Central wear goes beyond maroon and gold
CMU’s school colors are no longer maroon and gold – at least, according to many “official” shirts around campus.
‘Central Michigan University’ is displayed in bright pink across the front of a kelly green hooded sweatshirt, available at both the Student Book Exchange Co., 209 E. Bellows St., and the CMU Bookstore in the Bovee University Center.
CMU Bookstore assistant manager Deborah Stack said the green and pink combination is in high demand.
At first, CMU’s fad of wearing multi-colored college apparel focused primarily on T-shirts, but there has been increasing interest in sweatshirts, she said.
“The whole fad is kind of silly,” said Birmingham sophomore Jenna Kay. “But I wear the different colored stuff, too. I bought a green and white hoodie and everyone asked me why I had (Michigan) State colors on a CMU sweatshirt.”
Though different colored Central T-shirts and sweatshirts have long been available, only recently have they become more noticed. Yet they still do not outsell the traditional maroon and gold items, retailers said.
“The different colored apparel has been around forever,” Stack said. “I’ve been here for 18 years and it has always been prominent. The difference now is that the colors are bright.”
Stack said she enjoys the vibrant colors the apparel brings to the bookstore.
“I like the different colors, especially this time of year when it’s so dreary out,” she said.
Katie Stoeckle, a Sebewaing freshman, studied the variety of T-shirt color choices in the CMU bookstore.
“I think people have enough maroon and gold and want something more. The brightness is the factor of attraction,” she said.
John Belco, SBX manager, said they started selling plain CMU T-shirts in just ten colors, but expanded to 20 when sales became successful.
“The shirts are still selling and it’s snowing,” said SBX employee Holly Hollis, a South Haven junior. “The lime green and pink tees are the most popular.”
Belco said sapphire blue T-shirts along with green T-shirts also are selling well. SBX took a big risk when they brought the multi-colored clothing into the store, he said.
“There were all of these really odd color combinations we thought wouldn’t work and they did well,” he said. “Pink and brown – who would have thought?”
While some students view the alternative style as a splash of color, others said they would only wear the traditional maroon and gold.
“I know it’s boring, but those are our school colors,” said Krysti Arnold, a Holly freshman.
