Alabama’s Favorite Throwback Jersey May Come as a Surprise


The numbers don’t lie — Alabama’s favorite throwback jersey isn’t what you might expect. Last week vintage sports apparel company Mitchell and Ness released the most popular jerseys for each state, and there were few surprises. According to AL.com, Alabama’s favorite is Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg’s 1984 Chicago Cubs jersey.

Ryne Sandberg first played for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs for 16 years. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Activewear itself is a quickly growing portion of the overall apparel market in the United States. Last year, activewear sales jumped by 9% to an impressive $33 billion, while apparel sales overall only rose 7%.

Apparel and fashion are also featuring big at the University of Alabama, where student designers are partnering with Arts n’ Autism.

The partnership is built around the annual T-Time Fashion Show, which will feature artistic designs by both the students and the students with Arts n’ Autism.

The fashion show has been a yearly event for a little over a decade now, but this year is the first time it will feature work from students at Arts n’ Autism. The fashion show traditionally asks UA students to make garments that are “outside the box,” according to the university’s website.

At its inception, students created designs made from deconstructed T-shirts, but it has since grown to include other non-clothing items like duct tape, grocery bags, recycled materials, and even CDs.

The students from Arts n’ Autism will paint and decorate fabric in an activity that corresponds to a book they are reading. The fabric will then be incorporated into the designs created by the UA students.

The partnership came after senior UA students donated $1,000 to Arts n’ Autism from the proceeds of their fashion show in Fall 2014. This year’s T-Time Fashion Show will take place on April 17th on the UA campus.