Friday, March 29, 2024
ADVT 
Life

Ho-ho-hideous Holiday Sweaters More Popular Than Ever

Darpan News Desk, 07 Dec, 2014 02:48 PM
    VANCOUVER — For years, sweaters bristling with bells, lights, appliqued Santa Clauses, snowmen and reindeer were mocked as the exclusive province of the tasteless at Christmas.
     
    But the tide is turning and the ugly Christmas sweater has become the season's newest tradition and continues to grow.
     
    "Right after Halloween we bring in the ugly Christmas sweaters," said Tracy Lynn the manager of Used House of Vintage, where street-level signs — one brandished by a man in a Mr. Peanut costume — tell Vancouver shoppers they can find "5,000 ugly Christmas sweaters upstairs."
     
    "It goes up every year. It's definitely up this year," Lynn said of the amount of merchandise her store was selling.
     
    "We're selling more, sooner, earlier in the season than we were last year."
     
    Both Lynn and Stephen Peever, who mans a sidewalk stall, Ugly Christmas Sweaters, say demand had increased markedly in the past three or four years. They attributed that growth to more people having office and house parties featuring ugly Christmas sweaters.
     
    "Typical day, I probably sell 15 to 20, on a good day, maybe 30," said Peever, at his stall at the corner of Granville and Robson streets in Vancouver. "People love them, and I can thank grandmothers around the world for that. It's really fun when you see somebody's face just light up at the atrociousness of a sweater."
     
    His own stock featured crowds of apparently cloned Clauses, some rendered in rayon, others with fluffy beards, jingling bells, stampedes of reindeer, a sweater with four Santas cavorting on candy-cane ice skates and another with a family of three snow people, each of whom had lost a coal-lump eye, leaving them unsettling snow-cyclopses.
     
    Most of the sweaters at Peever's stall sell for $30. Exceptional items — busier, tackier, more elaborate — are $40. He also offers T-shirts and sweatshirts with printed seasonal designs.
     
    "They're tacky, they're good, they're cool," said customer Daigen Taylor just after buying two sweaters from the stall. "I figured I'd grab a couple. We've got some family coming down for Christmas. We'll get some good pictures with some ugly sweaters and send them to family."
     
    Lisa Mitchell said she was hoping to find a similar pair as she looked through sweaters stacked six deep: "For me and my husband. I think I'm going to get us matching ones."
     
    But that could prove difficult. Although his-and-hers sets exist, they seldom remain together.
     
    "I had one girl ask if anybody else would have the same sweater," Peever said. "Very seldom do I ever get duplicates. People want a match. I have to say I don't know if I can do that. They are like snowflakes — unique," Peever said.
     
    But even as their popularity grows, some people aren't in on the joke.
     
    "I've had some grandmother types come down and say, 'Oh, that's not ugly. That's just a nice sweater,'" said Peever. "Thank you for the trend. You're the one who started it."

    MORE Life ARTICLES

    Artificial intelligence can wipe out human race: Hawking

    Artificial intelligence can wipe out human race: Hawking
    Renowned British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has warned that efforts to create artificial intelligence can be a threat to our very existence....

    Artificial intelligence can wipe out human race: Hawking

    Women better at defining casual sex encounters

    Women better at defining casual sex encounters
    Women are better at defining casual sex encounters than men, says a new study, adding that this is because such sexual encounters put women in...

    Women better at defining casual sex encounters

    Boys more relationally aggressive than girls

    Boys more relationally aggressive than girls
    Contrary to popular belief, tactics such as spreading malicious rumours, social exclusion and rejection to harm or manipulate others are used more often by boys...

    Boys more relationally aggressive than girls

    Why kids do not pay heed to their parents' criticism

    Why kids do not pay heed to their parents' criticism
    The adolescents lay in the brain imaging scanner as they listened to two 30-second clips of their own mothers criticising them, wired.com reported....

    Why kids do not pay heed to their parents' criticism

    Facebook, Twitter data do not reveal true human behaviour

    Facebook, Twitter data do not reveal true human behaviour
    As researchers are mining Facebook and Twitter data to learn about online and offline human behaviour, a new study warns them to be wary of serious pitfalls...

    Facebook, Twitter data do not reveal true human behaviour

    Heading To The Mall For Holiday Shopping? Take These 4 Shopping Apps With You To Save

    Heading To The Mall For Holiday Shopping? Take These 4 Shopping Apps With You To Save
    NEW YORK — Want to save some cash while holiday shopping? The best tool can be a smartphone packed with the right apps.

    Heading To The Mall For Holiday Shopping? Take These 4 Shopping Apps With You To Save