Weekend Edition #28: School Spirit
Studying how school merch has become big business, and why
Hi!
I’ve been volunteering at my kids’ school store this week. Well, it’s been more than just this week. Last year, I was asked to join the parent committee and help design and order the product. I’m a merchant by trade so it was a strategic ask (lol), and of course, I said yes.1 I spent most of August sourcing vendors and placing orders, and we opened this year’s pop-up (very on-retail trend) in the school lobby on Tuesday evening. Since I work a year ahead in my “real” job (and won’t be in stores when the product hits), I love designing a new school hat or a belt and seeing it on a mom’s head or a boy’s waist (shirts must be tucked in at school) a few days later. We have an enthusiastic parent body, and we sell a lot, to say the least.
And it’s not just our school. It’s secondary schools and universities all over the country. Conservatively, I’d estimate that collegiate-licensed merchandise does over $5 billion in revenue.2 Primary and high schools can easily see six figures in annual sales per school. I’m no management consultant, but I can Google, and apparently, there are 115,171 schools in the U.S. Again, I’m not a management consultant, but we could probably add another couple billion to our total. It doesn’t really matter. The point is, it’s a lot of school sweatshirts.
This is not a new phenomenon. School spirit and the accompanying merch have been around for a long time. You can buy vintage collegiate sweatshirts from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s like this one or this one or this one. (BTW Wooden Sleepers is my favorite resource for collegiate and preppy vintage.) But it does seem like why we wear our schools on our shirts has changed. It’s not even always our schools.
“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?” - Adriana Edwards3
That sounds a lot like what we discussed in Weekend Edition #20 about the Yankees baseball cap, and how that represents America around the world. Is the college sweatshirt the new baseball cap?
Perhaps we’re in this moment because as we’ve determined, prep is back in session. And what’s preppier than a college sweatshirt? Fashion has always mined the halls of academia. Just look at Bode, Aime Leon Dore, Sporty and Rich, Celine…
But I think it’s more than this. Could it be because fashion brands are…failing? And we’re learning other ways to pledge our allegiance?
Yes, Abercrombie & Fitch is currently retail’s golden child, with a turnaround that’s being studied in every boardroom and a stock price that’s defied gravity. Ironically, A&F’s initial success was built on collegiate-inspired graphic tees and sweatshirts (I should know, I made millions of them). And their brand became the definition of the high school experience for late 90s and early 00s teenagers. But now, their success is a result of how well they’ve shed that brand identity. Now, their brand identity is…well, it’s hard to tell what their brand identity is. If I had to, I’d say TikTok teen. They’re trying to be everything to everyone. In the short term, it’s working. But time will tell if the strategy gets an A+.
Vanessa Friedman recently wrote about Hedi Slimane, the creative director who just left Celine. Wherever Hedi goes, Hedi style follows. Dior Homme became Saint Laurent became Celine becomes…Chanel? That’s the rumor at least. But they’re all Hedi. The same thing happened at Valentino, who just hired Alessandro Michele, formerly of Gucci. Rather than designing in service of a brand, like Karl Lagerfeld, who designed for Chanel, Fendi and his own label at the same time, designers today are turning brands into mirrors of themselves. But when designers jump from house to house, the fashion houses start looking like homes in a suburban HOA: all the same. Desirability disappears when everything looks the same.
Exclusive, scarce, expensive.4 According to Scott Galloway, these are the three requirements for luxury goods, and he argues that colleges today have become modern luxury brands.5 Not unlike the heritage houses of Chanel, Hermes, and Louis Vuitton. And while those brands are losing exclusivity in their designs and are more omnipresent than they’ve ever been (the LVMH Olympics, anyone?), colleges are harder than ever to access.
So, school is in fashion. We wear schools on our sleeves, and on our hats, and across our chests because it’s the new cool logo. Our schools are our new favorite brands. As far as merch goes, things could be worse than celebrating academia, right? It’s good to strive for something, and it’s nice to feel like we belong where we are meant to be. Adam Grant wrote about witnessing positive patriotism (versus negative nationalism) during the Paris Olympics and described it as:
“You can love your people without hating others.”
When cheering cheerfully, what is school spirit if not positive patriotism?
Have you seen the videos on social media of the high school seniors showing off their college sweatshirts? There is so much joy, optimism, excitement, and pride on display. Their sweatshirts represent their futures and will one day be their pasts, hopefully filled with beautiful memories and lasting friendships. They give me chills. They make me cry.
And they make me want to wear my UVA sweatshirt.
LOOK BOOK
EXTRA THOUGHTS
Bally, my favorite collection from Milan Fashion Week, was sold to the American investment company Regent, whose portfolio includes Club Monaco, Escada and La Senza. They’re already closing stores. Simone Bellotti, the current design director who’s made a huge splash in just three seasons, spent 16 years at Gucci under the direction of Frida Giannini and Alessandro Michele before joining the Bally design team. Will he stay? Or will he go, perhaps back to…
Gucci? Who just replaced their CEO after the business failed to pick up? Is a new creative director next? I hope not, as I think Sabato De Sarno is doing exactly what we discussed above: serving the brand, not himself.
Madewell just launched a collab with Reluxe to sell vintage designer items on its website, and several pieces are already sold out like a Chloe silk blouse and Celine velvet trousers. What do you think about this? Would you prefer to shop for edited vintage from a specialty brand POV or a marketplace like The Real Real?
- is another favorite fashion stylist and writer, and she put together a very cool video styling sweatshirts. Meanwhile, sent me ’s One Piece, Three Ways: Gray Sweatshirt post. Thought it was apropos to share both since it is sweatshirt weather.
WHAT I BOUGHT
A second pair of Everlane’s Gardener Cropped Jeans, which are currently on sale. I have the Washed Black and got the Diamond Stone. This is rigid denim, 100% organic cotton, and I love the structured fit. It almost feels like wearing a skirt with how the denim stands away from the body.
I also made my first Skims purchase…at the Bloomingdale’s 59th Street pop-up. I got these and this (thanks to my mom’s loyalty points, thanks mom!). I’ll be honest, I’m still coming to terms with how good I think Skims is. (It’s really good.)
Did you hear about Prime Day? That was a joke. I fell victim to it. We have two birthdays, Hanukkah, and Christmas within one month, so I stocked up on toys, like a Lego soccer set, Green Toys trucks, a wooden school bus, and superheroes. I also got new Apple Airpods, since I lost mine months ago and my dupes weren’t doing it. Can’t have Joshua Jackson cutting out on me.
Thanks, as always, for reading! It means so much that you do.
x Lindsay
In 2013, the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) reported that $4.62 billion was spent on college-licensed merchandise. CLC is now owned by IMG, which doesn’t break out revenue. They also don’t own every collegiate license, and this was over ten years ago. Hence, my conservative estimate.
https://medium.com/fashion-police/why-is-everyone-wearing-college-sweatshirts-644177c36d92
https://www.profgalloway.com/how-i-got-here-3/
https://x.com/profgalloway/status/1261114880393973762
I love this — there is so much homogenous fashion, and the collegiate sweatshirt that has meaning to the wearer feels like a fabulous way to be authentic to oneself.
Two things that fascinated me; (1) how a designer jumping from different houses creates a flattening of fashion because they are bringing their POV to different brands and (2) college as a luxury brand!! College does feel like a luxury now and, especially, the older institutions that have cachet with their name/logo. But that cachet is probably limited to the US where we know what Harvard is 😉