User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 591 - Marching Out the ZOMBIES 2/@comment-25042673-20140730114219/@comment-24153155-20140730154338

@ Edbert828: Technically speaking there is a whole bunch of other Captain positions open. I think Kyoraku has a whole bunch of other things on his mind but to appoint new Captains at the moment. However, if you look closely at Ichigo's attire, you see that he wears a lower half of what looks like a Captain's haori. I think this is the Soul Palace/ Seireitei way of acknowledging that Ichigo is a shinigami with Captain-level powers. It has been stated several times throughout the series that Ichigo is that strong, but it has not yet been stated what his new attire represents. For all we know, it could just be that he was freezing and he grabbed the nearest thing on his way out from the Soul Palace. As of now we don't even know what exactly happened to Hitsugaya or what is gonna happen.