To the untrained eye, many women on campus may look more prepared for the gym than for a day of class.
An oversized T-shirt paired with Nike shorts or yoga pants is the go-to outfit for thousands of Auburn students, and the athleisure trend (a style where workout clothes are worn in non-exercise settings) doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Karla Teel, associate professor in the department of consumer and design sciences, said Nike shorts have been in style for so long, they are no longer a trend, but a staple.
“The (Nike Tempo Runnings Shorts) were developed in 1995,” Teel said. “A trend is something that will come in, everybody buys it and then it goes away. Well, it hasn’t gone away.”
The current generation of college students prefer comfort over fashion, Teel said.
“This is sort of interim time in their lives,” Teel said. “They maybe had to wear certain things to high school, but now they can be lazy if they want to.”
Teel noticed the style when she started teaching at Auburn 10 years ago. She said she didn’t expect it to stick around as long as it has.
“I’ve seen it worn,” Teel said. “I thought it was going to be a fad, but it continues to be something girls want to wear all the time.”
In 2011, Kelly Tsaltas caused a stir on campus when she wrote a controversial column for The Auburn Plainsman about the trend.
In “Come on ladies (and gentlemen), we can do better,” Tsaltas condemned the style and accused sorority and fraternity members of being the worst offenders.
The column prompted angry letters to the editor and on-campus protests. Tsaltas and her family even received threats after the column’s publication, according to a 2013 Plainsman article. The backlash became so severe, The Plainsman staff felt obligated to write an editorial defending Tsaltas’ right to free speech.
Teel said she believes the column unfairly attacked the Greek community.
“Our campus is not all Greek, and there are way too many girls on campus that wear this for all of them to be in a sorority,” Teel said. “I was in a sorority when I was here, and I would’ve taken major offense to that.”
Lauren Cleveland, Panhellenic president, said it is unfair to imply only sorority members wear casual clothing to class. She said it makes sense that students often wear T-shirts to class, because there are so many opportunities to purchase them at University functions.
However, she said she doesn’t think the column would’ve sparked such an outrage if it had been published today.
“I think opinions and trends have changed,” Cleveland wrote in an email. “Wearing T-shirts (and other athletic wear) to class has become more common and widespread across campus. I don’t think it is something that bothers people because it is the norm. If her column had been published today, I think readers, especially those involved with Greek organizations, would not have had such a strong reaction. I think members of the Greek system are assured and confident in the way they choose to represent themselves and their organizations on campus.”
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