http://www.gbvihara.org/the_message_interview.htm

M: What is the significance of the color of your robe?

BM: We actually wear brown, orange or yellow. The color helps us to remember the season of autumn. The falling down of leaves and changing color of the leaves in Autumn indicate the impermanence of life and all other things, living and non living, which we naturally assumed to be permanent. Similarly, a beautiful red flower one day becomes brown or exhibits other fading shades and then becomes a dying object. No one is able to prevent these changes by any means. Similarly and also shown scientifically day after day all things are changing and nobody can stop such change, which is a good indication of impermanence.

http://www.urbandharma.org/bdharma2/bd1/d1qa.html

__To give you an idea of how Buddhist robes are color coded.___

To give you an idea of how Buddhist robes are color coded, if I were a monk in the Theravada tradition, the early Buddhist tradition of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, I'd wear a saffron robe. If I came from the Chinese tradition, I'd wear a lighter golden brown color robe. If I came from the Korean tradition, I would wear a gray robe. If I came from the Japanese tradition, I would wear a black robe. If I came from the Tibetan tradition, I'd wear a maroon robe with orange trim, by far the best fashion statement.

We still don't have an American Buddhist robe, because we don't have American Buddhism yet. But when we do have American Buddhism, I think our robes will be blue denim!

Some interesting links:
http://www.geocities.com/mokuraibozu/Being_a_monk.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors.../bmc2/ch02.html

http://www.ladharma.org/ati/lib/modern/ari...o/layguide.html

Q 1: "Why does a monk wear the robe? Why do some wear brown robes and others wear yellowish brown?"

A: The Lord Buddha gave this reflection about why a monk wears a robe:

"Properly considering the robe, I use it: simply to ward off cold, to ward off heat, to ward off the touch of flies, mosquitoes, simply for the purpose of covering the parts of the body which cause shame." (OP p.46)

In the Lord Buddha's time, 2,500 years ago, clothing[9] was made without complex machinery. (Although simple 'sewing-frames' are mentioned in the texts, which the monks would have used at robe-making (Ka.thina) time.) So the pattern of the robe is very simple and designed so that it can be made up out of patches of cloth, for discarded rags were often used after washing and dyeing.

This 'yellow robe' is considered the banner of the arahant and emblem of Buddhism. For the ordinary Theravaadin bhikkhu it is a privilege to be able to wear this robe, continuing the tradition and practicing to be worthy of it. There are rules as to the robes' size, color, how they are sewn, type of cloth used, etc., and how bhikkhus can acquire them. (See The Robe.)

The color of the robes depends on the dye used. Until very recently, this would have been natural vegetable dye found in the jungle from roots or trees. (In NE Thailand, for example, we used the heartwood of the jack-fruit tree.) Nowadays chemical dyes are more used and sometimes give that more vivid orange color that one sees in Bangkok.

The color white is used by Buddhist devotees to show their commitment to keeping the Precepts -- usually the Eight Precepts -- on Observance Days. (White robes are also worn by the anagarika, or postulant before he becomes a monk.)