How Universities Are Making The Iconic Hoodie Fly Off The Shelves
Every institution has its uniform. From the humble nine to five shirt and tie combination, to the chef whites of a restaurant kitchen; fitting in with the crowd and asserting your place amongst the pack more often than not depends on what you choose to wear. Even when you leave school and head to university, this rite of passage comes with its very own unique attire which has seen students distinguished from the tax-paying population everywhere from Michigan to Manchester. The traditional university hoodie.
Always popular with students right across the globe, the basic hoodie emblazoned with the university name of choice, is not only practical amongst underfed and lethargic students, but has become a badge of honour, with the important part being the words on the front. So much so in fact, that the distinctive style has been pounced upon by leading High Street shops, where various university names can usually be found stitched into all sizes of hoodie. Though starting life in America, the simple hooded top quickly gained its place amongst British universities, as its warmth, simplicity and ease of branding made it the ideal must-have item for students up and down the country. East Durham College, in Peterlee, even went as far as having design students develop a more ‘varsity’ looking hoodie, to highlight the appeal of American college sports tops.
Picking up on this trend, brands like Jack Wills have been quick to make the most of the growing number of customers either looking for a university style hoodie, or in some cases just looking for a way to suggest that they perhaps went to university. Instantly preppy and full of wholesome Americana, the brand has seen a distinct rise in the number of university-style hooded tops sold recently, especially in the run up to the cold winter.
Not content with magic, witchcraft and multimillion dollar success, young actress Emma Watson has even found a sideline in hoodies when she’s not busy working on the next Harry Potter. Her new clothing brand, People Tree, is fair-trade and aimed very much at the quintessentially young and British youth, with university-style hoodies making up most of the boy’s range. Hot off the press of many 2009 best dressed polls, the young actress decided to start the company to reuse unwanted clothes and fabric by creating affordable, good quality essential items with them, with slogans like ‘Please don’t panic, I’m organic’ and ‘I’m not toxic’.
Ideal to wear on their own or under body warmers or mens jackets, the ubiquitous hoodie has seen yet another burst in sales recently, as more and more designers cotton on to the university appeal and symbolically American attraction of this simple sweatshirt.
About the Author
Paul Buchanan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
What is the difference between a badge, widget and plugin?
I've spent hours trying to add those little icons at the bottom of my blog posts for facebook, twitter , etc Every time I research how to do this, the information sometimes refers to them as badges, widgets or plugins and they all seem to do different things. What are the differences?
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