Sacred Heart Greenwich is enjoying a comfortable start to the school year with newly designed school apparel. In addition to being uniform-approved for students, the Parents’ Association Executive Board designed gear for parents to showcase at a variety of school events.

Enrichment and Spirit Chairperson and Sacred Heart parent Mrs. MaryAnne Farrell is responsible for the updated apparel. Before she accepted the two-year board position, Mrs. Farrell recognized that there was not enough apparel available for parents. She addressed this problem immediately, attempting to create affordable apparel for all members of the Sacred Heart community. 
“We tried to hit all ages. That’s the challenge,” Mrs. Farrell said. “I think we did a really good job of finding what people wanted.” 
One goal that Mrs. Farrell and her team of parents wanted to achieve when designing the new apparel was not only to create more items that students can wear with their uniforms, but also items that students also want to wear outside of school.
“I wanted to modernize [the apparel] and make it more appealing to the girls, [so] that they…  want to wear [it],” Mrs. Farrell said.
The apparel this year has exceeded sales from previous years. This year, as in previous years, the Parents’ Association offered pre-sale for the gear. This year, parents could take advantage of pre-sale beginning in May and ending July 1. Mrs. Farrell recorded roughly 130 pre-orders this year, doubling last year’s pre-order sales. She was shocked at the range of items that sold out as early as they did, such as the Ella Vickers Bag and the Pop Socket Phone Stand.

The apparel’s success is due in part to the fact that students can wear it with their uniforms, and the price range is wide. The spirit wear items range from $5 to $120.
“One of the things I like to do is keep a good price point because I don’t want people to feel like, ‘Oh, I can’t afford that,'” Mrs. Farrell said. 
In addition to the new Parents’ Association gear, the Sacred Heart bookstore, which is separate from Mrs. Farrell’s division, crafted sweatshirts that are also acceptable to wear during school hours. The items in the bookstore have been available for sale since September 5.
The bookstore introduced new hooded version of last year’s new crewneck sweatshirts. The bookstore also introduced Tommy Hilfiger quarter zip sweatshirts with Sacred Heart Greenwich printed on the front.
Mrs. Farrell’s sale records show that Sacred Heart students and parents are excited to have new apparel.
“I wear my new apparel pretty much every day to school, and often outside of school,” sophomore Sally Carter said. “I think the sweatshirts are a great addition to Sacred Heart’s bookstore.”
– Sydney Gallop, Staff Writer