Screen Shot 2017-03-10 at 12.31.44 PMVintage crewneck sweatshirts are the backbone of this business. If you hate crewneck sweatshirts, Comma, Vintage, may not be the subscription service for you. But if you love vintage crewneck sweatshirts, then boy, have you come to the right place.

This one was shipped last fall to a subscriber named Michael. To date, it’s perhaps the best I’ve found and I secretly wish he’d send it back so I could keep it for myself. It has everything I look for.

  1. Bright colors: Look at that yellow! That red! That green! These colors are crisp, flat, and tasteful. Too much washing, and they’ll start to fade and crack.
  2. Unique, detailed graphics: You can literally see the buckle on that Mountie’s boot and the strap across his chest. In graphic sweats, the image usually features a simple logo.
  3. Large Print Text: When we consider clothing as rhetorical content the combination of image and text drive much of the conversation. Here the text is large, capitalized, seriffed, arcing over the top, and border with black ink. It is stately, proud, and wants to be read. It matches perfectly with the image.
  4. Versatile Color: There’s no better color for a sweatshirt than grey. And hey look: A grey sweatshirt. Specifically, it’s a heathered grey with a bit more texture and variation.
  5. Raglan Sleeve: I like a raglan sleeve because it always fits. Drooping shoulder seams cream “This is too big,” but a raglan sleeve—one that is sewn under the neck—solves that problem universally.

I’m unable to give the provenance of the logo itself. The Royal Canadian Academy, as a term, most regularly applies to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts, a non-military organization. If anyone has further information, I’d love to hear it.