I’ll admit it – I’m one of those girls who packs my dresser with countless sorority T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats. You might wonder why someone would need so many Greek-letter-embedded merch items, but let me tell you, sororities have an uncanny ability to find any reason for new designs.

The Greek life system cranks out apparel for every event, from philanthropic fundraisers and mom’s weekend to Halloween date parties and formal functions.

Sorority recruitment, which is currently trending on TikTok with over 5 billion views, is no exception. Girls post recruitment outfit-of-the-day videos to show their logoed apparel and perfectly curated outfits. Rush content from The University of Alabama flooded social media last year, and HBO even released the documentary Bama Rush about the phenomenon.

Sororities are brands, so merchandise is important for members to show pride in their chapter name and Greek letters, according to Haley Allen, sales and marketing coordinator at Campus Ink, an Urbana, IL-based apparel decorating company.

“They’re just branding themselves with each different event,” Allen says. “People love wearing their letters.”

Recruitment season creates several opportunities for new merch, so Allen says students reach out to Campus Ink in the spring to place orders for August.

My sorority, Chi Omega at The University of Arkansas, creates a collection of swag like hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts for members to wear the week before recruitment as we prepare and get excited. The T-shirt chair who designs everything gets creative with trendy items like matching sets so we can stand out from other sororities when we post photos on social media.

My friends and I decked ourselves out in everything from sunglasses to face tattoos to prepare for recruitment.

Personally, my favorite branded product is a basic oversized T-shirt because it’s a comfortable staple for the school year. Everyone else seems to agree. T-shirts command the highest percentage of industry spending since ASI started tracking the category over 10 years ago – this year, they made up 17.1% of overall promo sales, according to the 2023 State of the Industry report.

Some chapters order T-shirts to wear during recruitment week so they look coordinated and put together while telling potential new members about their sisterhood. This trend always leads to an increase in order volume, says, Lorianna Billington, director of marketing at B-Unlimited (asi/129444) a Fayetteville, AR-headquartered custom apparel company that serves around 200 college campuses across the country.

Billington notes that chapters typically order for every member during recruitment compared to events during the year when not everyone buys a T-shirt.

Recruitment comes to an exciting peak on bid day when the new members receive their invitations to join a sorority. At our chapter, each new member gets a matching tank top before they run to the sorority house to take photos.

I’ll never forget the beaming smile on my face as I put the tank top on after a stressful week of recruitment. It was a great way to spot other new members and sit by them in class when we all wore it on the first day of school.

After receiving my bid at the end of recruitment, I ran to the house in my new sorority tank top and hat, which correlated with the house decorations.

Billington says girls spend recruitment week imagining where they can see themselves for the next four years, so their emotions build up to the moment they can finally run to their new home. With the excitement comes a desire for just about every branded piece of apparel possible, so B-Unlimited crafts bid day boxes as a starter pack to stock their closets.

“There’s so much anticipation during recruitment week,” Billington says. “I mean, some of these girls are coming from all over – they’ve been thinking about what sorority they’re going to be in for years or at the very least they’ve been thinking about it all week.”

B-Unlimited’s bid day boxes range from $75 to $375 and include items like an exclusive Daily Drills crewneck, a tote bag and letters to put on their car. While that price is steep, most new members simply can’t wait to rep their new sorority around campus.

B-Unlimited’s bid day boxes include a hoodie, crewneck, T-shirt and several other accessories.

But how long will sorority apparel be in our closets? Allen of Campus Ink says she still has all her T-shirts after graduation.

I’m a junior, and I’ve already stopped wearing my sorority merch as much as I did freshman year, but the apparel becomes a reminder of all the fun events I’ve attended through the years.

Ethan King, co-founder and CEO of Zeus’ Closet (asi/365807) in Atlanta, says some organizations pass their apparel to younger chapter members. Others keep theirs for years and even buy new merch for reunions or homecoming. King and his wife also manage stuff4GREEKS, an e-commerce store that specializes in Greek apparel.

T-shirts with events and memories featured on them are a sentimental piece that might stay in closets longer. King and his wife have a huge tub in their basement full of Greek memorabilia from 25 years ago.

“We might go through it once a year and kind of look at it, but it has those treasured memories like a photo album and those rare keepsakes that we can also show to our children and tell them about our time in college,” King says.