Memphis, TN — Championship apparel commemorating the 2013 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic bears a variation on the well-known cotton tagline, The touch, the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives. Reinvented as “The touch, the feel of victory,” the phrase is fitting for the Cotton Bowl Classic, which since 1937 has pitted two cotton country college teams in gridiron battle. Texas A&M emerged victorious on the field this year, and the cotton-dominant tees and caps from 289c Apparel, Ltd. featured that team’s signature colors and logo. The variation on the popular tagline also speaks to a number of recent victories for cotton as a fiber and a crop.
“Everybody knows the cotton tagline,” says Rick Baker, President/CEO of the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic. “We thought changing it up just slightly would take advantage of that recognition and be appropriate for our Cotton Bowl Classic merchandise.”
The championship tees and caps feature the Texas A&M Aggies logo, the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic logo, the date of the game and the revised tagline.
Cotton Incorporated, the not-for-profit research and promotion company for cotton, introduced “The Fabric Of Our Lives” tagline in 1989 as part of a multi-channel advertising campaign. The campaign was retired in 2001; then reintroduced as “The Fabric of My Life” campaign in 2009. “Even with an eight-year hiatus, people remembered the touch, the feel of cotton tagline,” explains Ric Hendee, senior vice president of consumer marketing at Cotton Incorporated. “That is a sign of both successful marketing and of consumers’ ongoing love affair with cotton,” Hendee adds.
There is much to love about cotton, these days: U.S. cotton growers continue to embrace efficiencies that reduce applications of chemical inputs and irrigated water for their crops; advanced textile technologies have made cotton a player in the athletic apparel category, merging cotton comfort with performance expectations; and scientific advances are helping to expand the use of cotton to other areas, such as livestock feed and a food source for a growing human population. Perhaps the next tagline revision will be “The Fabric and Food Of Our Lives?”