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Courtesy Running Press / "Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater"
Candy cane, anyone? Nothing like matching sweaters for the annual holiday family photo.
When Anne Marie Blackman isn’t attaching Christmas lights to unsuspecting knits, she’s sewing on furry Santas and searching for the tackiest, boldest, over-the-top vintage holiday wear she can find.
It’s ugly Christmas sweater season and her customers are in a frenzy to buy.
As the proprietor of MyUglyChristmasSweater.com – a Vermont-based business Blackman started five years ago when she was looking for a way to make extra money – she designs and produces such gaudy collections as “Wacky Santa,” “Puffy Frosty” and “The Ugly '80s.”
“An ugly Christmas sweater would be something that would make people look and laugh and go, ‘Oh my God, why are you wearing that?’ ” said Blackman, who features plenty of examples in her book, “Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater.”
Related: Ugly sweater day is here
One of her most outrageous offerings this year? A sweater with giant coils coming out of the chest area – think Madonna’s cone bra – with ornaments dangling at the end. It’s sold out, as are many of her designs.
Blackman’s website has had more than 5 million page views so far this holiday season. Although she doesn’t give out specific sales numbers, Blackman estimates that she sells thousands of sweaters each year.
“It’s crazy popular,” she said.
So why are so many people willing to plunk down their hard-earned money during hard economic times for something so tacky?
Courtesy Running Press / "Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater"
This holiday sweater deserves two thumbs up.
Courtesy Running Press / "Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater"
Wow, who even knew you could buy ugly holiday sweaters for dogs?
Many buy the sweater for the social connection, said Kit Yarrow, a consumer research psychologist and chair of the psychology department at Golden Gate University.
“You are wearing something that other people want to talk about, which then gives people a reason to talk to you. It makes you seem kind of big-hearted in a way, that you’re willing to wear an ugly sweater for other people’s amusement,” Yarrow said.
“I’ve known people who have spent $250 on one of these sweaters. Those are people I would call, 'All in.' "
Then, there’s the satire factor. College-age consumers love irony, Yarrow has found in her research, so wearing such jaw-dropping fashion is a good-natured way to mock the world, she said.
“It’s actually sort of a charming thing, as much as we mock it,” Yarrow added.
Adam Paulson – who together with two friends runs UglyChristmasSweaterParty.com – attributes the trend to the exploding popularity of parties that require guests to wear obnoxious holiday knits.
The celebrations first began about a decade ago as college students made fun of their parents’ fashions from the 1980s, Blackman and Paulson said, but then evolved into events involving all ages. The ugly Christmas sweater theme is now common at office parties, fundraisers and family get-togethers. There are even online tutorials on how to add an iPad fireplace to your outfit to help you stand out.
“Everyone’s grabbed on to it,” Paulson said. “Every day we spend so much time trying to look good, and this is kind of just like a Halloween. You get to let loose and look absolutely ridiculous.”
UglyChristmasSweaterParty.com began as an Indiana-based blog, but emails began pouring in from people trying to find the featured sweaters. So in 2009, Paulson and his partners, Brian Miller and Kevin Wool – who call themselves "Team Ugly" – began making the rounds at Goodwill stores to find knits they could sell. Each sweater was given a silly name, like “Ryan Treecrest,” and the business took off.
Today, the men buy sweaters by the truck-load and sell about 20,000 during a season, Paulson said. The trio even co-authored a book, titled “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book: The Definitive Guide to Getting Your Ugly On.”
Business is booming, but the competition “has just gone through the roof,” Paulson said.
Blackman recalled that when she first started listing her sweaters on eBay, there were about 3,000 for sale. Today, a search for “ugly Christmas sweater” on the site yields almost 35,000 results.
“(The trend) has a lot of legs to it. I think it’s going to go on for some time,” she said.
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The article and the site it refers to are a waste of ISP bandwidth.
Why is it that people who feel an article is a waste of time, always make the effort to comment on it anyway?
in fact, steve already did this on at least one other thread this morning.
Come on Steve-1167608, tis the season. Oh, sorry, bah humbug.
Bring me your poor! Your hungry! Your UGLY SWEATERS!
I truly think folks have BAWLS for wearing them.
Bring me your hungry. Your Poor. Your UGLY SWEATERS!
After quitting smoking, and gaining weight, I was dreading shopping for a new outfit for the family party this year. Then the host decided on an ugly Christmas sweater theme and I'm relieved. Everyone will look equally bad.
My daughters were not happy at first, but then they got creative and made their own. It's a better family activity than baking cookies when I'm trying to diet.
Steve: or maybe you 'secretly' want one of these sweaters....lol
Buying ugly sweaters makes the wearers look better.
Ugly Xmas sweaters enhance the economy; to wit. My 20-something neighbor received an "Ugg" from beloved elderly relative. BER spent money--a good. Mind boggled giftee wants to toss it. I say, "Take it to a consignment shop next November." She doesn't want to, but gives it to me and I make 15 bucks. Buyer wears it this year to an Ugly Sweater party, will resell next year, and so on. In the long run the sweater generates more money for the public good than a tasteful turtle neck the neice would have kept for years.
My college age daughters also love the ugly Christmas sweaters! And every year since they've been asking for them, I've had a harder and harder time finding them! I didn't realize it was a "thing" but now I know why they are so scarce!
There are a ton of ugly Christmas sweaters at Walmart, at least in my area...
I think holiday sweaters are great. People let out their fun side and everyone feels better. Why be so ugly labeling fun things as ugly?
I think my in-laws have a knack for finding every ugly sweater in existence. My husband wears a sweater under his outerwear all during the winter. My m-i-l was always "helping" by buying every sweater she could find that would come anywhere close to fitting him. Some of them were women's sweaters, others were men's sweaters. All of them were hideous! I'd go through the bag and take out anything that was decent and throw the rest of them in the garbage. Bear in mind, I'm no clothes snob, we wear a lot of hand-me-downs and don't mind one bit. I just hate ugly sweaters with a passion.
gee..... i can't think of any possible reason to buy a sweater this time of year ------ oh.... wait..... it's cold outside.
So ugly that they're good lol
It must be an American thing, I never heard of this before when I lived abroad.
Well, you are not abroad, Americans are not trying to act as if they are abroad, so if you are going to live here.... go buy a fun holiday sweater.
I love the ugly sweater fad. I see middle-aged+ white ladies wearing them for real everywhere I go. I admit it makes me smile. They look so ridiculous, that I just imagine that they are of the age that they don't give a crap anymore whether they look nice in public. They want to look fun. I always tell them their sweaters are lovely; they laugh, I laugh. What is not to love?
I think people buy them because they are warm and festive. Festive is a good thing, warm is a good thing. You say tomato, I say tomato. Doesn't work too well typed out there. Why do overweight people buy up tiny bikinis and speedos when they go on vacation? Think about it.
because we are humans .... and ... we can be very sane ... to ... very insane ... and ... in between.
Middle aged white ladies wearing them? What?
Of the age they don't give a crap how they look anymore?
What rock did you crawl out from under?
Nevermind – just go back there.
Hahahahahahah--man could I get creative with this!
See what Bill Cosby started. I have/had better looking throw rugs. Then again, it's all about the spirit of the holidays. Have fun; enjoy. For too many right now it will not be a merry xmas. It will be a day of infamy. Another sad day for our country. Too many, far too many two legged animals roam our streets.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. NBC trying at every turn to further marginalize everyone into following. Even stupid sweater comments. People keep buying the sweaters, because people like the sweaters. What are they wearing on the NBC elevator these days? Maybe we should all go buy that to be good little drones.
Gofiguteit - don't b a humbug. People buy these sweaters because they want to. I for one could give a damn what the people at NBC or ay affiliate, or CBS, Fox, ABC or the plethora of cable whatevers wears. I just know it's kinda fun and you waste a lot of time trying to take some of the fun out of it.
Go to your nearest Salvation Army store, buy the ugliest top - sweater, vest, whatever - and wear it in public. If it starts you talking to real people instead of making asinine statements on the 'Vine and online anywhere, good. And if you stay at home, maybe the better for the rest of us who just like to read about something that takes our minds off the cares of the day.