Zoe Sissac
Calling all Warhawk fans. Want a new ULM t-shirt, hoodie or hat to wear at the next sporting event? You also have other choices, such as cozy gloves or Fossil watches. If this sounds appealing, look no further than the ULM bookstore, where you can purchase sporting gear for the low price of $234.99.
Sarcasm aside, conversations surrounding the costs of ULM products rage around campus. The ULM bookstore’s costly apparel is unfair to students, especially when the production costs are much lower than the sales tag.
I asked a few ULM students to describe how they feel in one word when looking at the price of merchandise in the bookstore. Freshman pre-nursing major Madison Coleman said she felt “flabbergasted,” while sophomore vocal performance major Braden Tucker quickly said, “disgusted.” To add more emphasis, Senior Vocal Performance major James Wright III said, “gagged.”
With fall approaching, students want to buy clothes suitable for the cooler weather. Buying some merch to keep warm seems like a good idea, but the $80 price tag on hoodies and sweatshirts suggests otherwise.
Champion is a well-known brand, so it would make sense that their products would cost a little more than others. The same applies to Nike or Adidas. However, a regular sweatshirt, not made by a name brand, should not cost anywhere near $80. All it takes is a few quick searches on popular wholesaler brands to discover that most canvas hoodies cost about $12, according to the wholesale clothing brand Jiffy. The only work production companies must do is place the school’s design onto the clothing.
Although it is great that ULM’s bookstore has lots of options, the prices make buying merchandise impossible for the average college student.
The cost of a sweatshirt should be at most $20 and a T-shirt at most $10. At that price point, students could buy ULM merchandise while maintaining a steady pocketbook.