Is it ok to wear apparel from a College you didn't Attend?

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

My girlfriend bought a Leiden University jacket when she visited. They are comfortable, and nice reminders and souvenirs, and available to everyone who wants one of them. It doesn't imply that you studied here, it just says that you like the jacket. That's all fine and dandy.

However, it would peeve me if someone would wear a Leiden Law School hoodie without actually having attended Leiden Law School. These hoodies are made specifically for students, and they signify that you studied in a particular field. It feels pretentious to act as if you did a course you did not attend, although you could also say that it's pretentious of me to make a fuss about it.

In the end, there are thousands of people attending Leiden University. I don't know them all, so there is little use in me kicking up dust over it.

[Ifreann]

If universities didn't want people who don't attend their classes wearing their branded clothes then they wouldn't be selling them in stores open to the general public, would they?

[Caracasus]

Surely the only people for whom it might actually matter whether or not you attended a university would find out anyway when they ask to see your degree certificate at interview?

[San Lumen]

It’s leaning on the inherently deceptive side but I’ll let it slide

If I met someone who wore a Harvard cap and they didn’t go and later this fact was coaxed out... I would definitely frown and give them a quizzical look

How is it being deceptive? I bought the Harvard cap from a store in Qunicy Market. Should they not have been selling it according to you?

Why would you frown and give a quizzical look?

[Latin Islands]

As long as no misrepresentation occurs, it's fine. Free publicity anyway.

Addendum: By misrepresentation I refer to the situation where people pretend to have attended a certain college/university.

[Trajkov]

It was always odd to see someone on campus wearing clothes from another school but I can't say it really bothered me, I always figured they were football fans or got into grad school there or something along those lines.

[Bombadil]

I’d give this guidance, it’s fine to wear outside your country, seems more acceptable regardless of whether you attended or not. A friend of mine bought me a Stanford t-shirt that I quite like but I mistakenly once wore it to a bar at one of those beaches south of LA and was told to fuck off back to Norcal..

..a university is a brand of sorts, whether it says anything about you other people can infer things about you. Plenty of people from elite universities just don’t say specifically where they went because it creates a host of assumptions.. like don’t wear a Berkeley t-shirt in Georgia for example..

I got a shitty degree, but I got it in Law from a prestigious university.. and the type of degree and university has done far more for me than the technically shitty grade I received..

These little things can cause other people to assume a lot for good or bad.

[Chan Island]

"Hey, you! Did you attend there??"

That is about the one drawback of wearing clothes branded for a college or university you didn't attend. Now here's a fun one: I once visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam wearing the aforementioned UCSB hoodie and got stopped 5 times by 5 different Americans who'd either been to that university and/or work there.

5 times explaining that no, I only visited the campus once and thought it was really cool did almost annoy me. Odd thing to happen in the Netherlands of all places though.

[The New California Republic]

What annoys me even more is when people wear a t-shirt with a random place name with a random year after it. Sacramento 1973 or some shit. I want to ask every one of them what the fuck happened in that specific place in that year that is important enough to put on a t-shirt. Sorry for the sarcasm but ye gods it really fucking irks me...

[Caracasus]

It’s leaning on the inherently deceptive side but I’ll let it slide

If I met someone who wore a Harvard cap and they didn’t go and later this fact was coaxed out... I would definitely frown and give them a quizzical look

How is it being deceptive? I bought the Harvard cap from a store in Qunicy Market. Should they not have been selling it according to you?

Why would you frown and give a quizzical look?

I guess if someone got a hoodie from I dunno - some university that specialises in engineering and they spent the entire night wearing it and banging on about engineering and what a great engineer they were they'd certainly expect you to infer that they'd been to that university - so there's an element of dishonesty there (and a much, much larger element of being rather pathetic)

However if someone just gets an item of clothing with the university on it, it appears that the vast majority of us don't assume that they went there, or that they're somehow trying to infer they did.

[San Lumen]

How is it being deceptive? I bought the Harvard cap from a store in Qunicy Market. Should they not have been selling it according to you?

Why would you frown and give a quizzical look?

I guess if someone got a hoodie from I dunno - some university that specialises in engineering and they spent the entire night wearing it and banging on about engineering and what a great engineer they were they'd certainly expect you to infer that they'd been to that university - so there's an element of dishonesty there (and a much, much larger element of being rather pathetic)

However if someone just gets an item of clothing with the university on it, it appears that the vast majority of us don't assume that they went there, or that they're somehow trying to infer they did.

That makes perfect sense. I would never claim I went to Harvard. I never would have gotten in there anyway.

[The Free Joy State]

It's dishonest if you actually try to imply you went to a specific university you didn't go to, if someone asks "Did you go there", and you say "Yes; between X-year and Y-year".

Otherwise, it's like wearing any other clothing with a logo on it.

[Appalachian Communists]

Wear whatever you want OP, it's no big deal.

[Republic of Turbin]

If the school is making merchandise to sell to the public then I don’t see anything wrong in wearing the clothing from a school you didn’t attend when you paid for it.

[San Lumen]

If the school is making merchandise to sell to the public then I don’t see anything wrong in wearing the clothing from a school you didn’t attend when you paid for it.

That;'s how i feel. I bought the Harvard hat from a store in Quincy Market that had all kinds of merchandise from Harvard and MIT such as coffee mugs, hats, sweatshirts, pencils and pens etc.

[Valrifell]

Tbh this question is like "is it okay to wear NASA apparel even though you don't work there?"

The answer is obviously no, duh

I'm being sarcastic.

[Ccanda]

I believe its appropriate.
Exe. Im a huge fan of Auburn University football, thus i wear their apparel even though i plan on attending a different college.

[San Lumen]

Tbh this question is like "is it okay to wear NASA apparel even though you don't work there?"

The answer is obviously no, duh

I'm being sarcastic.

Good point. I have a NASA bomber jacket as do a few of my friends

[Sovaal]

I say we execute offenders in public displays, Vlad the Impaler style.

But seriosuly this seems like the stupidest thing to get pissed off about. Who fucking cares?

[San Lumen]

I say we execute offenders in public displays, Vlad the Impaler style.

But seriosuly this seems like the stupidest thing to get pissed off about. Who fucking cares?

People get offended very easily these days

[Internationalist Bastard]

I’ve always been that veteran who thinks it’s kinda dickish to wear military stuff if you’re not involved with the military but it’s not a bad thing
Since this is a less important version of that I don’t care

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

I've never really understood the desire to become unpaid advertising space.

[Sovaal]

I say we execute offenders in public displays, Vlad the Impaler style.

But seriosuly this seems like the stupidest thing to get pissed off about. Who fucking cares?

People get offended very easily these days

Well fuck them, if they want to be offended by your choice of clothing let them.

[Sovaal]

I've never really understood the desire to become unpaid advertising space.

I never understood the want to over my skin head to toe in tattoos. If it makes people happy tho, let them.

[The Free Joy State]

I've never really understood the desire to become unpaid advertising space.

Me neither.

I have no objection to people wearing sweatshirts for universities/businesses they like or admire. But I never even bought the sweatshirt for my own university, let alone anyone else's.

Near graduation, I had a brief sentimental "I should get something" and then decided against.