Trend Alert: Vintage Frat Shirts

Just decided it.

A 2024 story for context…

Industry Season 3 solidified a trend I was only marginally aware of at the time…Vintage finance swag (ideally from banks taken out by the ‘08 crash) goes pretty crazy if worn correctly. A Lehman Brothers dad hat or AIG Bi-Annual Retreat ‘04 golf polo. Really anything with a good serif font and solid embroidery. I love the audience for this thread, as well. Not the old heads that buried the bodies and built the sub-prime tranches. It’s the 28 year old creative directors. The fashion mfs that punched a Mamdani ticket against the very machine behind such hats, shirts, and gym bags.

That’s just tension. And tension is at the core of just about anything that becomes popular. We war with the morality of such steez. Ponder over the why. But such as anything beautiful, we cannot simply hold onto it. It’s fleeting. All I can be sure of is this Cresta Run ‘09 St Moritz hat goes crazy. And that ain’t even a bank.

But enough about other people. Let’s make this about me. Oh and the frat shirts.

If you, like me, am wondering why I’m not famous yet…my famous lack of tension is most likely the problem. The Pioneer is a working man’s newsletter. Salt of the algorithm stuff. What you see is what you get. But I’m looking to track some mud on the carpet.

So here’s a trend I’m about to start…Frat shirts. Yes. The ones with Greek letters and Spring Rush 2018. Thinking I might start repping them again. I’ve still got a few from my days in Sigma Chi. And yes, I did just get these 11 inch cargo shorts on clearance from Gap. A little ΣΧ action could go absolutely mental with the pockets.

It’s a Maryland hoops hat, people.

Why? I think it follows the same rules as finance drip. It screams institutional money. It celebrates a culture that, at best, could be described as checkered. And most importantly…you’re not supposed to wear frat shirts after college. Well when the bankers boxes were flying out the doors of Goldman in ‘08…you weren’t supposed to be wearing their shit too.

Greek Life might be on its last legs in America but that’s great news for the vintage market. It’s also great news for The Pioneer. It’s about damn time I track some much needed mud. Do some shit that has y’all sayin…

Am I sure this is cool?

Tension. Conflict. Subversion. False Flag operations…That’s all this is at the end of the day. That and spring rush, of course.

A photo I took of friend of the newsletter Drew (circa 2019) in a classic