The official Toronto Maple Leafs colors are blue and white. The primary color is a deep blue (#00205B), paired with pure white (#FFFFFF). These two colors run across the team’s logo, home and away sweaters, and merchandise, and they’ve defined the franchise’s look since September 27, 1927.

Two colors. That’s it. A lot of NHL clubs juggle four or five, but Toronto has stuck with the same blue-and-white pairing for nearly a century, which is part of why it reads as so recognizable.

Toronto Maple Leafs Color Codes

Here’s the part most designers actually came for. HEX for screens, RGB and CMYK for the rest, plus Pantone where it’s been published.

Color Swatch HEX RGB CMYK Pantone
Blue #00205B 0, 32, 91 100, 93, 33, 32 PMS 281 C
White #FFFFFF 255, 255, 255 0, 0, 0, 0 None (white)

Quick honesty note: white has no Pantone spot color, so don’t trust any site that lists one. And the blue’s CMYK/Pantone are the published brand values, not numbers I reverse-engineered from the HEX.

The Blue and White, Broken Down

The blue in the Maple Leafs palette

Blue (#00205B) is the star. It fills the maple leaf on the crest, dominates the home sweater, and shows up on basically every piece of gear the club sells. It’s a dark, saturated shade. Plenty of color-code sites file it under the navy blue family, and honestly that’s a fair read, though the team just calls it blue.

Where does it come from? One popular story ties Toronto’s blue to the city’s older sports clubs. The Argonauts wore blue going back to 1873, and blue stuck to the city like a habit. Another version credits the owner’s old school. Either way, it landed in 1927 and never left.

The white in the Maple Leafs palette

White (#FFFFFF) does the supporting work, and it does a lot of it. It outlines the leaf, carries the lettering inside the crest, and covers the entire road sweater. On a jersey that lives or dies on contrast, a clean flat white is what makes the blue pop from the cheap seats. No off-white, no cream. Straight white.

A quick word on silver and black

These aren’t official palette colors, so I won’t pretend otherwise. But over the years the Leafs have rolled out special-edition and anniversary sweaters that borrow a touch of silver or some black for a more modern look. Fun for a one-off. Not part of the core brand.

Uniform Colors: Home, Away, Alternate

Home: blue sweater, white shoulders and trim, white numbers. That’s the look you picture when you picture the Leafs.

Away: the mirror. White base, blue trim, blue lettering.

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Alternate: Toronto has cycled through various third and throwback designs, including recent Reverse Retro drops. The two constants underneath all of them stay blue and white.

A Short History of the Colors

The franchise started in 1917 as the Toronto Arenas. Their very first game, back on February 17, 1927, was actually played in white sweaters with a green maple leaf. The blue-and-white switch came weeks later, on September 27, 1927, when Conn Smythe took over and renamed the club the Maple Leafs.

The colors have held ever since. Shades have drifted a hair over the decades and jersey cuts have changed with the times, but the core pairing is untouched, which is rare in pro sports.

The current crest tells its own numbers story. The leaf carries 31 points as a nod to 1931, the year the team moved into Maple Leaf Gardens. It’s a design that keeps the club’s dates baked right into the artwork.

For context on how bitter the rivalry runs, the two teams Toronto measures itself against most are the Ottawa Senators and their red-and-black palette and, historically, the red-and-blue of the Montreal Canadiens.

How to Use These Colors

Simple rule of thumb. For anything on a screen, use the HEX value. For print jobs, hand the CMYK or Pantone numbers to your printer so the blue doesn’t shift on you. Building out a full scheme? Start from the deep blue and let neutrals do the rest. If you want ideas beyond the two team colors, browsing through a set of blue-based palettes is a decent starting point.

Here’s a copy-ready CSS block:

 :root { --maple-leafs-blue: #00205B; --maple-leafs-white: #FFFFFF; } `

Two variables cover the whole official identity. Drop them in, reference them everywhere, and you’re done.

Relevant Resources

Want to compare Toronto against the rest of the league? Start with the full NHL team color codes hub, then dig into a few division and rivalry matchups:

FAQ on The Toronto Maple Leafs Colors

What are the Toronto Maple Leafs colors?

The Toronto Maple Leafs colors are blue and white. That’s the whole official palette. The deep blue (#00205B) carries the logo and home sweater, while white handles the trim, lettering, and the entire road uniform for this NHL club.

What are the Maple Leafs color codes in HEX and RGB?

The blue HEX is #00205B with RGB values of 0, 32, 91. White sits at #FFFFFF, or RGB 255, 255, 255. Those two color codes cover every digital use, from a fan site to a jersey mockup.

What is the Maple Leafs Pantone color?

The team’s blue matches Pantone PMS 281 C. That’s the published spot color for print work. White has no Pantone equivalent, so ignore any site that assigns one. Use PMS 281 C plus paper white for accurate merchandise printing.

When did the Maple Leafs adopt blue and white?

Blue and white became official on September 27, 1927, the day Conn Smythe renamed the club the Maple Leafs. The very first game that February was played in white with a green leaf. The switch stuck permanently.

What is the primary color of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Blue is the primary color. It fills the maple leaf crest, dominates the home jersey, and anchors nearly all Leafs merchandise. White is the secondary, doing the outlining and contrast work that makes the blue read cleanly.

Are the Maple Leafs colors the same as another NHL team?

Not quite. Several teams wear navy, and the St. Louis Blues share a deep blue base, but they add gold and yellow. Toronto keeps it strictly blue and white, which is what makes the palette so clean.

What do the Maple Leafs colors symbolize?

Fans and the club link the blue to loyalty, strength, and the city’s long tradition of blue sports teams. White stands in for purity and simplicity. Together they signal the heritage of one of hockey’s oldest franchises.

What colors are the Maple Leafs home and away jerseys?

The home jersey is blue with white shoulders, trim, and numbers. The away sweater flips that, white with blue accents and blue lettering. Alternate and Reverse Retro designs stay inside the same two-color scheme.

Is the Maple Leafs blue considered navy blue?

Effectively, yes. Many color-code databases file #00205B under navy blue, since it’s a dark, saturated shade. The organization simply calls it blue, but describing it as navy is accurate for design purposes.

What is the CMYK code for Maple Leafs blue?

The CMYK value for Toronto’s blue is 100, 93, 33, 32. Hand those numbers to your printer to keep the shade from shifting. White prints as 0, 0, 0, 0, meaning no ink and bare paper.

Conclusion

The Toronto Maple Leafs colors come down to two values: blue #00205B and white #FFFFFF. Simple, but hard to beat.

Grab PMS 281 C for print, the HEX for screens, and the CMYK codes for anything headed to a real printer.

From Maple Leaf Gardens to today’s crest, that blue-and-white scheme has carried the franchise since 1927. Bookmark the codes, use them cleanly, and your project will look every bit as sharp as the sweater.

 

Bogdan Sandu
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Written by Bogdan Sandu

Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.