In August 2024, Washington University in St. Louis unveiled a new brand aimed to “bring WashU to the world.” The change happened as the new school year began with updated websites, signage, and merchandise.
While rebrands provide opportunities to advance institutional identity, the material impact can be significant. To limit financial and environmental impacts, the transition process is being undertaken with care.
Since Spring 2024, the trademark license office, a division within WashU’s Marketing and Communications Department (MarComm), has been advising offices and departments to adjust their purchase of branded materials and merchandise in anticipation of the shift. New purchases were delayed or decreased to avoid stocking materials that would quickly become outdated. In Summer 2024, each proposed purchase received even more scrutiny and requests were denied if they didn’t adhere to the new standards.
Some external-facing departments may move quickly to align materials with the updated visuals. To minimize waste, many other departments are encouraged to deplete their stock of items with dated branding or use dated branded items until the end of their useful life. University MarComm anticipates a two-to-three year transition with a mixed branded environment until updates are fully implemented university-wide.
In the original announcement, Mike Bluthaus, associate vice chancellor for university marketing, said, “It’s important that we’re responsible stewards of university resources, and that this update causes as little disruption to campus operations as possible…our longer timeline means we’ll be living in a ‘mixed-brand’ environment for the short-term future, but this will allow us to prioritize sustainability, tap into existing budgets, and give our schools and departments adequate time to update their materials.”
Are you ready to transition and purge? Or, are you thinking about cleaning out your storage areas? Don’t just let those items collect dust if you know they won’t be used again in the future. Here are some ways you can responsibly remove or dispose of branded items that are no longer needed.
- Corrugated plastic signage (yards signs or sandwich board signs): For a limited time only, these can be recycled through special collections, Nov 6 – Nov 14, 2024 as part of a regional campaign to collect and recycle this material (which cannot be recycled through standard recycling processes). We will alert the community if regional special collections resume next year.
- Vinyl banners: The Office of Sustainability is working with a partner who is seeking samples of banners to upcycle into consumer goods (like bags) while providing job training and income to artisans in the local immigrant community. At the moment, we can accept a limited amount of vinyl banners, including pop-up banners in aluminum frames. We may expand the call for materials in the future as we progress with this partner. Please contact Cassie Hage for more information.
- Tablecloths, uniforms, lanyards, t-shirts, etc.: Depending on what the item is, we may be able to rehome through the Circularity Center or through our community partners. Reach out to sustainability@wustl.edu with photos and a description.
- New branded merch: We can always accept branded merch at the Circularity Center via campus mail (MSC: 1301-423-WH). We have a WashU “SWAG” closet that is available for the campus community, which is especially useful for offices seeking giveaways. If you don’t want to bring the items to the Center, you can post on WashUReuse using the tag “WashU Branded Merch” and interested people will reach out to you directly to arrange pick up.
- T-shirts: Local artist Aileen Woods transforms new t-shirts into exceptional jewelry. This is a great use for surplus cotton shirts created for a specific event or role that makes the shirt less desirable for resale/giveaways. Contact: info@rustikrich.com
What other items do you have that you believe could be repurposed or reused? Reach out and we can work together to determine if a new purpose or special disposal is an option: sustainability@wustl.edu.
Best Practices When Ordering Branded Merchandise
- Avoid ordering apparel that is for one-time use – it’s expensive and both cotton and polyester have significant environmental impacts. Alternatives could include:
- Shirts for the department/office that can be worn year round
- Aprons can be washed and worn by volunteers/workers year after year. No size variations required.
- Buttons, hats or ID lanyards can also identify volunteers or event participants with no size variations required.
- Leave out dates so shirts can be worn at a later time
- If purchasing shirts, pick high quality shirts with great designs that people will want to keep wearing after the event is over.
- Opt for quality over quantity: People will be more likely to use and wear your item if it is useful and high quality (i.e. if they really like it!).
- Coordinate with others to avoid similar giveaways or intentionally go in on a bigger order of the same thing to get better pricing discounts.
- When ordering signage, leave out dates and make as general as possible so it can be used for multiple applications, multiple years, and throughout the year.
- Avoid vinyl banners – this material has a toxic lifecycle and is difficult to reuse or repurpose. Use only selectively and strategically.
- Only need a couple of something? Try the #WashU SWAG in WashUReuse, reach out to another department, or buy from the bookstore. You may have to spend a bit more in the short term, but aren’t forced to buy more than you need to meet minimum quantities (which may cost more overall anyway).