SEMI-POLL: Is it okay to wear another college's apparel?

<p>I dunno, I got really curious about this question because of all the different answers I got. So, as a college student, is it okay to wear another college’s apparel like shirts or sweatshirts with insignia and/name?</p>

<p>*Note: This applies only to undergrads, for the sake of arguing.</p>

<p>Here are the options and how I came to list them:</p>

<li><p>No. Easy enough - give your reasoning.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, all around. Who cares what you wear?</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, but only if you’ve visited there. I know people who intern at various places around the country, and often return with some clothes from a nearby college.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, but only from a nearby college in your hometown.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, but only from colleges that you think are below you. Surprisingly, a lot of people I talked to agree with the reasoning that a lesser college’s apparel can be worn. When people ask you about it, you can respond with, “Oh, of course not. I go to XXX.”</p></li>
</ol>

<p>We can’t make polls (mods only), so please reply with a numbered choice. If anyone else has any other choices that I might have overlooked, feel free to inform me.</p>

<p>Hmm....I like to wear sweatshirts that say "College" on them. What category does that fall under?</p>

<p>Where I live, there is that whole sports thingy factored into College wear and whatnot. Like, I live in Memphis and if I wore a University of Tennessee, Knoxville hoodie- folks would not like it. I do not follow sports except for Futball and Baseball, so I do not care about schools and sports at all. If it is not Colombia or the Cubs, then I do not care.</p>

<p>Most College wear is butt ugly, really. Except for when they have those lovely pink shirts. I love the girly pink shirts which just humbly state the name of the school.</p>

<p>Don't even think about wearing Stanfurd apparel on campus, especially during Big Game Week! We will find you and crush you.</p>

<p>I don't feel good about wearing other colleges' apparel. I have a ton of stuff from my previous top-choice school (a good deal more selective than the college I'm at now) that I bought when I was intent on attending, but it ended up not working out. I wore some of it when I hadn't done laundry in a couple of weeks, and I felt pretty weird, like I was being ungrateful or more-academic-than-thou or something.</p>

<p>But I see people wearing other colleges' apparel (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, etc.) all the time, and they don't get lynched. Maybe I'm just self-conscious?</p>

<p>Back in the day, we would rather die than wear clothes with our own college name on them. It was popular to wear clothes from obscure, unusual or otherwise unexpected colleges. Having said that, I wouldn't wear a USC hoodie if I went to UCLA during the week of The Game.</p>

<p>I wouldn't. It's like trying to pretend to be someone I'm not. If I were to wear a lower-tier university's clothing, people would ridicule me. If I were to wear a higher-tier university's clothing, I would feel that I'm trying to pretend to be smarter than I am.</p>

<p>I'd say no... Like, I often see people on campus that either are wearing OSU or OU apparel, or have stickers on their cars. And while we're not really rivals, it just seems weird to me. And then, of course, if you go into Walmart or the mall or something, there will be stores (or a whole section of Walmart) that sell nothing but OSU and OU apparel/pennants/accessories/etc. There's never any OCU stuff anywhere except our own bookstore, just because we don't have a football team. Yesterday, in fact, I was at IHOP, and all the workers and some patrons were wearing OU garb, but they only give discounts to OCU students...</p>

<p>I think it's so dumb that students wear another college's apparel. What is the point? To show that you got accepted there? Nothing else to wear?</p>

<p>I think it's okay as long as it isn't a rival. Ie: I would be offended to see someone wearing a Duke, State, Carolina, or any other ACC article of clothing.</p>

<p>Well, as long as you've already bought it and don't expect to get it refunded, why put a perfectly warm article of clothing to waste?</p>

<p>Why buy it in the first place then? Why not buy the gear from the college after you submit your intent?</p>

<p>A lot of people buy college apparel before enrolling. Don't ask me why, that's just how things are.</p>

<p>I have some Wake Forest t-shirts because my older sister just graduated from there in the spring. I'm not going to stop wearing them out because I don't go there, that's nuts. And on my campus, you'll see t-shirts and hoodies from all kinds of schools.</p>

<p>My take on this:</p>

<p>You can ONLY wear another college's apparel if one or more of your relatives attended that college. I wear a dartmouth sweatshirt because my step-cousin went there.</p>

<p>I have college apparel from places I've done summer programs at. I wear them all the time. When I was there for summers (UArts and American University) I bought some clothes from them, and I'm not going to stop wearing them because I don't go there. And no I wasn't there for school, but I did spend time there and they are memories of my summers there. </p>

<p>Also, for one of my friends birthdays, all her best friends gave her t-shirts from their schools.</p>

<p>I wear clothes from other schools...but I won't be caught dead in an Iowa shirt. I got one t-shirt from every college I visited, and wear them every once in a while. But mostly I wear ISU stuff. As long as it isn't a hardcore rival school, then I don't see anything wrong with wearing something. Unless your school is playing the not-so-much-of-a-rivalry school that day.</p>

<p>Wearing another school's clothing is really lame, unless you have a connection to that school (relatives, etc). But just "liking" a school, or having visited it is lame.</p>

<p>Northwestern University did a fun thing during new student week whereby you could exchange a different school's t-shirt for a Northwestern t-shirt.</p>

<p>In my college, it's ok as long as it's NOT our main rival's hoodies.</p>

<p>what about a shirt from your girlfriends/boyfriends school?</p>