Fashion choices at USD during Dakota Days are limited. The requirements? It's got to be red, ridiculous and students say the raunchier, the better.
F or students like sophomore Jessica Legg, the t-shirts are an integral part of school spirit during homecoming.
"When you think of D-Days, you think of the shirts ... and drinking," she said.
The demand for shirts this year has been great, Legg said, and each year the mottos seem to get more extreme.
This year, mottos range from "Drink triple, see double and act single," to "Go in hard ... Come out wet."
Students say the t-shirts they sell can earn them up to $1,000, depending on the year.
Sophomore Katie Hutchinson is selling shirts for her brother, a student at South Dakota State University. The t-shirts she is selling are red with "D-Daze 2007" on the front and "Beauty is only a light switch away!" on the back. At $12.50 for one or $20 for two, Hutchinson is earning $5-8 per shirt.
"I've probably made more than $500," Hutchinson said. "I was surprised at how many different t-shirts there were this year. I think there is something for everyone."
One reason the shirts have boomed in popularity might be thanks to Facebook.com, the social networking site where many students have been advertising the shirts, Hutchinson said. In her Facebook "D-Daze" group, there are 266 members.
Legg has bought two D-Days shirts so far and plans to buy more as the week progresses. The t-shirts foster a sense of school spirit, she said.
"I think they're funny," she said. "It makes me think about partying and drinking and having a good time."
USD alumni Rick Gillis said the shirts are "absolutely fabulous." His favorite: the "Sofa King Wasted" shirt from 2006.
"It's rude, terrible and disgusting ... and everything college is supposed to be," Gillis said. "I think that stuff is supposed to shock the mothers. If you don't shock the mothers, you haven't done your job."
Senior Jeff Kleeman, who works as a bartender at Charcoal Lounge, is selling shirts for the bar that say "Kicking D-Days off with a bang," with a picture of Charlie Coyote dancing with a girl. The shirts have gotten funnier since his freshmen year, he said.
"When I started school there were not that many shirts sold," he said. "Now it seems like everyone is selling them."
The raunchier t-shirts seem to sell the best, Kleeman said.
"I tend to like the dirtier ones, like the 'Breathalize this' with an arrow pointing down," he said.
The t-shirts are something that unite students together, Gillis said. Thirty-eight years after graduating from USD, he still goes crazy when he sees hundreds of students clad in red on Dakota Days.
"I am horrendously attached to USD," Gillis said. "The further you get away from it, the more you notice it. I love the whole thing."
Reach reporter Michelle Rydell at Michelle.Rydell@usd.edu.
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