The marching band will wear new uniforms this season, making changes to the look and structure of what performers will wear, according to assisant director Paul Garcia.

Planning for the new uniforms, which have a net cost of $130,000, began as long as two years ago, he said, and Eddie Mack, a senior in mechanical engineering, said the changes will help keep the band relevant.

“[The uniforms] looked bad,” he said. “It wasn’t a very good representation of the school at the time.”

The older uniforms had a dated diamond-shaped “S” logo, and the new ones will have the now-standard block “S,” according to Garcia.

“The ones that we had before were more of an older style with a military look to them,” he said.

After choosing between three different designers and 10 or 15 designs, Garcia said the band had to choose between smaller features, like adding the University seal to the uniforms.

“In the past, we haven’t done anything like that,” he said. “I thought it was important since the marching band doesn’t just represent Wolfpack sports.”

The band collected the money with help from administrators, the Wolfpack Club and other members of the University community, he said.

“They pulled from different University sources, or helped oversee efforts from private sources,” he said.

Uniforms typically last about five years, Garcia said, but these had been in use for eight or nine years.

Tiffany Grovenstein, junior in psychology, said the uniforms will be an improvement because they can be washed regularly, while the old uniforms were dry-clean only.

Mack agreed that this was necessary.

“They wouldn’t go directly to the dry cleaners,” he said. “They’d just go to the rack.”

Nick Dodge, a sophomore in computer engineering, said the new uniforms will be helpful in the summer.

“They’re supposed to be more comfortable in the heat,” he said. “[The old ones] were really heavy, so when you would go outside in the heat, you’d get all sweaty. The new ones aren’t heavy like the old ones were.”

Also, the hats that band members wear will remain a distinctive feature, Dodge said.

“We’re keeping the hats the same style, and I think the hat keeps us different from other schools,” he said.