5 Important Things You Need To Know Before Becoming A Sorority Apparel Chair
As a sorority apparel chair, your chapter’s custom apparel needs for multiple events will be on your shoulders. That’s no easy task. From design ideation, getting your sisters’ preferences, choosing products, logistics, time management, etc. - leading custom apparel for your Greek members from start to finish can be a lot.
That’s why it’s always smart to learn from the seasoned ones! We sat down with Belle Kornberg, the apparel chair of Alpha Phi Syracuse University chapter, and picked her brain about things she wants aspiring apparel chairs to know. Let’s dive right in.
1. You can’t please everyone.
When planning the style of merch, you should consider sending out a survey that asks what everyone's preferences are. Catering to the wants of a diverse group of people with different ideas can be difficult. Without the survey, you may find yourself getting swayed by a lot of opinions - that will take up a lot of your time and energy. With the survey strategy, you will make everyone feel heard, get a general creative vision from your members, and keep yourself focused.
2. Bringing your ideas to life is a great creative outlet.
Sometimes, you will need to whip up designs your sisters can vote on. If you enjoy design and fashion, working on event merch is a great outlet to flex your creative muscles.
Browsing Pinterest and Instagram will help you come up with new ideas and see what other orgs are doing. Our gallery and lookbooks are also great resources when planning your chapter’s next round of merch. You can easily look up trending designs on there to direct your vision and approach.
3. Getting great merch can be a long process.
The role of an apparel chair doesn’t end with the creation of designs. They also reach out to different custom apparel companies, place the order with one that meets their needs, and track every development thereafter.
Finding the right custom apparel company to work with is important. Some companies have longer turnaround times on mockup requests. For example, Belle has dealt with companies that took 1-2 weeks to produce design mock-ups. That’s valuable time lost waiting. A lot of companies are also not licensed to print your org's designs. Fresh Prints, however, is licensed with every Greek organization. We also have a fast 24-hour turnaround time on mockup requests and you can do as many as you like for free.
When you're planning your timelines, account for the turnaround times of the custom apparel company you're working with! In general, starting two months in advance should be enough.
4. You can feel burnt out sometimes.
Apparel chairs may find it challenging to juggle school work and complete merch orders. Especially during exam season! When you're signing up for the position, keep this in mind. Things will get busy. But if this is something you really want to do, you should plan ahead to manage your time better and avoid getting burnt out.
One way to help yourself is to sit down with other sorority chairs and map out your events for the whole semester on a calendar. Then, you can work backward and set a timeline for apparel-related tasks.
5. Ultimately, it’s a rewarding and fulfilling job.
Are your sisters looking cute in the matching sweatsets you worked on? A major achievement. Seeing fun IG posts from your chapter flexing your merch? Feels incredible!!
At the end of the day, sorority merch is all about recognizing your people and feeling like you are a part of something. Great merch helps your sisters feel like they are a part of something important and meaningful. Knowing you played the biggest role in that is very rewarding.
Overall, if you are looking for a fulfilling role and have an interest in fashion - you’ll love being an apparel chair! But outside that, holding this position can also help you when you're looking for college internships and job opportunities. This is because planning and execution on that level earns you transferable hard and soft skills that can set you apart from other applicants.