Collegiate Collection

This past week I had the opportunity to talk with several employees of Victoria Secret in refrence to the collegiate collection. Rutgers is the only school in New Jersey who has a line at Victoria Secret and I was interested in finding out how the line came about and does the line represent what college girls at Rutgers and other schools want to wear? The line consists of sweatpants, hoodies and t-shirts with emblems that represent Rutgers. When I asked the employees to use one word to describe the collegiate collection answers ranged from,"fun, girly, spirit ,affordable to exclusive". One employee said that she could not describe the collection in one word. She is a college student in NJ and she mentioned how she wishes that her school had a line at Victoria Secret. She stated that many Rutgers girls come into the store and those who did not know about the collection become extremely excited when they see the BIG R on a pair of sweats or a t-shirt. I asked if they felt that the line represented what college girls want to wear and the answer was yes from everyone. Many stated that the line is fun and unique. I wanted to know how a collegiate line might get the attention of a student like me who is not big on wearing sweat pants. Another employee responded by saying "the collection is for every college girl, even for those who are not big on "dressing down". The collection was made to attract those who like glitter and sparkles on their clothes to those who are basic and more simple in the way that they dress". The collection was made by the students for the students. Many students had an opportunity to help build the line from scratch. One employee mentioned that it is very important that students had a say in what a collegiate line would consist of. "You want things in your store that are going to sale, you want things that are going to catch the eye of other girls on campus and next thing you know every girl on campus is wearing a Victoria Secret Collegiate t-shirt and that is the purpose of the collection". After talking with some of the employees at VS I decided to ask around on campus and see what the girls who attended Rutgers thought about the collegiate collection. Sarah, who is a freshman at Rutgers said," I will wear the collection because I am a usual at Victoria Secret and I am excited that they have a collection that has Rutgers stamped all over it, represents school pride to the fullest". Other answers ranged from yes, of course to no because I do not want to look like everyone else on campus. Those who said no,mentioned how the line would not offer many styles to choose from. One girl even went as far to say, " I could be sitting in a class with 200 students and 10 of the girls can have on the same hoodie from VS and that would bother me". In the end I found it very interesting that VS decided to design a collection exclusively for college girls. I think it is brilliant and represents an everyday outfit for most college girls. For Rutgers students who are interested in taking a look at the VS Collegiate Collection visit, http://www2.victoriassecret.com/collection/?cgname=OSPNKCLIRUT&cgnbr=OSPNKCLIRUT&rfnbr=5098