The brown is officially being brought back.

The Padres will return to their roots in 2020.

The team completed two important tasks this week toward that end, making certain what has been expected for almost a year.

The Padres notified Major League Baseball of their intent to wear new uniforms starting in 2020, and the organization conducted focus groups testing brown uniforms on Wednesday and Thursday.


Of the three home and three road variations shown to some 250 people who identified themselves as Padres fans, all the choices featured combinations of brown and gold.

The home uniform choices included a pinstripe white version and two solid white versions with brown lettering and gold accents. Road choices were a solid tan and brown uniform and two choices that included a rich brown jersey with tan and brown pants, one of which had pinstripes.

The team has until the end of May to submit its final versions to MLB.

The Padres wore some combination of brown and gold from their inception in 1969 through 1984 and then brown and orange until the team changed to blue, orange and white in 1991. The team has worn several different uniforms since — all with blue as the primary color, none with brown.


Focus groups in June — featuring brown and gold, brown and orange, blue and white and blue, orange and white uniform choices — revealed no majority preference. However, the largest and most passionate minority was comprised of those who favored brown and gold.

The Padres and their consultants are still working on fonts, cap design and other details.

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com