Wildcat fans hearten: University now has official tartan
Friday, April 1, 2016
Apparel and textile students Lydia Lee, left, and Virginia Davis are designers of Kansas State University's new official tartan, The Denison. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — Kansas State University fans have a new way to show their purple pride — with The Denison, the university's official tartan.
The Denison was the winner of an online vote by students, faculty and staff to select the official university tartan. Nearly 3,500 votes were cast for three designs: The Denison, The Fairchild and The Anderson.
Designed by Virginia Davis, a junior in apparel and textiles, Manhattan, and Lydia Lee, a senior in apparel and textiles, Korea, the one-of-a-kind tartan will be registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans in Edinburgh, Scotland, and will be made into a range of products for purchase in stores and online through Collegiate Tartan Apparel.
For each tartan product sold, a portion of the proceeds will go toward scholarships for Kansas State University students and to K-State Athletics. Products with the official Kansas State University tartan will be available as early as May, with a wider selection available in time for the 2016 K-State football season.
Davis and Lee were among the 23 student designers in the College of Human Ecology's apparel and textiles program who designed tartans competing to become the official university tartan. The students are in a computer-aided design course for apparel design and production and the tartan design project was directed by Kelsie Doty, instructor of apparel and textiles.
"It was a privilege to help students learn while establishing this new tradition for K-State," Doty said.
"I am proud that we could use a student learning experience to generate academic scholarship funding for Kansas State University students," said Barbara Anderson, head of the apparel, textiles, and interior design department in the university's College of Human Ecology.
