - Away
    		 --- ---Likely White ---



    2022 - 2025 Alternate Uniform Components


    Jerseys

    JERSEY PATCHES:
    • The 'Cats wore a bowl logo patch on their left shoulder during the 2023 Las Vegas Bowl (the jersey was standard purple).

    Helmets

     HELMET DECALS:
    • For the August 27, 2022 game in Dublin, NU applied a US/Irish flag decal to the back of the helmet, along with player numbers (in a unique font):


    • For the 2023 Penn State and Howard games, NU players again wore a helmet sticker symbolizing Hilinski's Hope, an organization devoted to raising awareness of student mental health, named for former Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski (brother of NU quarterback Ryan Hilinski). The 'Cats wore a similar decal for the 2021 Nebraska game (and possibly other games).
    • The 'Cats wore the Hilinski's Hope decal again in the 2024 game vs. Indiana.

    • The 2023 Las Vegas Bowl featured a new alternate helmet. In addition, the helmet had a Las Vegas Bowl decal on the back, just above the player numbers.

    ALTERNATE HELMETS:
    • Alt. Purple, Irish N: One-off helmet design for the Aug. 27, 2022 game in Dublin vs. Nebraska. The standard Athletic N was redesigned with the colors of the Irish flag. The helmet kept the typical WIN wordmark on the front bumper, but used a lower-case Gaelic font for it. The Wildcats wordmark on the back of the helmet also used the Gaelic font.


    • Alt. White, Flag N: Introduced in 2015. The 2022 version had a crome outline on the N logo and a white faceguard.

    • Alt. White, Purple Script: Introduced at NU's 2023 home game at Wrigley Field, the helmet features "Northwestern" in purple script similar to a baseball script design.

    • Alt. Black, Flag N: This helmet made its debut at the Ryan Field Finale in 2023. This was the first time that NU put its N-Flag logo onto its black helmet. As with the recent N-Flag helmets, this logo has a thin chrome outline.

    • Alt. Purple, White Script: This helmet is a complimentary design to the Wrigley Field script Northwestern helmet that made its debut earlier in the '23 season. This variant, however, is a purple shell with white script. NU introduced it for the Las Vegas Bowl.




    2022 - 2025 Alternate Total Uniforms
    2025 Special Uniform for the 30th Anniversary of the 1995 Team (Alt. Black, '95 Special)

    For the 2025 Purdue game at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, Northwestern commemorated the 1995 Big Ten Champion team with the following special uniform. In keeping with NU's other tribute uniforms, the outfit was not a true throwback, but a modern redesign that still paid homage to the team's history. The strategy was to give NU a new look, while including key elements from 1995.


    HELMET: A brand new shell, black matte. The decal on the player's right is a modification of the 'Cat head image that the team used for some of its 2012 - 2018 alternate helmets. The player's left side is the player number, in a new font.


    JERSEY: A new design. A black jersey with swooping diagonal Northwestern striping from the chest through the shoulders, high on the sleeve. The N-'Cat logo is back on the shoulders, high up closer to the neck (the N-'Cat features the same white N and purple 'Cat that the 1995 - 1996 uniforms used, but much smaller). Rather than an iron-on design or an embroidered patch, this N-'Cat is a plastic panel affixed to the jersey.

    The white-purple-white Northwestern striping hearkens back to the Barnett era version of the stripes.

    The chest features the graffiti script Wildcats wordmark that the team primarily used from the early 1990s through the early 2000s. The chest numbers use the same typeface as the helmet, a number made from Northwestern striping, with the ends ragged. The Under Armour logo is just above the Wildcats wordmark (not shown in this image).



    PANTS: Black, with a modified white-purple-white Northwestern stripe down the side. The right hip has the Under Armour logo; the left hip features the N-'Cat, also 1995-style (white N, purple 'Cat).

    Gothic Uniform (Alt. 2019 Gothic)

    During this period, NU has worn its Gothic uniform one time per season.

    HELMET: Virtually identical to the original 2014 Gothic helmet.

        


    JERSEY: The Gothic jersey, which debuted in 2014, went through a couple of minor design changes in 2015 and 2019. During 2022-2024, NU has worn the 2019 version of the jersey, with the revised sleeve stripes and the gold front and back numbers..





    PANTS: Also appear to be the 2019 Gothic version, with no pattern, featuring a gold UnderArmour logo on the right hip and a purple N with a gold outline on the left hip.