As spring arrives so do the flocks of the geese, taking up their familiar places on campus as the temperatures warm up. This year, with the return of the geese comes the launch of the W Store’s 2025 Nesting Season Collection, designed by Carol Li, a UW accounting student. This collection is a brand new selection of t-shirts, sweaters, tote bags, and even a postcard featuring Li’s design made to encapsulate the UW student experience.
The Nesting Season Collection represents the latest fashions offered at the W Store, which has been increasing its range of styles and selections over the last few years. “Our approach balances tradition with evolving trends. Our core collection features classic pieces with the official university crest [and] to keep our merchandise fresh, we continuously explore new styles and brands,” said Ana Rivera, apparel buyer for the W Store.
As part of their continuous exploration several collections have launched over the years, including the successful Roots collection four years ago. The oversized collection was introduced three years ago, which Rivera described as becoming “a staple” in the W Store catalogue. This was followed by the expansion that began two years ago beyond traditional school colours of black and gold, in which merchandise now incorporates earthy and pastel tones for special editions. Currently featured on the W Store website is the most recent pastel tone hoodie collection, with cherry blossom, lily of the valley, and wisteria patterns available for buyers to “Spring Into Style” this season.
Rivera shared that post-COVID the store “saw a surge in demand for athleisure and sweatpants, making them key growth categories.” With these categories on the rise now, what’s been popular over previous decades?
The UW Retro collection launched in 2024, sharing archival photos from the beginning of university merchandise seen in the 1960s. The collection brings back the silhouettes and UW patches of these earlier merch items.
Nicole Marcogliese, an archivist at UW Libraries Special Collections & Archives shared some history of what has been popular on campus. “We have several jackets, tracksuits, t-shirts, and more. I’ll also highlight that we do have one plush toy of Pounce de Lion. Pounce was the former mascot of the UW student alumni association. He was quite popular.”
Pounce de Lion was recognized as the mascot for the UW Student Alumni Association from 1982 to 1995 and has also served as the mascot for the UW Alumni Affairs (UW Archives Database). It was said that Pounce jumped off the UW crest. He was a six-foot, cuddly lion who was the older, and reportedly wiser, brother of the UW Athletics mascot King Warrior and St. Jerome’s University’s mascot Jerome. Pounce de Lion plush toys first became available in 1990, sold at the Open Door gift shop in South Campus Hall.
Plush toys remain popular with the UW branded goose plush toy, an always available character, as well as non-UW plush toys recently brought into the store from the popular brand Jellycat.
Jennifer Ferguson, senior communications office at UW wrote an article titled “Fashion flashback,” featuring a timeline of UW branded clothing from 1958 to 1980. The evolution in jacket design is evident through the first six pieces, all jackets from various faculties and programs. A bright-teal coloured faculty of mathematics sweater from the 1980s is the last piece featured in Ferguson’s flashback. This piece offers a connection to the pastel and non-UW brand coloured items retailed today. The desire for a variety of merchandise colors has seemingly been a long standing demand on campus.
With their evolving product design and style innovation, the intention behind designs is continually considered. Rivera said “We’ve introduced two Indigenous collections to align with the university’s values.”
Most recently, artwork from Tehatsistahawi (Tsista) Kennedy, an Anishinaabe Onyota a:ka artist from Beausoleil First Nation and Oneida Nation of the Thames, is featured on different merch items. His work is a variation of Woodland Style Art merging traditional aspects of his identity with contemporary perspectives, his design showcases a feathery feature of campus, the Canada Goose.
There is a long and unique history of UW fashion and style on campus. As students, staff and community members continue to express their connection to UW through merchandise, the collections and mindfulness of production will continue to evolve.
