The Washington Commanders are selling merchandise featuring the "Redskins" name and logo, the name and imagery the NFL franchise abandoned in 2020. The gear, including T-shirts and jerseys of former players like Art Monk and Sean Taylor, is available in the team's store at the stadium and online.
The merchandise includes items like an Art Monk T-shirt for $49.99, which displays his likeness in a Redskins uniform and helmet, and a Sean Taylor T-shirt for the same price. A Sean Taylor retired No. 21 jersey, featuring the Redskins name and a 75th anniversary patch, is priced at $114.99.
Despite the team's current name and stated reasons for the change, the franchise is marketing these items as Commanders gear. For example, the Sean Taylor jersey is described as a "Sean Taylor Black Washington Commanders Retired Player Name & Number Mesh Top," even though the Commanders nickname does not appear on the jersey itself.
The team's decision to sell this merchandise stems from the requirement to keep the former trademarks in commercial use to prevent them from being deemed abandoned. According to WUSA9 in Washington, a club spokesman stated, "We are required to maintain the marks in commercial usage so that marks remain under franchise control." Trademarks can be considered abandoned if their use is discontinued for three consecutive years, according to the Lanham Act, which also requires "bona fide use…in the ordinary course of trade" rather than just token sales.
This move comes after the franchise transitioned from the Redskins to the Commanders in 2020, a change driven by the nickname being deemed racist or offensive by some fans, Native American groups, and sponsors. Current owner Josh Harris acknowledged in September 2023 the nostalgia for the former name but also stated that "a portion of our fan base felt disrespected by the former name."
Some of the alternate "Raise Hail" uniforms planned for later in the season are also expected to feature an alternate helmet with a spear piercing the "W" insignia, reminiscent of the Redskins' old feathered arrow helmet from the 1960s. The team has stated it will not return to the Redskins nickname.
Historically, the Redskins name and logo have been subject to debate. While some Native American groups have voiced concerns about the name being racist, other Native individuals, including former leaders of the Navajo Code Talkers Association and the Blackfeet Tribe, have expressed pride in the name and logo. Walter "Blackie" Wetzel, a former chairman of the Blackfeet Tribe, was instrumental in the 1972 decision to replace the team's "R" helmet logo with a Native chief portrait, stating in a 2002 interview that "It made us all so proud to have an Indian on a big-time team."