It is common to see the huge array of sorority T-shirts every day on campus or to see the specific game day buttons for each sorority, but many students wonder how they were made.
Taylor Holman, junior who serves as the licensing chairman for the Delta Delta Delta chapter at Auburn University.
“It’s my favorite part; I love the actual designing and picking out the colors and theme,” Holman said when talking about being in charge of designing her sorority’s buttons and shirts.
To get in this position, Holman said the chapter nominates the member into the position instead of nominating themselves.
“They always say that the position chooses you, you don’t choose the position,” she said.
The nominating committee chooses these girls based on their abilities and if their creativity will fit the job. Holman believes she got picked because she designed T-shirts in high school.
Holman typically works alone on these projects unless it is a bigger event such as a philanthropy event or parents weekend, when the person in charge of the event works with her to figure out a theme for the shirt.
The shirts are generally designed on a website or by Victory Designs in Opelika. Victory Designs helps make buttons for not only Tri Delta but for other sororities on campus as well.
“So, for giant chapter orders or button orders, I get it through the local company because they can hand deliver them,” Holman said.
When making T-shirts on a website, Holman picks the color, type of shirt and design. She revealed that the website has many templates and includes a section where she can describe what she wants for the shirt.
If the chapter wants a picture from somewhere on Auburn’s campus, such as the outside of the chapter room, Holman can go to Victory Designs, where the art team designs it for her.
“I use the local place for this because they are local and can see Auburn for themselves,” Holman said. “Also, they are right down the road and do a lot of Auburn specific things anyways. He and his art team will draw out my idea, and after that, we email each other back and forth to make sure it’s what I want.”
Most shirts are optional for chapter members except for shirts for philanthropy events. To advertise these new shirts or buttons, Holman said that she goes into the GIN system, which is a messaging system for her sorority and sends the link to all of the girls.
“Every time there’s a new link to a T-shirt or a button that I have made, I paste the link into the messaging system, and it goes to everyone in the chapter,” she said. “They normally get a text and email. Also, our president sends out the Delta Weekly, which has all the useful information for the entire week, and she also puts the links on there.”
When making buttons, Holman asks her chapter friends, looks online and looks at other school’s buttons for inspiration. Victory Designs also helps with this since they are familiar with how to make sorority buttons and what they usually would like, regarding size, color and style.
“I like asking people’s opinion so that I don’t make something that no one will order,” Holman said. “I also look online so that I can get the basis, and then [we] make it our own so that it won’t look like theirs.”
Tri Delta positions are revealed at the end of every year, and Holman’s term ends this December.
“It’s fun, I love it,” Holman said. “I’m sad it’s almost over, but I’ve spent way too much money in the last year. I felt that since I made the shirts, I have to buy it.”
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