Wearing The Harvard Tradition

Harvard clothing modeled on sweat-shirts, T-shirts, caps and shorts worn by the campus contemporaries of President John F. Kennedy '40 should now be in the clothing shops of Europe.

The University licensed its athletic team logos from the '30s and '40s to Pangea, a company based in Amsterdam and owned by Lee and Dan Mirman, last fall. The company also has the right to produce similar lines of clothing from Yale, Cambridge and Oxford.

Harvard usually does not authorize the use of its name on products, but "clothing we will do because people want to buy souvenirs," said Enrique J. Calixto, Harvard's trademark program administrator.

But Calixto explained "it's much more a strategic move" for the University to license the right to its name to one company.

By using Pangea to establish trademark rights in several European nations, Harvard can prevent misuse of the name by others, Calixto said.

He added that this move preserves the integrity of the Harvard name.

"It is the most well-known and most misused name around the world," he said. "If you allow your name to become diluted, you can lose your rights."