When Clemson runs down the Hill on Saturday, they will be wearing their all-purple uniforms for only the 10th time in the modern era. Let’s take a little dive into the history of the color purple in the Clemson football uniform to see how we got here. (Thread) 
Today, Clemson’s official school colors are Clemson Orange and Regalia, but that hasn’t always been the case. The first diplomas awarded in 1896 show the school’s original colors of red and blue.
Newspaper accounts indicate the inaugural Clemson football team, led by Walter Riggs in 1896, wore these colors. It was noted at the first Clemson-South Carolina game that Clemson's red and blue uniforms clashed with the “Jaguars” garnet and black and confused spectators.
In 1897, Clemson’s colors changed to a washed orange and purple, believed by some to be from faded old Auburn jerseys “borrowed” by Riggs. The jerseys and striped stockings are what many say led to the Tigers nickname, while others attest Riggs brought that from Auburn as well.
Over time, whether by fading or adopting the colors, the Tigers uniforms became a light purple and gold and would remain that way until Jess Neely took over in 1930. Along with helping to found IPTAY, Neely would play a vital role in developing Clemson’s permanent school colors.
In the Depression-era, money was tight and replacing uniforms was costly. It was vital to have colorfast uniforms that wouldn’t fade in the sunlight or by washing, so Neely worked with the school of textiles to develop the deeper colors of orange and purple we know today.
Clemson wore purple through Neely’s tenure until 1939, the last team to wear purple uniforms for over five decades. That team would go 9-1, finish #12 in the final poll, and win Clemson's first ever bowl game 6-3 over BC. Banks McFadden became the Tigers’ first AP All-American.
Over the next 52 years, Clemson wore exclusively orange, white, and a dark blue jersey that had been made to alleviate TV contrast in the 1959 Sugar Bowl and worn again against South Carolina in 1962. The ”Sugar Bowl Blues" were easier for Coach Frank Howard to get than purple.
In the spring of 1991, Ken Hatfield was starting his second season filling the huge shoes left by Danny Ford. Clemson equipment manager Doug Gordon, under pressure from the team's seniors to "get us something different," purchased a set of purple jerseys.
On October 26, the #12 NC State Wolfpack came to town at 6-0. Clemson needed a spark after losing to Georgia and being booed in a tie to Virginia the previous two games, so Hatfield had the team warm up in orange jerseys before revealing the purple jerseys in the locker room.
The team arrived at the top of the Hill, dressed in purple for the first time in 52 years. After initial confusion from the Death Valley faithful, the realization brought tumultuous approval. The Tigers, in their new stripes, ran down and ran through the Pack in a 29-12 win.
The win sparked a run to an ACC title, and some believed the Tigers would embrace the new look, but the jerseys were shelved until the 1992 Citrus Bowl. Clemson once again warmed up in orange before switching to purple, this time with less favorable results, falling 37-17 to Cal.
After the Citrus Bowl, the purple had lost its luster, and it would be another 2 decades before Tommy Bowden would reintroduce the color as a feature of Clemson’s uniforms in 2001.
A week after Woody Dantzler’s legendary performance over #9 Georgia Tech, the Tigers were on the road at NC State, and for the first time in the modern era, the team ran onto the field in purple pants. Dantzler put on another show, putting up 517 yards of total offense in a win.
Bowden was fond of the purple pants, and had the team wear them 4 more times over the next season and a half, going 1-3, but it wasn’t until 2003 that purple made its full return to the uniforms, when, for the first time since 1992, Clemson donned purple jerseys at Georgia Tech.
The purple-clad Tigers crushed the Jackets 39-3, and Tommy Bowden’s affinity for purple was cemented. Over the next few seasons, Tommy’s Tigers wore a purple uniform element (jerseys or pants) in roughly 1/3 of their games, to fairly positive results, going 14-5 from 2003-2008.
Unfortunately, the negative outcomes in purple lingered in the minds of Clemson fans. The Tigers suffered embarrassing defeats to Maryland, Texas A&M, Auburn, and an especially gruesome loss to Virginia Tech over the next 5 seasons, plus the infamous brawl with South Carolina.
It certainly wasn’t all bad for Bowden. High points in purple included a win against #17 Florida State, Gaines Adams late-game heroics at Wake Forest, and a last-second win against South Carolina. But one particular game is remembered most fondly when it comes to purple uniforms.
Oct. 21, 2006. #12 Clemson was hosting #13 Georgia Tech, and College Gameday was on campus for the first time. It was a huge day for the Tigers and Clemson uniform history. Clemson took the field in orange shirts and purple pants, but purple jerseys were waiting in the lockers.
As the buses rounded the stadium, you could feel the electricity in the air, and when the Tigers walked through the gate at the top of the Hill in all-purple uniforms for the first time in the modern era, Death Valley went nuts.
James “Thunder” Davis and CJ “Lightning” Spiller proceeded to run wild on the Jackets, accounting for 372 combined yards and leading the Tigers to a dominating 31-7 win that is still the golden moment for Clemson’s purple uniforms to this day.
Clemson has been incredibly successful when the Tigers wear purple since Dabo Swinney took over as head coach in mid-2008. Under Swinney, Clemson is 12-2 when wearing purple jerseys or pants, and 10-0 at home, only losing at Georgia Tech and to USF in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Some of Dabo's most memorable wins in purple include winning the Atlantic in CJ Spiller’s final home game, Spiller’s final game as a Tiger/Dabo’s first bowl win, an homage to the Gaines Adams game at Wake, and the Citadel in 2013, when war hero Daniel Rodriguez scored a TD.
In 2013, Clemson held their first official “Purple Out” against the Citadel and have continued the Purple Out and accompanying all-purple uniforms every year on Military Appreciation Day since. The Tigers are 6-0 in official Purple Outs, outscoring opponents 263-28.
On Saturday afternoon, the Tigers will come off the bus wearing a purple uniform element for the 41st time in the modern era, and all-purple for only the 10th time. The purple uniforms will honor not only Clemson’s military history, but nearly 100 years of purple uniform history.
Despite some questionable losses, Clemson has been historically great in purple in the modern era, especially at home. The Tigers are 29-11 in purple, and 18-2 at home, including a perfect 9-0 record in purple jerseys and orange pants. Here’s to another W in purple on Saturday.
