By Catherine Battey
If you’re walking to class one day and notice a Rolling Stones-esque pair of lips staring back at you from a heavily postered bulletin board, have no fear: ObieWear is here. ObieWear, a new student-designed apparel initiative, is successfully transforming our idea of conventional college apparel. ObieWear was started in September 2011 as a Creativity and Leadership Fund project, satisfying both the CnL’s desire for an enduring student-design initiative (there was a temporary one several years ago for a college fashion show) as well as the ObieWear members’ desire to create alternative college apparel options.
Their aptly named “Untraditional” line features T-shirt designs ranging from Mudd womb chairs posing as different phases of the moon cycle to a spray-painted rock graffitied with “Oberlin College” (because, let’s face it, Oberlin rocks) to a coffee mug with an architectural blueprint of Oberlin College. The ObieWear team worked closely with the Oberlin College Bookstore, and expressed lots of gratitude for all the help the bookstore manager, Scott O’Grady, offered throughout the development process. The shirts will be sold at the same price as its traditional competitors of about $25, and all but one item are currently in the bookstore.
Looking forward, the ObieWear team hopes to release their new apparel line in time for the arrival of 2017 prospective students during All Roads Lead to Oberlin, as well as discuss with the Oberlin College Bookstore the possibility of donating some of the apparel proceeds to a scholarship fund.
“I personally look forward to the student body, alumni, faculty and really everyone in the Oberlin community getting excited about this project to bring new, creative designs to campus,” said ObieWear member Maisy Byerly. “I hope that it will thrive in the years to come and that others can get the same sort of learning experience I did.”
To learn more about their initiative, check out their Facebook page. My only question to you, anonymous reader, is why are you still reading this article? Head over to the bookstore and see for yourself what ObieWear has in store (pun intended).