Students urged not to buy illegal T-shirts

By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Reporter

A Trojan is only good once, but a Bruin is forever.

This phrase appears on a popular shirt UCLA students wear to
express the rivalry between them and students at USC.

These shirts are often sold during the week leading up to the
football game between the two schools, but students may not always
realize many of them are illegally manufactured by independent
entrepreneurs.

“All products bearing the UCLA name or logo must be
produced by a university licensed manufacturer,” said Cindy
Holmes, general manager of UCLA Trademarks & Licensing.

“We do approve designs that favor one school over another,
but we would not approve designs that are inappropriate,” she
said.

Examples of inappropriate material include anything that depicts
violence or that jeopardizes the university’s integrity,
according to Holmes.

Out of 100 UCLA students informally polled by the Daily Bruin,
half said ASUCLA should sell rivalry shirts that make fun of USC
and 44 said the student store should not sell them.

“I think UCLA is too classy for that,” said Rico
Washington, a sixth-year business economics student.
“That’s why the market should be taken care of by
independent people.”

But independent parties who want to produce shirts with the UCLA
name must first present their designs and have them approved by the
Trademarks & Licensing program. Then they are referred to a
university-approved manufacturer.

Members of the Student Alumni Association, which organizes
events for “Beat ‘SC” week. said they have their
shirt designs approved by both UCLA and USC.

“We have them approve it to make sure everyone knows the
rivalry is a tradition and it’s all in good fun and
we’re not trying to put down USC,” said Eva Varma,
director of SAA Bruin Fest.

But not everyone goes through the proper process in making and
selling shirts, Holmes said.

In past years, many people unaffiliated with UCLA have taken
advantage of the rivalry to produce and sell shirts on Bruin Walk,
according to Holmes.

In these situations, university police has confiscated the
merchandise and escorted the vendors off campus. The university
also hires people to go out to the Rose Bowl during football games
to make sure no one is selling unlicensed products.

“It’s a very difficult thing to police,” said
ASUCLA Financial Director Rich Delia, adding he understands
students may not know the merchandise they are purchasing is
illegal.

“It’s tough for them because they don’t know
it’s not approved,” he said.

Few of these unlicensed vendors, have been seen along Bruin Walk
this year, due in part to past regulation, Holmes said.

Holmes said students should make an effort to identify
unlicensed merchandise and not purchase them.

She suggested students look for phrases that read “UCLA
official licensed product” with a circled “R,”
which usually only appears on tags of university approved
merchandise, adding that distasteful products are clear indicators
the product was not approved by the university.

“I would like the message to be that students should care
that it’s licensed merchandise because the money generated
from licensed merchandise goes directly back into student
activities,” she said.

The university also works to ensure its merchandise is not
produced in sweatshops, but illegal merchandise cannot be
regulated, Holmes added.