Student Overall - Design and Appearance

Design and Appearance

Unlike overalls generally, the student overall isn't used for work, but mostly for parties. However, as the overalls are meant to endure years of abuse, the wearer often being under the influence of alcohol, the overalls are made of high quality fabric and usually at least somewhat waterproof. Practical additions such as zippered pockets of various sizes and belt loops are added by the manufacturer, and as a part of the manufacturing process the overalls are usually printed with the particular student organization's logo and ads of the various sponsoring companies, ranging from small local enterprises to national divisions of multinational corporations. Often, the large corporations choose to sponsor the overalls as a part of their recruitment campaign, ensuring that they have the attention of the graduating students when they enter the working life.

The colour of the overalls is usually determined by the faculty or programme, which — the subjects being many and colours few — leads to quite spectacular and even humorous ones such as purple, turquoise or pink. Multicolored variants exist, but typically the overalls are of one color. As it is customary to personalize the overalls, they are almost invariably decorated with various badges, souvenirs and inexpensive gadgets. Occasionally an overall will tell of its owner's interests, political views, personal history and even military experience. The time spent as a student can be seen from the amount of decorations one has added to his overalls, as all students start with blank overalls. There's also a practice of swapping a part of the overall with another person, typically with a partner. Also badges are readily swapped, especially amongst friends who are of different organizations. Rarity of a certain badge can be considered a bonus.