What Texans Didn’t Know About Santa’s Original Look

In Texas, the notion of Santa's image isn't debated very much. Many see him as a tubby, jolly old man who has a beard and wears a red suit with a red hat.

However, that was not always the case.

Long before Coca-Cola's famous holiday ads of the 20th century, the image of Santa Claus was a bit... fluid.

In early traditions and illustrations, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, or Sinterklaas could be shown wearing a variety of outfits in colors ranging from blue to brown to green.

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Santa Claus in Different Color Suits

By the late 1800s and early 1900s, American cartoonist Thomas Nast played a significant role in shaping the modern Santa Claus.

Working for Harper’s Weekly, Nast drew Santa in many different outfits, including green robes, before his depictions became closer to what we see today. Even Nast’s Santa wasn’t consistently depicted as red at first; the character’s appearance varied widely in early publications.

Cola Cola, Santa, and a Decades-Long Marketing Campaign

The iconic red-suited Santa that most people recognize today became deeply rooted in American culture in the 1930s when the Coca-Cola Company began a major holiday advertising campaign.

Coca-Cola commissioned artist Haddon Sundblom in 1931 to paint Santa for its Christmas ads.

Sundblom drew on earlier traditions to create a warm, friendly, plump Santa wearing a red suit trimmed with white fur.

These ads ran for decades and were widely circulated in magazines, billboards, and store displays, helping to cement that look in the public imagination.

It’s a common misconception that Coca-Cola invented the red suit, but the truth is more nuanced.

Santa had appeared in red before Coke’s campaigns, and his outfit’s color has roots in older European depictions and in the red vestments worn by the historical St. Nicholas.

Read More: How Much Weight Do Texans Gain In the Holiday Season?

The idea of Santa in a red suit wasn't always the norm, but by 2025, it's hard to picture him any other way, and Coca-Cola is largely responsible for that.