Every December, a popular story returns: Coca-Cola dressed Santa Claus in red. It sounds simple and true. But the truth is more complex and older. Santa did wear red before Coca-Cola's 1930s ads. Santa Claus began as Saint Nicholas, a kind monk from around 280 AD in modern Turkey. His gift-giving story spread across Europe and mixed with local customs. Santa’s look changed with time. Sometimes he wore green or brown, other times red. In early 19th century America, writers like Clement Clarke Moore shaped Santa’s image. His 1823 poem described a jolly gift-giver riding a sleigh. Artists like Thomas Nast drew Santa round, bearded, and often in red and white. Nast’s 1881 drawing is very close to what we know today—decades before Coca-Cola. By the late 1800s, red Santa images appeared in many places, including ads for sweets and magazines. Coca-Cola started using Santa in ads in the 1930s to boost winter sales. The artist Haddon Sundblom based his Santa on earlier poems and pictures, giving him a warm, rosy-cheeked look with the red suit. While Coca-Cola’s colors matched Santa’s red outfit, the company did not create it. Instead, Coca-Cola helped make the red-suited Santa famous worldwide. Historians and fact-checkers say clearly: Coca-Cola did not invent Santa’s red coat. They popularized an image that was already known and loved. Santa’s red suit is a tradition older than any brand.