Casey Penk

Review of USC Bookstores THE BASEMENT Bo...

I came here during college, primarily to pick up s...

I came here during college, primarily to pick up swag for home games. I got those metal pins reading "BEAT [X]," armbands, stick-on tattoos, and so on. They've got a wide selection of t-shirts, but those turned out to be as tacky as most screen printed shirts so I would rather have opted for sweatshirts (except of course those hardly prove relevant). All in all, I advice college first years to take it slow on the college merch. Who knows if you'll still want it two or four years from now. Plus, freshman fifteen means you may get the wrong size!

My primary problem is with the sourcing it their athletic apparel. The football team and by extension the bookstore source their wares from Nike, which has been known with good reason as a massive sweatshop. Their "PR troubles" (read: child labor, physical abuse, unpaid overtime, no benefits) began in the '90s and despite widespread apologetics they continue to use them today. USC football's had its own ethical lapses, but none as awful as their reliance on indentured servants.