The University’s redesigned commencement gowns may be purple or black depending on the degree earned, but they’re also “green.”
Students graduating in December will be required to purchase one of the new garments made of recycled materials.
“Everyone has to buy a new gown. You can’t borrow an old black one,” said University Registrar Robert Doolos.
The gown purchase requirement was put in place to make sure all graduates are matching at commencement ceremonies, Doolos said.
The Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee created the initiative to give the old gowns a fresh look approximately a year and a half ago.
“We were determined to design gowns which would reflect well upon the flagship university,” said Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope.
According to Cope, the committee was presented an array of options by the gown supplier, Balfour – in cooperation with Oak Hall – and crafted an original design with a purple dye specially made for the University.
“The University has transitioned from a generic gown to a custom one,” said Denise Plessala, regional manager for Balfour college division.
The redesigned undergraduate gown is now purple and features two gold LSU logo tabs while the graduate gown remained black and added the tabs. The doctoral gown also transitioned from black to purple with gold accents. The graduate gown remained black in accordance with an old American tradition, said Cope.
The new gowns are made with GreenWeaver, an environmentally friendly fabric comprised wholly of recycled plastic bottles. The bag and box in which the gown is shipped are made of recycled material as well, Plessala said.
“Each gown is made of 23 recycled bottles,” Plessala said. “We have reused 9 million bottles so