Why did Mickey Mouse wear green pants in his color debut?

Red has always been the viewed as the official color of Mickey Mouse’s shorts, but when he made his first appearance in a color there was no red, but green pants and yellow gloves.

The first animated appearance of Mickey was in 1932 for a special film created for the 5th Academy Awards ceremony called “Parade of the Award Nominees.” The short had Mickey leading a parade of caricatured nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress. Minnie Mouse and Clarabelle Cow helped out..

The nominees, in order of appearance, was Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper for “The Champ,” Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt for “The Guardsman,” Helen Hayes for “The Sin of Medelon Claudent, Frederich March for “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Marie Dressler for “Emma.”

During that time, according to D23, the color scheme for toys was green shorts and yellow gloves.  red shorts with yellow gloves and sometimes with white gloves. So the green was chosen.

While the 1932 appearance was the first in color, Mickey’s official first color film came in 1935 with “The Band Concert.” That was when decisions on continuity needed to be made.

So, it is back to the merchandise. Since most of the merchandise was red pants and white gloves, the decision was made and his costume has been iconic ever since.