Kermit the Frog's collar



In the early days of the character, Kermit wasn't yet a frog -- he was simply an abstract lizard-like character. As the character evolved, Kermit gained flippers and his trademark collar.

Kermit first gained a collar in June 1962. He wore a minstrel collar in 1962's Tales of the Tinkerdee, though this was orange and cropped with square-points, different from green triangular-pointed collars he would later wear.

According to Henson Company Archivist: "'Kermit’s collar for the Tales of The Tinkerdee pilot in 1962 was crenulated. The triangular points came later in the decade – in the late ‘60s, he wore a single collar with thirteen points, and in the first seasons of Sesame Street, he wore a double collar. Throughout the early 70s, adjustments were made to the collar, but since the first episode of The Muppet Show in 1976, Kermit’s look, with a single eleven-point collar, has remained virtually unchanged.'"

Kermit sported a double collar for a brief period in the early 1970s, including in the TV special The Frog Prince and several early seasons of Sesame Street, but by the time he took over as the host of The Muppet Show, it changed to the trademark single collar with eleven points that he still wears today.

In The Muppet Show episode 402, the Prairie Dogs steal his collar and Kermit laments that he feels naked.

In The Muppets episode "The Ex-Factor," Piggy tells Kermit he should get a plastic surgeon to tighten up his neck waddle stating "Your pointy jester collar ain't hiding anything."

Kermit the Frog often only wears a collar. The collar is not part of his anatomy. With the exception of Constantine and various other Kermit impersonators, no other Muppet Frogs sport a pointed collar like Kermit. Kermit and Fozzie's Dad in The Great Muppet Caper is shown with a similar collar. As a youth, Kermit wore a smaller collar but with shorter points (as seen in Kermit's Swamp Years and the Muppet Kids book series). A real frog wore a Kermit-esque collar in the "I'm Gonna Always Love You" music video and members of The Kermit the Frog Club also wear similar collars.

The image of Kermit's iconic collar was used for the cover of The Muppet Show: Season One DVD set and was incorporated into the Muppet franchise's logo in 2010 with the "M" in Muppet dressed with a similar collar and felt texturing. Several Muppet t-shirts have been produced with a Kermit-inspired collar print.