How Ugly Metro Sweaters Became Chic
When people are cheering for a metro system, they’re cheering for connection—even if that connection comes in the form of strangers bumping into one another on rattling cars, 100-something feet beneath the earth.
Key points
- Georgetta Nicol, the director of marketing at WMATA, suggested that the rush for Metro products is linked to a post-pandemic craving to be around others.
- A recent pop-up shop drew some 10,000 visitors with so many offerings that a patron could emerge decked out from head to toe in Metro.
- At the same time, people are not lining up around the block for ride-sharing T-shirts or rental-car Christmas sweaters.
Samuel Littauer, a 28-year-old in D.C., told me that he sees the subway system as the “great unifier.” At the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority sale, Littauer bought one T-shirt highlighting the system’s modernist architecture and another that shows a vintage Metro bus.
Additional details
- In Washington, D.C., locals have started wearing the Metro system’s merch like it’s their alma mater.
- Wasek hosts a “Metro Gala” each year, where friends dress up as interpretations of Metro stops.
- Sources: Bay Area Rapid Transit; DC Metro Store; Official Los Angeles Metro Shop.
- One of WMATA’s hats is a bid for social interaction: Ask me about Metro.
- When Amtrak announced a new, limited-edition T-shirt last week featuring trains in the style of superheroes on a movie poster, commenters praised the national rail system for “giving the people what they want.” Then they demanded more.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
Advertisement
Every article behind this summary — 1 article from 1 outlet
Get stories like this in your inbox.
Subscribe — it's freeOne free email at 6am — your topics, deduplicated, five minutes. No account, no paywall.