Wimbledon’s ‘Almost Entirely In White’ Rule And One Loophole

Marta Kostyuk shows off her lace-adorned Wimbledon dress from Wilson in all white, of course. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

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A bit of trim is all the color you see when it comes to the player apparel and footwear during Wimbledon. Well, most of the time.

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) has actually gotten stricter over the years with its famed white clothing rule. Wimbledon went “predominately in white” with its dress code in 1963, and while players and brands have attempted to skirt the dress code rules—akin to a high schooler defying the principal—Wimbledon has only entrenched itself in the rule. It created a stricter version in 1995, says on-site Wimbledon historian Robert McNicol, when the Wimbledon powers “changed to ‘almost entirely in white’ to make it even stricter.”

The Championship, Wimbledon has continued to refine—and tighten—the white rule. In 2014, it included accessories in the rule listing for the first time. The apparel rule comes with 10 different points, really, and “refers to all clothing, including tracksuits and sweaters, worn on The Championship courts both for practice and for matches.”

The rules include the definition that white “does not include off-white or cream” and notes that the back of the apparel must be “completely white.” While “there should be no solid mass or panel of coloring,” Wimbledon does allow a single trim of color around the neckline and the cuff of the sleeves, no wider than one centimeter. Logos formed by variations of material or patterns are not acceptable, although small sponsor logos may contain color. The rules extend to shorts, skirts and tracksuit bottoms, headwear, shoes and undergarments.

Throughout the years, loopholes have closed, including color on the soles of shoes (nice try Nike and Roger Federer). But one loophole opened up in 2023. While announced in fall 2022, the 2023 Wimbledon offered the first practical change to Wimbledon’s dress code since 2014 and for the first time in a while it didn’t make things stricter. The rule shift allowed female players the freedom to wear dark-colored undershorts, as long as they weren’t longer than the skirt or short covering them, in a response to concerns about forcing women to wear all-white at all times.

The actual change comes to rule nine of the 10-point Wimbledon dress code. The rule now says that any undergarments visible during play “must be completely white, except for a single trim of color no wider than one centimeter, except female players who are allowed to wear solid, mid/dark-colored undershorts provided they are no longer than their shorts or skirt.”

While not every female player has taken Wimbledon up on the offer of a dark addition, the past four tournaments have provided a different look to the all-white kits.

While the all-white rule may limit brands from getting wildly colorful, it doesn’t eliminate creativity altogether. For 2026, we saw Adidas debut a new Climacool+ apparel featuring a 3D body-mapped embossed fabric. Created specifically for tennis, the fabric uses raised structures to create a physical gap between skin and garment to help air circulate. Other brands have added style to the kits thanks to pleats, collars and fabric construction, while New Balance collaborated with Miu Miu for a Coco Gauff kit. Wilson embraced lace, creating a dress for Marta Kostyuk reminiscent of the wedding dress Wilson designer and chief creative officer Joelle Michaeloff crafted for one of the brand’s prominent athletes.

Every year, brands look for ways to add spice to their Wimbledon creations, but they’ll always be subject to the “almost entirely in white” rules.

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