Wearing your letters?

[KSUViolet06]

Here @ Kent, everybody wears letters. In fact, Wednesday is designated as Letters Day by Panhellenic.

The big thing here is hoodies though, since it snows 6 months out of the year. You're more likely to see girls wearing lettered hoodies as opposed to baby tees because it's too cold most of the time.

Lettered tote bags (aka "Bitch Bags") are a big deal here also. Big sisters usually give them to their Littles for Revealing or Initiation. EVEry sorority girl has one.

Something everyone does here that I really can't stand is DOUBLE LETTERING. Double lettering= wearing 2 lettered items at once (like wearing a shirt & carrying your bag). I think it's tacky, but that's just my opinion.

[PeppyGPhiB]

At Pepperdine in the late 90s-early 2000s we wore block letters every Wednesday, plus any other time we wanted. Might be different now, but I doubt it.

[Texas Beta]

Block letters are tacky.

At Texas you can tell who is in a fraternity or sorority pretty easily. If guys aren’t dressed smart (Polo, slacks), they're wearing either their fraternities shirt (pocket t-shirt usually) or a sorority event shirt. Almost my entire chapter wears a Beta hat. I switch between it and another organization I belong to. Girls are always wearing their letters, bags, purses, hats, ect.

Or the standard GLO letters, a Columbia or North Face jacket. :P

[alum]

When we were looking at colleges a couple of years ago, we visited Wake Forest on what happened to be one of their designated "Letter Days." There were definitely block letters galore worn by both men and women.

[Elephant Walk]

Guys never wear their letters as the block shirts, it just looks goofy. Mondays are always letter days for girls but they wear them whenever. It's clearly different campus to campus, but we never wear block letter shirts, whereas University of Central Arkansas wears them every day. Guys have their letters pretty much only on party pocket t's and such.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by Texas Beta

Block letters are tacky.

At Texas you can tell who is in a fraternity or sorority pretty easily. If guys aren’t dressed smart (Polo, slacks), they're wearing either their fraternities shirt (pocket t-shirt usually) or a sorority event shirt. Almost my entire chapter wears a Beta hat. I switch between it and another organization I belong to. Girls are always wearing their letters, bags, purses, hats, ect.

Or the standard GLO letters, a Columbia or North Face jacket. :P

Maybe at your school they're tacky. At my school, jerseys like some schools have would've been tacky. Most of the sororities and fraternity shirts were the letter shirts, usually matching. As for hats, not many guys at my school wore them, and they might have been asked to remove them in class.

Everyone in Seattle wears Columbia and North Face...it's certainly not a sign of a Greek here.

[Tom Earp]

Amazing! Simply Amazing?

You do not wear certain types of Letters representing YOUR GLOs?

WHY? You are not proud enough?

You will be happier wearing Symbols or Logos of shoes, beer, clothing stores?

We as GLOs Advertise OUR GLOs or not!

If you are not proud enough then why even join?

As an Alumni, I try and wear mine as much as possible, how about You?

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

Amazing! Simply Amazing?

You do not wear certain types of Letters representing YOUR GLOs?

WHY? You are not proud enough?

You will be happier wearing Symbols or Logos of shoes, beer, clothing stores?

We as GLOs Advertise OUR GLOs or not!

If you are not proud enough then why even join?

As an Alumni, I try and wear mine as much as possible, how about You?

Tom, if you need a shirt with letters on them to prove that you are proud of your fraternity.......you aren't doing something right. Frankly, I find that pathetic

Hahahahhahahhahahahhaha......That is truly sad. I'm sorry.....but there comes a time when wearing letters becomes unacceptable and pretty douchebaggish. No one gives a shit, especially in the business world, if you were in a fraternity or not. Wearing your fraternity's letters after you graduate makes you look like a complete loser that hasn't let go of the fact that he isn't in college anymore. The only thing, as far as i'm concerned, that is acceptable to show from your fraternity when you are older is your initiation certificate in a nice frame. My father has his in his office on the wall along with his UT graduation and Law school graduation certificates.

I don't show off my letters hardly every......because I think that is what it makes you come off like. Trying to show off. "Hey everyone, look at me, i'm an SAE." Why make it a point to let everyone know what fraternity you are in? If you are doing it right, people should already know who you are. I'll sport date party pocket Ts and sorority function shirts to class or around the house, but thats about it. Also, you're in college, time to start dressing appropriately......

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Wearing your fraternity's letters after you graduate makes you look like a complete loser that hasn't let go of the fact that he isn't in college anymore. The only thing, as far as i'm concerned, that is acceptable to show from your fraternity when you are older is your initiation certificate in a nice frame. My father has his in his office on the wall along with his UT graduation and Law school graduation certificates.

My framed shingle is on my office wall with my diplomas and my law license as well.

But I would suggest that it is possible and acceptable to wear fraternity insignia of some kind as an alum under a few other circumstances. Many fraternity alumni I know wear their GLO's recognition/lapel pin -- not necessarily every day but often and when appropriate. (More often than not, those pins are a small coat-of-arms or other symbol, like Lambda Chi's Cross and Crescent, rather than letters. I agree it would be odd to see an older man wearing the letter-style lapel pin.)

It's very common for me to see alums, especially younger alums, wearing Greek-related tee-shirts when working out.

And, of course, the situation would be different at a fraternity event. But otherwise, with the few exceptions I noted, I agree with you -- it is very rare to see alums wearing letters or other Greek gear, and it looks odd.

[blkwebman1919]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Wearing your fraternity's letters after you graduate makes you look like a complete loser that hasn't let go of the fact that he isn't in college anymore

That stems from the thinking that your fraternity affiliation is just a "college" thing. That also means you may place way too emphasis on what other people (may) think.

For those of us whom consider our fraternal bond a lifetime committment, we don't judge people that way, and those of us who come from that type of "greek" (read, fraternity) culture recognize that. We reserve the right to wear letters when and wherever we want.

That being said, I don't go around sporting paraphernalia all the time like it's the only stuff I own, either. We look at Greeks who do that and immediately think, "neo" (neophyte). I don't wear letters often anymore (except when I'm working in an official capacity with my org or in a service-related event). But I do have the license place/keychain/etc, and I do have a couple of jackets/sweaters that I may wear to specific events when appropriate.

Bottom line: My fraternal bond is for life. Many of us look at it that way, while others may not. In any case, I don't let other people's opinions affect whether I "wear letters" or not. Some of those same people will tell you that you're a "loser" to have joined a fraternity/sorority in the first place.

[ufdale]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Everyone in Seattle wears Columbia and North Face...it's certainly not a sign of a Greek here.

But it is when you get your GLO embroidered with the school under it on the jacket. EVERYONE has one of these jackets here at UF. They're from Charles River, though, not Columbia or North Face. (and they are navy and have a huge orange stripe)

[CuriousWildcat]

Here the sororities are letter CRAZY!!!! EVERY and litterally every girl gets a tote bag on bid day with block letters (usually) and most girls get block tshirts on bid day. There are lettered hats, umbrellas, pants, flip flops, drink thurmoses, lavaliers, pen, stationary, bracelets and rain coats and even tshirts. It's crazy. (Not in a bad way). There are tons of car decals and people have decorated their windows in the dorms. As for double lettering, that happens alllllll the time. Today was wear your letters day for some sororities, and I saw a girl with a lettered hat, tote bag, shirt, umbrella, and flip flops (I know in the rain, but it was pretty warm today). And most girls have a hoodie too. As for the guys, they mostly have party shirts and a hoodie.

[SigmaPsi_Star]

I'd probably say that letter-wearing here is pretty average...you see it from some groups way more than you see it from others. I know that most if not all of the girls in my chapter wear letters like it's our jobs, most of us have lots of different letter and chapter shirts (by chapter shirts I mean shirts that say "Sigma Psi" written out instead of the letters, we have these because members aren't allowed to wear letters until they're initiated. And because at philanthropy and parties where we give other people shirts, we don't put actual letters on the shirts because non-members can't wear them)...I'd say most people in my chapter wear letters...at least one or two days a week, not counting lavaliers and letters on bags...other chapters I see lots of some chapters' letters, and none of others.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by ufdale

But it is when you get your GLO embroidered with the school under it on the jacket. EVERYONE has one of these jackets here at UF. They're from Charles River, though, not Columbia or North Face. (and they are navy and have a huge orange stripe)

That is not frat.....at all.

[Texas Beta]

I agree with Macallen, but joining a fraternity at Texas is something I think most are proud of, and like to show it off, which I think Macallan can agree. The same can be said about UT shirts and gear. I own a limited supply of them, people know I go to Texas, and I don't need to advertise it besides sporting events. I avoid wearing t-shirts whenever I'm in public, I like to dress smarter. I am though, usually always wearing my Spurs ball cap (a spirit group at Texas, which is for the most part, held in high regard and that I'm balding hehe). When I graduate, I will either give all my sorority shirts / fraternity shirts to a younger guy in my fraternity, or Goodwill.
Three finals tomorrow, I really need to stop dicking around GC.

Edit* When I am an alumnus, I will probably own an alumni hat, to the organizations I belong to that have alumni associations, but undergrad stuff, well, hopefully law school will afford me the ability to wear suits daily, and not college gear.