Nine students from a variety of campus organizations made their way to the basement of the MU Bookstore with one goal in mind: to finalize the sale of Alta Gracia products.
Prior to the meeting, MU Students Against Sweatshops chapter President Angie Pagan said she was confident that the MU Bookstore would commit to a purchase.
“In this meeting, we’re going to see about (Director of Retail Operations Sherry Pollard’s) decision to purchase an order of Alta Gracia,” Pagan said. “I think she is going to order some, it’s just a matter of getting her to order a substantial amount that’s going to make a difference.”
Pollard and Student and Auxiliary Services spokeswoman Michelle Froese represented the MU Bookstore.
MUSAS gathered endorsements from 12 student organizations, nine of which joined forces and spoke out against major brands currently sold in the bookstore. These brands include Adidas, Champion, Gear for Sports, Gildan, Nike, Russell and Under Armour.
Collegiate Licensing Corporation licenses the vendors that MU can purchase from, Pollard said.
“Collegiate Licensing Corporation is a company used by universities to manage their trademark and insignia programs,” Froese said. “It creates some kind of checks and balances so that logos and insignia go through a process to protect a university’s brand indentity.”
The MUSAS supporters continued to question Pollard and Froese about the bookstore’s suppliers until the decision was announced.
The MU Bookstore decided to order to Alta Gracia and will be bringing it in this fall.
Approximately $50,000 worth of apparel is projected for purchase by the bookstore in July or early August. This was $250,000 less than proposed by MUSAS in its meeting two weeks earlier.
“In order to be a good business decision for the university, we need to start it out small,” Pollard said. “We are going to bring it in and grow it to a level that (MUSAS) would like it to be.”
Alta Gracia will be provided with a small display in the bookstore, but will give the message appropriately and allow plenty of room for customer feedback.
The University of Washington has been carrying it, but it did not start with a $300,000 order, Froese said. Instead it experimented with different sales layouts, eventually becoming successful by placing the Alta Gracia products alongside other brands but doubling the way they sign and tag that particular rack.
“We would love to see it get to this number, so then on the Alta Gracia website, MU could be listed as one of the No. 1 sellers,” Pagan said. “We’d like to double the number because it’s going to sell, and it has been proven to sell.”
The bookstore is standing by its original decision of approximately $50,000.
“It went pretty well, it seemed like it was a positive outcome and we worked to come up with a compromise and a decision we are going to be happy with,” Pollard said.