[WHY] Status on your sleeve: Why Korea's varsity jackets show off more than just school spirit

The puffy varsity jackets students wear are called gwajam — a portmanteau of gwa, the Korean word for department, and jamba, for jacket — and are ubiquitous on college campuses around the country.

Girl group IVE members pose for a photo wearing Yonsei gwajam. [IVE'S OFFICIAL FACEBOOK ACCOUNT]

Though they may not be a common sight in the sweltering heat of July, university students wearing bulky jackets are a regular scene to anyone passing by a college campus. The jackets themselves may not seem so unusual to international visitors, as other countries also have similar uniform traditions for college students. However, Korea's college clothing does differ from others — and the secret lies in the details.

These puffy jackets are called gwajam — a portmanteau of gwa, the Korean word for department, and jamba, for jacket — and are ubiquitous on college campuses around the country, often being dubbed “the uniforms of college students.”

“Including myself, most college students, especially at the beginning of each semester, wear gwajam as part of their daily outfit,” said Jang Ye-sim, an 18-year-old student at Kyung Hee University. “Almost as soon as I got into college, I came across a group order form on my department’s Instagram account and signed up.”

“It took a while for the jacket to arrive, and I was really excited to get my first gwajam. I thought wearing it would make me feel a stronger sense of belonging as a freshman,” she added.

What are gwajam, and when do students get them?

As in Jang’s case, most students at Korean universities order and receive their first gwajam soon after entering college, which has made the jacket become a symbol often associated with freshman and sophomore students. Some students also get to order new gwajam when they join school clubs or extracurricular groups.

Most gwajam feature the university’s name on the back, with the department name printed below. Many designs also feature the university’s symbol and the student’s admission year on the shoulders, as well as the student’s initials on the sleeve ends.

Some gwajam even incorporate the school’s symbolic animal into the design. Notable examples include Yonsei University and Korea University, whose jackets usually feature the school’s animal — eagle and tiger, respectively.

Students are at a protest donning Yonsei University and Korea University gwajam. [YONHAP]

Where did the gwajam trend come from? Is it unique to Korea?

The exact origin of the gwajam trend at Korean universities remains unclear, with no official records documenting its rise. However, it is widely believed that it evolved from the baseball-style jackets worn by students in physical education departments in the late 1990s, eventually spreading to campuses nationwide.

However, the tradition of wearing school-themed clothing likely originated in the United States. As early as the mid-1800s, American college sports teams began wearing so-called letterman jackets, with the Harvard University baseball team credited with beginning the trend in 1865 by wearing what was known as letter sweaters.

Since then, letterman jackets gradually became iconic symbols of school spirit across American campuses. Today, many U.S. universities sell branded jackets, T-shirts and hoodies at their campus stores, showing that university-themed apparel is not unique to Korea.

However, the gwajam culture — where almost every student under the same department or school club orders identical jackets that include the department name, year of admission and students’ initials — may be where Korea’s university tradition differs.

College students wearing gwajam pose for a group photo. [DEPORTE]

International students wear gwajam at an interview with JoongAng Ilbo in 2024. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Some international students say seeing college campuses filled with students wearing varsity jackets of the same style came off as a culture shock at first.

“I was surprised to see so many college students in Korea buy and wear the same-looking jackets,” 19-year-old Canadian student Kira Shaw told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “I don’t know of any Canadian university that has something like these varsity jackets. I’ve never seen anyone wear one in person or on the street.”

“In Canada, some students buy school merchandise with the university name or their graduation year from on-campus stores, but ordering gwajam-like jackets together as a group isn’t a thing,” she added.

Social psychology experts say Korea’s deeply ingrained collectivist culture may be behind this trend.

“In other countries, especially in Western nations, where self-expression is more embraced, something like the gwajam culture may not be common,” said Sogang University psychology professor Na Jin-kyung.

“The main reason why it has been such a boom in Korea is that the nation’s collectivist society values maintaining relationships while trying not to break social harmony, as one of the top priorities.”

High school students wear The North Face padded jackets at a graduation ceremony. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

In this sense, gwajam is not the only item that Koreans have been wearing to help blend in with the rest of society. From vivid-colored Adidas tracksuit tops to The North Face's padded jackets, Koreans pay close attention to popular fashion trends to stay in tune with others.

“Literally, everyone at our school wore The North Face padded jackets and Abercrombie & Fitch hoodies,” 29-year-old former student Kim Jeong-jin said. “They were basically like school uniforms.”

Though this cultural factor may be the key driver for Korean students’ obsession with gwajam, some also point out a sense of school pride may also come into play — especially for those who attend prestigious schools.

This has also resulted in the nationwide tendency that students of these universities are more engaged in the practice, according to Prof. Na.

“I feel like wearing a gwajam featuring a name of one of the best universities in Korea is a reward for 10 years of effort to get into a good college,” a Yonsei University student told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“When I put on my gwajam for the first time, I finally started to feel emancipated.”

Inha University's gwajam are placed on chairs [INHA UNIVERSITY]

The dark side of gwajam culture While the puffy jackets may be a source of pride for some, concerns have been raised about gwajam as a symbol of Korea’s deep-rooted hakbeol culture — where people are placed on social rankings based on the status of their university.

CCTV footage aired by domestic broadcaster SBS in 2021 stirred controversy when a student wearing a Korea University gwajam was featured arguing with a delivery driver.

With the incident taking place during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the delivery driver asked the student to put on his face mask correctly. The student responded by criticizing the driver, saying, “You still have to deliver food for a living when you are old enough to be doing something better.” He also called the driver “so uneducated.”

Some students who attend less prestigious schools have also complained of this culture, saying that they have feelings of inferiority when wearing gwajam in public.

“Because I don’t go to a top university, it’s just sometimes hard for me to wear a gwajam when I use public transportation because I feel like people who go to better schools might look down on me,” a 21-year-old sophomore student surnamed Moon said.

“I’m not sure, but maybe I’m saying this because I’m not proud of my school.”

Though hakbeol culture might stand out as one of the clearest representations of Korea’s overly competitive society, extreme conformity is another issue.

“People’s personal identities are important too, but when social identities that grow from our collectivist culture get too strong, one might lose their true color,” Prof. Na said.

“An individual might just end up becoming just a part of a crowd when people all wear the same clothes.”

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]