I think the better question is: who has ever seen apparel with an NPC crest that wasn't fugly? Outside of D9 and D9-style line jackets, I don't know really think of the crest as an accessory.

*raises hand* I have! Some of the actives wear 1/4 zip sweatshirts or fleece with a very small coat of arms embroidered on the left side, and our letters embroidered on the back of the collar. Very subtle and classy. Not at all fugly. And a lot better than some of the tanks and tshirts that we see in photos here.

I've also seen a simple black cardigan with the coat of arms embroidered (again, small and tasteful). Maybe it's because Theta has black and gold so it isn't gaudy?

Point of info: for Theta, it is a complete coat of arms that you will always see. The eagle is the crest and is not to be separated from the rest.

LOL. Valid question.

But what about jewelry and the like? The buttons on my navy blazer have our coat of arms on them. Of course, you have to look really closely to tell that's the design.

Would love to share that look with my Collegians!

I'll pm you! Although does it ever get cold enough there? It does here, at night/early morning in Jan/Feb.

I have seen some nice T-shirts that have just the outline of the sorority crest either white or gold in relief on a dark blue or black. It was very striking.

It gets into the teens and snows here believe it or not! Worst of all, we get a damp cold, due to our native humidity, that seeps into your bones.

That sounds really classy too. I'll do a search for that style.

As for jewelry, MysticCat, kaokite has a gold coat of arms pendant that is spectacular. I have always envied the PiPhi badge guards that are their COA. I think other GLOs have COA badge guards also.

But frankly, I can't see wearing COA earrings or anything of that nature. That would be ... fugly!

Not even big dangly ones? In color? I think that could be quite a look. Quite a look indeed. :D

No? Well, I was thinking more along the lines of pendants anyway.

My sister has a similar sweatshirt - it's really cute! It's a light grey 1/4 zip with ZTA over the heart and the coat of arms on the back. The Gamma Phis on my campus had similar ones too.

I <3 you, and so does heraldry.


I vote for the earrings...

Really? I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE apparel with coat of arms on them! My favorite AXiD shirt, which I still have, is a plain white v-neck with our letters in black on the front top left and our coat of arms across the whole back. It's super pretty. I've also seen this one in person and I WANT it: http://www.xiboutique.org/store.cfm/...oil-sweatshirt

My old roommate had a Pi Phi sweater similar to what AZ Theta mentioned, and it was also really pretty. I'm a big fan of the coat of arms on apparel.

I have! I've actually seen quite a few items, one of which I own. When I was an advisor for my chapter, they ordered black hoodies with green lettering. On the front it reads:

Alpha Sigma Tau
Penn State Behrend

And on the back, all in that same green, is our coat-of-arms. Simple but nice.

I've also recently come across a few AST coat-of-arms clothing items online that looked good. But I have also seen some VERY fugly coat-of-arms items in my day as well.

It's probably harder for some groups to find decent clothing items, as elaborate designs - and animals, especially - can sometimes look weird.

I have a chambray sweatshirt-style top that has a huge crest on it. I've yet to wear it without receiving compliments on it.

I would not have liked being a "baby bug"
 

As I've seen ASA pledges called on social media. Baby Bug? Yikes.

Pledge was fine.

My PSU sorority sister's daughter is going through rush at PSU this week, and I'll be eager to hear where she ends up. If she is an ASA like her mom, I just hope she's not a "baby bug".

One of the many things I love about Theta Phi Alpha is her beautiful coat of arms. I think for apparel it looks better flattened to single color than displayed in full silver, gold, and blue.

http://adamblockdesign.com/abd/wp-co...f-zip-back.png

I think this is key - keeping it simple. One color for the shirt, and another for the coat-of-arms.

When things get complicated, that's usually when it gets fugly.

Comparison of names to old NPHC.
 

For a comparison of what some other groups have done (and showing that "Ferns" (as one person suggested) isn't *that* strange)...

Back in the 1970s, for the NPHC, their pledge classes were actually separate clubs (not that sure of why). Because of this, there were fairly standard terms for the pledges. For example, for Alpha Phi Alpha, the pledge club was the Sphinx Club, so pledges were sometimes referred to as Sphinxes.
For the other 8
Alpha Kappa Alpha - Ivy Leaf Club
Phi Beta Sigma - Crescent Club
Zeta Phi Beta - Archonian Club
Omega Psi Phi - Lampados Club
Delta Sigma Theta - Pyramid Club
Kappa Alpha Psi - Scrollers Club
Sigma Gamma Rho - Aurora Club
Iota Phi Theta - Centaur Club

(Other smaller Historically black fraternities, another other fraternities adopting terminology on HBCUs also had clubs.

My pledge class has these cardigans:
http://www.getsomegreek.com/assets/p..._abigail_2.jpg

I like that our Armorial Bearings aren't too in your face, but still retain the colour. However, I think a full size colour rendition might be too much

That looks really nice.

I'm so happy AST is taking a stance against this "baby" thing. This was just posted on the national Facebook page/group, along with a link to the article above:

Our Panhellenic sisters at Sigma Sigma Sigma National Sorority recently posted a wonderful blog entry about the current trend of referring to new members as “babies.” Just a reminder that our new members are also not babies, baby Taus or baby anchors. They are active, self-reliant and trustworthy women who joined our sisterhood; you have the privilege of empowering them to be such!

I guess that I am one of the very few who remains neutral on the subject of calling new pledges "babies". In a way, I think that it is a term of endearment, meaning you are a "just born" ADPi, Theta, Tri Delt, Alpha Phi, etc.... I have never read it as being degrading or a reference to someone being less than, or immature. I dunno, seems everything has to be so "PC" these days. No matter what you say, someone will be offended.

Personally, I think that the mascots in general are kinda dorky! Teddy Bears, Pandas, Dolphins, etc... But, I do LOVE the symbols: key, ivy leaf, arrow, crescent, pearl, etc.

All IMO, so don't get on me :)

I had to chuckle when I saw the first post re: wearing NPC crests and how ugly they are. When I was in graduate school, I was in my mid-to-late 20s and my favorite sweatshirt was a white cotton one with a large, full-color Chi Omega crest on the front. There was not a collegiate chapter at my college -- I was a young, proud alumna and loved wearing the crest and felt more comfortable doing so than I would have wearing letters on a jersey. I often got compliments. I still think it was a sharp look and oh how I wish I could still wear a size medium sweatshirt!

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...colorcrest.jpg

Just last year our chapter ordered yellow sweatshirts with the colorful Chi O crest on the back and we absolutely LOVED them. It was the best way to flaunt being a Chi Omega on campus, too!

Alpha Gam just posted this on the blog, too.

No More Baby Talk!

I have to agree about the "baby" terminology. For crying out loud, you have to be a full-time student at a 4-year university to join an NPC sorority, and last I heard, 4-year universities didn't admit infants. :p

A quote from AEPhi National's Facebook page:

Alpha Phi Alpha pledges were called Sphinxmen, not Sphinxes.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=90506 <---- this was awesome

We were called New Members AND Baby Hooties. The reason they still used Baby Hooties was because my new member class thought it was cute and all wanted to be called it.
I do agree with many of the previous comments about the word Pledge. I kind of wish we were still pledges, not new members. New members is a mouthful. Being called a pledge reminds you of what you are doing - you are pledging your life to an organization. I see nothing wrong with it.

I stand corrected.

I maintain that, if you want to get rid of "baby", you have to come up with a term that is better than "new member". I think "baby" is a hilarious side effect of them banning "pledge". Murphy's Law, my friends.

You may be right about "baby" as a side affect of switching to "New member"...however, my organization (non-NPC national) still uses the term "pledge" for very specific [positive] reasons and my chapter--and others around the country--still have the massive "baby" problem.

I completely agree. :)

"Babies" started long before the whole New Member trend. My New Member manual specifically said that NMs were not to be called babies, our educator was not to be called "Mom" and they couldn't give us baby items like bottles and pacifiers. This was 1993 when AOII started it's NM program year 1. That means all of this baby crap was going on with pledges long enough for them to include it in my NM manual the first year it was published. Correlation is not causation.

If you still have the shirt, have it made into a t shirt pillow. If you have lots of Chi O and college shirts, a quilt is always a nice way to repurpose the garments. I saved mine as actual shirts hoping that the legacy would get to wear them. Alas, she chose her own home in Pi Phi so I made a Kappa Quilt as I have seen my collegiate clothing size in a long, long time.

Great fabric for a Chi O themed project:

http://jamieannonline.com/imgs_greek/FabricChiOmega.jpg

I do love that fabric!

No, my crest sweatshirt is long gone -- that was 25 yrs ago.

Hmmmm... I wonder (no, I'm pretty sure I know) how our term "pledgemaster" would go over today. That wasn't the official title, but I don't think I ever heard Libby referred to by a formal title.

Yeah, I know a lot went on at chapters in the past that (Inter)Nationals didn't find out about, including nonstandard names. I think the advent of social media makes it more in your face which is why we all think it is so much worse now. My Great to the 5th Grand Big Sis calls me Baby II, as she does all her younger family members. She's Granny II to me. I've been an AOII going on 20 years. She hit 25 years this year, and she was most definitely a pledge with the full semester pledge program. :eek: Oh well...maybe she started it all?!

Didn't read entire thread, so please excuse if repeat: In ye olden NPC days, an on-campus Sorority Window display rotated every two weeks between groups. Several sororities exhibited Greek-lettered baby bottles and pacifiers. Umm, yeah, they were considered cool pledge gifts for 'baby' members. :o

Yeah, it's also funny when people act like members today drink and we didn't back in the day. I have a 1968 pledge dance flask. Maybe members in the 60s didn't binge drink...I know they did in the 90s. Difference? Social media. Managing social media is the big game changer in the new millennium. It's our biggest risk management issue. Thank God it didn't exist when I was in college. I shudder to think of the trouble I'd have been in.

Maybe in some areas, but I don't think it was as widespread. When I joined, one of our chapters somewhere in the Midwest was still using "pledge mom" and "pledge daughter" and we were all like WTH??? Pledge mom =ed pledgemistress (NM educator) in our terminology. When I see the "baby" use at my alma mater I know it's reached critical mass.

The other thing that gets me rolling is NPC and IFC groups using terms like "crossing" but that's a whole 'nother thread. :)