J. Crew launched a new campus capsule collection on Sept. 25, consisting of brushed wool sweaters and English wool caps. The collection represents 10 American universities: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Georgia, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Michigan, Penn State University, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin—Madison, Northwestern University, and Boston College. This drop marks the brand’s first officially licensed collection of collegiate apparel.
The campaign took inspiration from “Take Ivy,” a collection of articles and photographs by Japanese sartorial enthusiasts Paul Hasegawa, Teruyoshi Hayashida, Shosuke Ishizu, and Toshiyuki Kurosu taken between 1959 and 1965. The book shows images of college students taken across Ivy League campuses, meant to represent well-reared American youth in a post-World War II transitional period. It has become an impactful source of inspiration for many American-style connoisseurs, including J. Crew, who have even displayed the book in storefronts.
J.Crew’s new anthology chose to expand past selective Ivy League universities, including only three private institutions in the drop. The 100% wool sweaters cost $248 while their matching hats cost $75.
With prices like these, who is J. Crew’s intended audience? Among the 10 universities represented, the University of Georgia has the lowest tuition cost at $33,227, and BC has the highest at $73,859 per year. With the large disparity in cost between these universities, does J. Crew believe the students attending them can afford the new collection? And if they cannot, who are these sweaters and hats intended for?
At institutions like Notre Dame, Northwestern, and BC, whose reputations boast a wealthier student body, the price of J.Crew’s new items may not be as jarring. However, for the remaining seven universities, all of which are public and cost about half the amount to attend, a $250 dollar sweater may not be a priority or even a possibility for the students that go there.
J. Crew’s campaign is a romanticization of college living that does not really exist anymore. During the release of “Take Ivy,” this version of an aesthetically pleasing and financially privileged college experience was common. This is no longer the case. The average cost of attendance for the 2024-25 school year ranged from $11,610 to $43,350. In 1963, it cost students around $243 a year to attend a public university, which, when adjusted for inflation, is still only about $2,500.
The geographic range covered in the drop is also a departure from the original “Take Ivy.” While all of the current Ivy League universities are located on the East Coast, BC is the only East Coast school in J. Crew’s new line. J. Crew’s CEO and BC alum, Libby Wadle ’94, may be responsible for BC’s inclusion in an otherwise midwestern and southern-centered group of universities.
Considering the cost of the new apparel and the cost of college, maybe it is best to assume that, rather than targeting the current students of these universities, J. Crew wants to encourage alumni and fans to buy this apparel. They are making a deliberate choice to market collegiate identity as a luxury product by connecting higher education to higher social status.
In the era that J. Crew is romanticizing, the price of college was equal to the price of their newest sweaters. The campaign is meant to induce a feeling of nostalgia, “to create something that feels like it’s from another time, yet still feels timeless” per J. Crew’s men’s creative director Brendon Babenzien. By pricing collegiate pride as an extravagant product, J.Crew perpetuates the idea that in the same way luxury brands aren’t for everyone, maybe higher education is not either.
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