Following the Bulldog Shop’s remodel, the store has been introducing new merchandise. Among the latest releases is the Griff of the Month series, a collection of products featuring campus’ beloved live mascot.
Drake’s live mascot has had many merchandise designs and items in the past, but never a consistent themed design line.
February’s items come in pink or beige as a crewneck or t-shirt. Buyers can pick between a design of Griff on a date with another bulldog drinking a milkshake or a “Mount Griffmore” play on Mount Rushmore. Every month, the design will change and serve as a collector’s item for those who want to gather all 12 styles over the course of the year. These designs are still being worked on, so students can submit ideas or designs to the contact us page on the Bulldog Shop website, according to Bulldog Shop Manager Kyle McVay.
“I work for you guys at the end of the day. If students want stuff, I will absolutely make it work,” McVay said.
Every month, the Bulldog Shop partners with local company P&M Apparel, a woman-owned, third-generation family business specializing in custom apparel and promo products. Alex Hernandez, P&M’s graphic designer, comes up with the ideas and designs for all the Griff of the Month merchandise.
“We definitely want this to be a local project, because we know them [local businesses] right off the bat,” McVay said.
The employees are still working on a way for customers to indicate that they have collected all the Griff shirts, like with a punch card.
“It’s called Griff of the month, but we might do two,” McVay said. “It’s kind of hard to contain everything right now,”
McVay said, though, that storing the inventory comes with its challenges, as spots are limited and costly. High costs of production year-round also make it difficult to reproduce previous designs. The designs are purchased in bulk before the month begins. The Bulldog Shop is not planning on repurchasing monthly designs in future months because they would have to buy fewer shirts at a higher cost. This might make it difficult for customers to purchase monthly shirts after that month.
McVay said students are responding well to the new merchandise, and the shop estimates that this will continue as the new Griff line gets more traction.
“Mount Griffmore has done better than I thought,” McVay said. “I didn’t know if anyone understood who Porterhouse [the first bulldog in the live mascot program at Drake] or even Griff I was, so it’s nice to see alumni gravitating towards that [design], because it’s their dog [pictured].”
Especially for those graduating from Drake at the end of the spring semester, students might want merch to wear to remember their college days, said Joshua Livingood, Bulldog Shop sales associate.
“Drake’s students love Griff. And they love to buy clothes with Griff on it,” Livingood said.
The new line was announced in January while most of Drake’s campus was away on J-term. It was the perfect transitional time for the live mascots, McVay said.
“Griff II is on his victory lap, and with him retiring at the end of the year, students are going to want merch with him on it,” McVay said. “With this being the first year with Griff III, this is the perfect time to introduce this.”
The designs will continue to be surprises for the majority of the campus, but McVay shared some ideas for next month’s Griff design.
“We’ll see if there’s a pot of gold or a rainbow. Maybe Griff will be a leprechaun,” McVay said.
