The University of Notre Dame will unveil The Shirt 2015 in a celebration open to the public at 5:30 p.m. April 26 (Sunday) at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore. The celebration will feature entertainment, food and giveaways, with The Shirt to be unveiled at 6:57 p.m. The unveiling ceremony, in partnership with Notre Dame Day, will be broadcast worldwide at notredameday.nd.edu.
Former Indiana State Police Sgt. Tim McCarthy, who announced earlier this month that he is retiring from delivering the safety announcements at Notre Dame football games, is scheduled to unveil The Shirt. Mike Collins, who has served as the Notre Dame public address announcer and has worked with McCarthy for the past 33 seasons, will join McCarthy on stage. In addition, former starting quarterback Ron Powlus, a two-time Irish captain who played from 1994-1997, will represent the football team at the ceremony.
“We look forward to the unveiling ceremony every year. It’s a great way for the Notre Dame community to engage with the greater South Bend community and all Notre Dame fans,” The Shirt Project president and University of Notre Dame junior Abbey Dankoff said. “We are able to showcase student groups who are benefiting from The Shirt Project and help kick off the upcoming football season as a community.
“This year, we’re excited to be participating in Notre Dame Day, a global celebration of all things Notre Dame,” Dankoff said. “Notre Dame Day’s online audience, as well as the energy surrounding the day, provide a unique chance to share The Shirt 2015 and The Shirt’s story with Notre Dame fans locally and around the world.”
Every year, The Shirt Project designs a T-shirt for the upcoming Notre Dame football season. Proceeds from sales of The Shirt, the single highest-selling item of collegiate apparel in the nation, benefit student organizations, extracurricular activities, the Rector Fund and The Shirt Charity Fund, a resource for students suffering from extraordinary medical conditions that require payment beyond their means. Fans will be able to purchase The Shirt 2015 at the unveiling ceremony.
The Shirt 2015 will mark the project’s 27th Shirt and 26th year. The first two Shirts were sold in 1990 — the first to commemorate and promote Notre Dame’s game against Michigan, and the second for the game against Miami to raise money for the medical bills of a graduate student who had been seriously injured in a car accident.
The Shirt Project Executive Committee, a group of 10 students at the University of Notre Dame, teamed up with Alta Gracia Apparel for the fourth consecutive year to create and manufacture The Shirt 2015. Alta Gracia is a fair trade apparel company that commits to paying its workers a living wage beyond the minimum wage required by law in the Dominican Republic, where its factory is located.
Contact: Abbey Dankoff , president, The Shirt Project, theshirt@nd.edu