Being in college means two things: 1. becoming biologically dependent on coffee and ramen and 2. collecting enough school merchandise to clothe you for a lifetime. I want to take the time to highlight my most prized Yale sweatshirts and hoodies. Let’s talk about their origins, significance, let me gloat, and maybe make you cry. The cover picture has all the hoodies featured alongside my favorite shirt, one that I got at a street thrift shop in New Haven! Maybe I’ll write about that next.
Quick note: I don’t have a sweatshirt or hoodie from my residential college (Trumbull <3), but almost all students agree that residential college merch is superior to all Yale merch. It’s fun to rep residential college merch since it provides an “if you know, you know” recognition from strangers. Fun fact: I was lost one time in NYC, walking around some random neighborhood and trying to navigate the subway system. I was wearing my Trumbull tote bag. As I was walking around, dazed and confused, a stranger stopped me and said “Are you a Yale student?” I realized she recognized my bag and confirmed her suspicion. She thought it was the craziest coincidence that she ran into me in the streets of New York with this bag because her best friend was the one responsible for the tote bag design. What a small world!
Okay, now onto the sweaters:
Keeping it simple and solid, this hoodie’s all about warmth and being exactly what it should be—a Yale hoodie. This was my first cold-weathered Yale attire and I actually did not get this on campus. In my first semester, I saw that a high school acquaintance was selling her old Yale hoodie. It seemed like it was in decent shape and she was selling it for much less than a similar sweater goes for new at the bookstore. I contacted her and soon became the proud owner of this simple but sweet sweater.
One of my favorite little traditions on campus is majors giving their students merch specific to their department, usually in their junior year. I’ve seen some nifty Neuroscience tote bags and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry quarter zips. (Biomedical Engineering does not have its own design since we are part of this school—more on that later.) This was the hoodie I received: the official Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science hoodie. Or at least was until the school underwent a redesign for all its merch and now the “Y/” branding is everywhere, including on the hoodies bestowed onto the junior class. Personally, I am a bigger fan of the embroidered shield and lettering; the more intricate the better! However, the new hoodies are very slick and I like them a lot.
This lovely little number is the Yale Scientific Magazine’s (YSM) official merch, debuting earlier this year. Being the Arts Editor, I was part of the design team that made this hoodie! It’s super cool to get to wear a sweatshirt I helped create and saw develop behind the scenes. It’s even cooler to see other students wear it and publicly support the publication. The images on the back are six old YSM magazine covers. The covers in the present day look wildly different, and it’s cool to have a hoodie that honors the history of the magazine and its development. The insider information I can provide is that the team initally wanted to display more recent covers but money was a concern. Turns out that printing black and white graphics is cheaper than printing color, and we decided to pivot to archival covers. I think the final product is cool as hell AND it’s fuzzy inside!! I’m a little biased, but I think this is the best-designed sweater of the bunch.
Now this is the closest thing I have to a BME department-specific sweatshirt without actually being that. The Biomedical Engineering Society, a student organization, designed this sweater. I was lucky enough to learn both about the club and the sweatshirt giveaway a mere day before their distribution. This is also fuzzy inside, which if you can’t tell is a surefire way to win me over. I also love using this sweatshirt to rep the major and also recognize other students in the major.
Last but not least is this timeless piece. For the longest time, I thought this sweater was so fancy and elegant. Alas, I am not good about buying Yale merch for myself. I also love that it is visibly distinct from other Yale merch, with the navy blue not dominating the attire. I was sharing my thoughts about this sweater with my hometown friends when they were visiting, as well as sharing my thoughts on all things Yale. We all found ourselves in the Yale Barnes and Noble Bookstore which sells both books and merch. While we meandered in the book aisles as one does in a Barnes and Noble, my friends bought the sweater behind my back and gifted it to me… and no shut up I did not tear up at this incredibly kind gesture and feel very loved and fortunate to have these people in my life. Now whenever I wear it, I think of them all <3 love you guys
