Prior to the start of the 1995–96 season, in an attempt to modernize the look and improve merchandise sales, the team abandoned its traditional red, white and blue color scheme in favor of a blue, black, and bronze palette with an American bald eagle with five stars as its logo. The alternate logo depicted the Capitol building with crossed hockey sticks behind. For the 1997–98 season, the team unveiled a black alternate jersey, devoid of blue with bronze stripes on the ends of sleeves and at the waist. Prior to the 2000–01 season, the team retired its blue road jersey in favor of this, but still kept the white jersey for home games.

The Capitals unveiled new uniforms on June 22, 2007, which coincided with the NHL Entry Draft and the new League-wide adaptation of the Reebok-designed uniform system for 2007–08. The change marked a return to the red, white and blue color scheme originally used from 1974 to 1995. The new primary logo is reminiscent of the original Capitals' logo, complete with a hockey stick formed by the letter "t"; it also includes a new feature not present in the original logo in the form of three stars representing D.C., Maryland and Virginia. More simply, the stars are a reference to the flag of Washington, D.C., which is in turn based on the shield of George Washington's family coat of arms. The new alternate logo uses an eagle in the shape of a "W" with the silhouette of the United States Capitol building in the negative space below.