Why Is Everyone Wearing College Sweatshirts?
From Princess Diana’s Harvard sweatshirt all the way to Drake’s “Tennessee” crewneck. The college sweatshirt became a staple in many wardrobes as Kendall Jenner wears college gear, despite never attending college herself. But is it just a trend or something deeper?
Yale, Harvard, MIT… I counted eight people wearing sweatshirts showcasing a college logo at the mall where I was shopping. Princess Diana’s shorts and Harvard sweatshirt are definitely back.
Traveling recently to Europe and the Middle East I have seen a growing phenomenon of many teenagers wearing university sweatshirts. When I asked a girl in the mall abroad wearing a Harvard sweatshirt if she knew what Harvard is, she simply answered, “Isn’t it a university in America?”.
This made me wonder… Why are so many teens wearing American college sweatshirts if they don’t know anything about the colleges?
I knew that Americans loved wearing their college sweatshirts, I just didn’t know how much. In addition to the already daunting cost of tuition, according to “The Street”, a financial news website, a reported $4.62 billion was spent on college-license merchandise across the United States in 2013.
I never understood why someone would want to be reminded of debates over free speech, racial tension, and student loan debt. Yet, college apparel found its way onto runways and into our closets long ago.
In fact, Victoria’s Secret’s Pink label was one of the first to launch licensed college apparel nearly a decade ago. In 2018, Beyoncé launched her collection with Balmain, which was inspired by the college gear of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
This made me think about why high-end fashion brands would produce college-like attire. A majority of high fashion brand clients are adults, meaning, brands would want to produce clothes that they would want to wear. Why do fully-grown adults want to dress like they’re in college again?
Maybe it’s because we live in a culture that glamorizes youthfulness. Thus, dressing like you’re in college seems to be a way of preserving a long-gone youth. It might also be a way to reminisce about a time with no responsibilities and endless opportunities.
Well, then why are American college students so committed to wearing their college apparel?
The logical explanation is that many college sweatshirts are sold in bookstores which are conveniently located close to campuses. Having enough variations of the same logo-based designs that are not flashy, comfortable, and easy to pair with, is optimal given that it does not require much thought for a busy schedule.
Jeffrey Hass, associate professor of sociology at Richmond, provides a different explanation. In one of the articles published by Richmond, he emphasizes the importance of college athletics in order to explain why college merchandising is such a big tendency in the United States. “Sports are a great part of college life. People go to college to learn, to party, and to see football games,” Hass says. “People have always bought football merchandising, and college athletics, in general, are much more important in the United States than they are in other countries. Intercollegiate sports do not even exist in Europe.”
Wearing college merchandise on campus could also be beneficial for fitting in and fostering a sense of community for a group of like-minded people. With that said, many students choose to wear their college hoodies on their spring or winter travel breaks, leading to the conclusion that college apparel is not only about belonging and convenience. Perhaps it is a way of communicating your degree-level education out in public and a symbol of status at a time when not all can afford a college degree.
I believe that people are generally less enthusiastic about community colleges merchandising. This is because these institutions do not carry the same social connotations as more prominent colleges. Still, why would people at the airport, that don’t go to an elite school, show off their college gear?
Over the years, people in American society began to identify themselves more with the companies they patronize. Hence, wearing college merchandise is a way of attributing meaning and identity.
H&M x Harvard collection, American Eagle’s Tailgate UCLA collection and Old Navy’s University of Michigan sweatshirts are all examples of recent collaborations of colleges with clothing brands. It’s a great profit for companies to capitalize on people who didn’t go to these schools, yet still want to feel or look like they did. It’s even more profitable to target the youth, which are heavily influenced by status symbols, making it easier to sell them college sweatshirts.
I also understand why universities produce college apparel: the university is provided with free marketing, showcasing its logo. Moreover, universities and colleges must maintain a high level of self-funding. This increases the demand for institutions to instill in their students a sense of attachment and responsibility towards them, increasing the chances that they will profit from them in the future.
Abroad it isn’t typical for university students to wear their college sweatshirts. Some speculate that it is because college isn’t as much of a part of students’ daily lives there, subsequently they don’t feel the desire to proclaim their membership.
Alternatively, in a majority of other developed countries, universities have easily affordable tuition fees compared to the United States. As a consequence, institutions are not associated with the same elite status American universities are, and students don’t have the need to flaunt their college gear.
The question that remains is: why do people from abroad wear American college sweatshirts?
I suspect it’s because college is a part of the American dream, and there are countless movies and shows about the college experience which serve as evidence. Furthermore, it’s a way of showing that they are worldly-wise and more educated given that they are aware of such institutions.
We must not forget that we live in a time where everyone needs an aesthetic. College sweatshirts are an easy way to find an identity. Why create an identity and think for yourself when you can simply wear what everyone else does and also show solidarity?
Alas, college apparel serves as a reminder of the real problem in the American culture: the idea that it’s acceptable for kids to decide on what they want to do for the rest of their lives when only a few months before they needed to ask for permission in class to go to the restroom.
