I am the merchandise chair for my sorority and this is what I understand:
So many people make greek merch that are not licensed and this is okay. In order for the sorority/fraternity to make an official purchase of anything that has letters OR their name on it, it HAS to be greek licensed. If you're making your own purchase then it doesn't really matter (it's supposed to for most greek org b/c of the trademark but you're not going to actually get in trouble - the point they want to make is "you don't own your letters- we do" but they'll never know and companies don't seem to get in trouble). When I say "your own purchase," it means something the sorority didn't set up. We have required merchandise to buy for recruitment and that has to be greek licensed. We have optional event and random merchandise that you're NOT required to wear, but since WE set up the purchase, the website HAS to be greek licensed. It's better to support greek licensed websites when you make your own purchases because:
#1 - They usually have your ethics in mind. These companies will not sell anything that promotes binge drinking, drugs, hazing, sexism, racism, etc. I do not know of an official "greek licensed" company that sells paddles for my sorority, because we do not allow it. I don't know if they sell paddles to greek organizations that haven't outlawed them. I definitely see sexist shirts (sorority AND fraternity) for parties but not EVERY organization actually goes through the proper pathways to get their merchandise. I definitely have fraternity event shirts that are sexist and not made by the proper companies. Going through greek licensed companies just really helps your organization keep a better handle on how they're being represented by their various chapters.
#2 - This above reason demonstrates how closely and consciously they value the organizations business and will usually offer lower prices than non-licensed companies. Even if the prices are higher, they are ALWAYS better quality purchases. A company has to apply to get this license and so they check to make sure it is an appropriate and trustworthy business before granting them a license.
#3 - Best of all, on certain occasions, or all of the time, some of these places will take a small percentage of proceeds and send it back to your philanthropy or something along those lines.
Go to
www.greeklicensing.com and AMC will have a big list of where you can buy your stuff!
I hope this was helpful and forgive me if I was wrong about anything! Your sorority/fraternity website should have more details on your organization's specific laws. We can only make shirts ourselves if we don't sell them... so be careful not to get in trouble with your advisor or regional president! Ours is REALLY strict about EVERYTHING.
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