CAU's historic brand gets a new look
By: Kristen Reed
Issue date: 11/5/08 Section: Student Life
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The company widely known for designing sports caps has partnered with Traditions, an Atlanta-based apparel design company and the College Licensing Company to launch a new line of HBCU geared clothing.
According to Pete Augustine, President of New Era, the "New Era presents Traditions" line "draw[s] from the tradition, the culture and the history of historically Black colleges and universities and blends them with the latest trends in the world's most fashionable consumer market."
DJ Mars of the World Famous Superfriends and a Clark Atlanta University graduate is excited about the release of the new CAU brand. "Finally we get an official clothing line that endorses the clothing's energy of the schools. When we were in school, we had printed on t-shirts that really weren't that fly."
He added, "Now we have something that you can wear down the streets, you can wear it on TV or on stage. It's an official representation of the clothes that we need for our school. I've already started wearing the brand [to shows and events]," he said.
The hats, t-shirts and sweatshirts are available for sale in participating school's book stores and a "high-end" line will be made available in select boutiques. Because New Era specializes in menswear, the merchandise is only available for the gentlemen at this point, but a women's line is in the works.
Aside from promoting the HBCU culture, a portion of the proceeds from the sale are given back to the schools to be put towards scholarship programs and other activities on campus. This concept is part of a program called "The Yard," which is dedicated to supporting HBCUs.
"These students have been around for years and I've looked at mainstream retail stores and you can find college apparel from a lot of schools. And I think the time is now that proud HBCU alums can go to these stores and find that their product is available nationwide," Gerard Murray said, of Traditions.
"New Era presents Traditions" is available now in bookstores at 13 participating colleges and universities.
