The Shirt 1990, the first shirt, was intended to unify the student body in Notre Dame Stadium for the home football game against Michigan on September 15, 1990. With Notre Dame and Michigan having similar team colors, the students needed to be unified in green, symbolic of the Fighting Irish. That is why The Shirt 1990 was kelly green.
The Notre Dame student body immediately embraced the concept of a “sea of green” in the crowd, and green has been the most popular color choice for The Shirt ever since. In fact, some shade of green has been chosen as the color of The Shirt ten times in the first twenty years of The Shirt Project. However, The Shirt has also been many other colors through the years. In fact, at one point or another, The Shirt has been royal blue, navy blue, slate blue, athletic yellow, and now gold.
Each year, the color of The Shirt spawns great debate. Will The Shirt be a traditional color like green or navy blue? Or, perhaps, will The Shirt be something more unconventional? In truth, the possibility of a new and different color each year is one of the things that make The Shirt so unique and exciting. Its constantly-changing color also creates great excitement each year at the Unveiling Ceremony for The Shirt. The color even has a significant impact on the global sales of The Shirt. That is why the color of The Shirt is a closely-guarded secret until the very moment of unveiling.
This year, the student section of Notre Dame Stadium will shine as thousands of students clad in gold stand shoulder to shoulder in support of Notre Dame football. That, again, is the beauty of the color of The Shirt. While The Shirt unites fans, students, and alumni around the world in support of Fighting Irish football, only the color of The Shirt can turn the student section into a single entity that wakes up echoes and shakes down thunder.