Not to be confused with spring dresses or long gowns, game day dresses are known country-wide as university school spirit attire. Most universities make these dresses readily available in their campus stores and online retailers. For UH, however, there are only limited handmade options available on websites such as Etsy.
The UC Barnes and Noble College Bookstore and local stores near campus like Academy are packed with paraphernalia to bring to the events — excluding the traditional game day dresses.
“I never actually even heard of those dresses being here, but I think they could sell if we had them,” said local Academy Manager Braxton Halliburton.
UC Barnes and Noble College Bookstore General Manger Felix Robinson said he recalls having one or two game day dresses in stock before ending up on the clearance aisle.
“They weren’t gravitating towards our students. They weren’t selling,” Robinson said.
But he expects a few coming in stock in the coming weeks.
Some students seemed surprised when asked if they would buy any dresses and said they didn’t know other places had them online. Other students said they didn’t see the need.
“The dresses at other campus stores are what, $70? And it’s just made out of cotton,” said advertising senior Deedee Dihn. “That money can go really far here in Houston, and I’d rather wear a free shirt to a game.”
Dihn said she believes girls don’t need much to show school spirit at football games.
“Girls at UH feel like they rock a T-shirt, leggings and Converse to a game and still feel the same sense of school pride,” Dinh said. “I like to think that that is where we differ from girls from other universities; we have that casual, yet badass quality about us.”