American football and flag football referees must wear official uniforms: long- or short-sleeved referee shirts with 2-inch-wide black and white stripes—hence why they are called “zebras”—black pants with white side stripes. American football referees all wear a black cap, except for the head referee, who wears a white cap.

In addition to their uniforms, referees are equipped with a whistle, bean bags (to mark a spot), yellow flags (to indicate that they have observed a foul), a referee notebook containing two sheets (one listing penalty signals, one used to record scores, fouls, quarters, etc.), as well as the down indicator elastic and the chain clip. Whenever possible, they should also wear black American football referee shoes.

Properly equipped in this way, the entire officiating crew present at American football or flag football games will be easily identifiable by coaches, spectators, and journalists in attendance.