Why it takes years and secrets to make Army-Navy Game uniforms

AI-assisted summary
• The special uniforms for the Army-Navy Game are a tradition that involves years of planning and research.
• Each academy works with its apparel company to create intricate designs that honor military history.
• The uniform designs are kept a closely guarded secret until they are revealed to the players and public.

What will be on the field for the 2025 Army-Navy Game is four years in the making.

It’s one of the many aspects that makes the battle of service academies one of the great traditions in college football — the uniforms.

Special uniforms for the game started modestly in 2008, but have become a spectacle with intricate designs for both sides since 2012. 

It’s a history lesson in a helmet, jersey and pants, with both branches typically paying respect to the people and moments that defined the U.S. military. Army and Navy aren’t just trying to beat each other on the field, but in the uniform game. 

Alternate uniforms are nothing new in college football; nearly every team has different looks and endless combinations to put out on the field. 

But none of them compare to Army-Navy. Because these uniforms involve years of planning, research, execution and hiding to pull off — resulting in a beautiful piece of storytelling that will again be on display when the Black Knights and Midshipmen take the field for the 126th meeting Saturday, Dec. 13 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. 

“We want everything to be perfect,” Navy athletic director for equipment operations Greg Morgenthaler told USA TODAY Sports.

Coming up with the uniform

The process to design the uniform for the Army-Navy Game begins two years before, with each academy meeting with their respective apparel company. Army has Nike and Navy has Under Armour

However, the 2025 game is special. In 2021 when planning the 2023 uniforms, Morgenthaler recalled letting Under Armour know 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Naval Academy. So Under Armour had some time to think about this year’s uniforms, and plans were finalized around June 2024, 18 months before the game. Both teams decided on honoring 250th anniversaries of their branch.

From there, the apparel companies get to work. The first part is doing the research to determine what should be included in the uniform and is accurately depicted. Then a mood board is created with images and colors the teams want to draw inspiration from. After that, a toolkit for branding is created for other apparel.

All throughout the process, the academies are doing their own work. Army director of football equipment Thomas Cancalosi said the history department looks into its own research to make sure things are accurate. Both Army and Navy noted the apparel companies stay in touch through the entire process to not only make sure it looks good, but it makes sense. There’s been times where designs along the way were a little extreme, Morgenthaler said, but the final product always has the team excited.

For Navy, this year’s uniform is inspired by the USS Constitution, the only remaining of the six frigates that made up the first fleet. The washed blue primary color comes from the uniform of sailors and the copper helmet represents the copper sheathing of the ship, the tradition of coins being placed under the mast and the Save ‘Old Ironsides’ Campaign in 1924 when students across the country donated pennies to fund the restoration of the USS Constitution. Those are just a few of the several elements involved in each team’s uniform.

“You want to make sure that everything you put on a uniform or in a design has a meaning and has a purpose, not just because it looks cool,” said Colby Smith, Under Armour graphic designer for team sports. “We go into the design itself and have some checkpoints along the way, and usually we’ll go through about two to three revisions of the uniform before it’s finally signed off.”

Once the uniform is approved, then comes arguably the hardest part: keeping it a secret.

Keeping the secret

About two miles away from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland sits a warehouse. Starting in late August, it becomes another top secret military base, but there aren’t any documents coming in. 

It’s the gear for the Army-Navy Game, but it might as well be classified files. For all of the work that goes into creating the uniform, it takes just as much — if not more — to make sure it doesn’t get out before intended. 

The circle of trust is small on the project. Smith said about eight to 10 people at Under Armour know about it and don’t reveal it with people not involved. 

“Loose lips sink ships, so we try and keep all the ships afloat,” he said.

The same goes at Navy and Army. The equipment staff has to do their best to ensure there isn’t a leak and they’re the only ones that know what the look is. In a way, they are the most powerful people in the program.

“You really got to trust the people that work with you, that they’re not going to open up their mouths and not going to take pictures,” Morgenthaler said. “There’s a lot of hiding.”

The players don’t help with that either. From the moment summer camp starts, Morgenthaler and Cancalosi said they are constantly asked about them. Team members want to know what the theme will be or what they look like. 

It happens at least once a day in West Point as the anticipation continues to build toward release day. 

“They’ll try to get it out of you,” Cancalosi said. “But it’s been seven years for me now here, and they haven’t gotten out of me yet.”

The reason for it to remain kept behind closed doors is mainly neither team wants the public to get eyes on it. It’s meant for the academies and for when they want to show their teams and fan base. The last thing anyone wants is someone to leak something with such a special meaning.

All of the secrecy eventually pays off. Just a few weeks before the game comes the exciting part. The teams gather and are presented the story for their uniform. After learning about it, it is revealed for the players, a moment that always draws excitement. Seeing the reactions is what Morgenthaler said is “probably the best part” of his job.

Making the military proud

While the college football world will get to see the uniforms on the field and be wowed at all the details, it’s important to remember it’s not really for them. Cancalosi said the ultimate goal is to get the approval of everyone that was, is or going to be a soldier, including those on the field. 

He noted this year’s uniforms, which are marble to represent the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery and have purple outlined numbers for George Washington’s military badge of merit, which became the Purple Heart, truly represents the ultimate sacrifice every soldier gives in their service.

“The people who are in the United States Army, if they are proud of the product that we’ve created, then we’ve done our job to the fullest,” he said.

It’s the same mindset at the apparel companies, which is why Smith calls it an “honor and a privilege” to be part of such a unique project. It’s a long process with so many details to execute, but it’s rewarding to see how proud the players and academies are of it.

It won’t be long after the game is over when the process starts all over again. The uniforms and theme for the 2026 game are already set, so it’s 2027 currently being worked on. Just like all iterations of the game, no one plans to reveal any detail of what will come, other than Smith noting Under Armour always tries to one up itself.

But we do know it will be an extraordinary way to tell the story of Army and Navy. There’s no other game like it, and the long journey it takes for the uniform to appear on the field is what makes Morgenthaler call it “the coolest looking show on TV.”