Professor Harvey Gotliffe has noticed more and more logos on student’s clothing these days.Students have started to wear clothing that identifies locations and universities they have never attended or lived at, like the clothing brand Hollister or those of other universities, like Michigan.
One logo, though, stands out for the 72-year-old journalism professor around SJSU.
“There’s more and more students wearing something that identifies them as a San Jose State student,” he said.
There are still students wearing Cal-Berkeley or Stanford clothing around the campus, Gotliffe said, but he said he has noticed an increase in students wearing clothing marked with Spartan blue and gold, or at least the university’s initials.
Gotliffe told a story of his Siena, Italy eight years ago. He said he was approached while wearing a San Jose State shirt. The person told him that he was a San Jose State alumnus.
“Here’s somebody I would have never met in my entire life if I did not have that on,” he added.
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Sales of San Jose State branded clothing, like sweatpants and sweatshirts, have been on the rise in recent years, according to numbers provided by Jen Skebba, the manager of retail services for clothing and gifts.
The main article of clothing is the sweatshirt, which some students primarily purchase to identify with the university, and to fit in with peers.
“I feel like I fit in more,” said Elaine Fader, a sophomore computer engineering major. “A lot of my friends were getting San Jose State sweaters. Plus, you belong to this school, so you want to represent where you come from.”
Fader said she wears her sweatshirt around campus mostly.
“I always saw my sisters wearing college sweatshirts,” said Brittani Leslie, a freshman journalism major. “I was actually in college, so I figured that I would get one for my school.”
One student even identified having problems with thievery of SJSU clothing he had purchased.
“Friends like the sweatshirts that I buy here, so they take them themselves,” said Mike Reed, a senior business management major.
Sweatshirt sales are were just short of 12,000 last year, said Jen Skebba, the manager of retail services for clothing and gifts. Skebba is responsible of ordering all apparel for the Spartan Bookstore.
She said sweatshirt sales last year were up to around 10,750. This year, she said, sales are just short of 10,000 through last week.
Students don’t buy only school colors, Skebba said. Color combinations like pink and black, red and black, and gray and dark blue have been the top selling color combinations for sweatshirts, she added.
There also is a noticeable spike in the sale of sweatpants, she said.
Originally, Skebba said she feared that the pants wouldn’t sell, and worried about who would buy them.
“I was hesitant to order them at first,” she said, “because I thought only old men would wear them.”
Sales of sweatpants with the SJSU logo on them have almost tripled in the last two years, and women are doing most of the buying, Skebba said. It’s forced the bookstore to increase its selection.
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Officials fear that clothing sales may be on the decline. The declining economy is affecting things like the sales of college attire, said Phil Chiaramonte, the senior director of retail services for Spartan Shops.
While sales numbers appear to be up from previous years, other economic pressures could affect SJSU apparel sales.
“Sales were up last year,” Chiaramonte said. “But this year not a whole lot because students are up against rising gas prices and a faltering economy.”
Chiaramonte said the prices of the apparel — sweatshirts ranging between $40 to $65 each, while sweatpants are $23 — are not the problem. Rather, he blamed the increases in prices on items like food.
“Even if sweatshirts were $19, students would be hesitant,” he said.
Ultimately, it comes back to how much parents are willing to help some students out financially, said Jen Skebba.
“Students won’t spend money their parents don’t give them,” she said.
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