Tropical Bruin

One of the recurring mysteries for me every time I visit Singapore is the UCLA line of clothing.

I've seen this line of clothing in the same section of the same department store every year I come to Singapore! I haven't seen this stuff any where else in the world, but here it is to perplex me every year. And it's definitely not the stuff you find in Ackerman on campus. This stuff is "fashion" as opposed to college memorabilia. My first question is: Why UCLA? It's not a historically world famous school like Harvard or Cambridge. As far as I know, there is no Singaporean extension campus. So what's the deal? I guess I should be proud to see the UCLA logo half way across the world, but seriously, the clothing kinda sucks. I wouldn't buy it. Is this just some way for the UC Regents to make a little extra money by licensing school names? If so, where's the Cal clothing line? How about a little Banana Slug or Anteater action? Knowing the odd clothing some people wear here, I'd expect a UC Santa Cruz or Irvine line to sell well. But the odd thing is that the UCLA logo appears no where on the outside of this clothing...it's just on the labels inside the clothes. So it's not like the school name spreads worldwide. Do Singaporeans even know that this UCLA refers to a college? The way it's labeled and marketed within the store, it's treated just like some other fashion line, like Polo, Calvin Klein, or somesuch. Very odd. Very odd indeed.

I need to solve this mystery!