A newly stocked cropped T-shirt at the BYU Store is getting attention, not for its style, but for its length. Some students worry that this shirt cannot be worn on campus.
Customers of the BYU Store have noticed a shirt that appears to violate the dress and grooming standards.
The standards state: "dressing in a way that would cover the temple garment is a good guideline, whether or not one has been endowed."
Midriff showing on campus can lead to an Honor Code violation, which raised questions about the new crop tee's length.
"When it comes to clothing, the best statement I can give you is that we do use the honor code as a guide," said Mark Clegg, the managing director of the BYU Store.
"We believe those standards have a purpose, they matter and they make a difference, and we certainly don't want to be the folks that would do something that would run contrary to those standards," Clegg said.
Kim McKinney, the BYU Store product acquisition and development manager, said there isn't an exact measurement for tops. The guideline is "waist length."
"Our rule of thumb is to have them hit the waist, because if they hit the waist, that's covering what needs to be covered," McKinney said.
McKinney explained that "waist-length" refers to a garment that hits the top of the hip or the waistline of the person's pants.
Universe Live reporter, Adri Moon, tried on the cropped tee to test the length for herself. She asked McKinney and Clegg for their thoughts.
"Yeah, and that is short on you," McKinney said. "You are correct."
After reviewing the video, Clegg shared similar sentiments. "Oh yeah, that seems actually way shorter," Clegg said.
McKinney notes that sometimes errors occur in the production process. In this case, the T-shirts came out shorter than expected.
Clegg added that body proportions vary from person to person.
"Two women of the same height might come in, one might be long-waisted, one might be short-waisted, etc.," Clegg said. "One might try on a t-shirt and say this is great for me. Another might try one on and say this shows the lower inch and a half of my stomach."
"It's just hard to say, this consistently doesn't work and violates that standard," Clegg said.
Female BYU students of different heights and body types tried on the T-shirt for comparison. For some, it reached the waistline of their pants, and for others, it did not.
"Body types are all over the board, and so what we're trying to say is, in general, does the length of that for someone who would purchase that, would it come to the waist?" Clegg said.
Clegg and McKinney said their goals are to keep the BYU Store following university standards.
"We'll watch it and see. This is great feedback. I haven't had any of that feedback yet, but if it becomes a problem, we'll just pull it off the floor and request a return with our vendor," McKinney said.
The Honor Code dress and grooming standards have not changed, and exposing the midriff can still result in an Honor Code violation. This shirt may not be able to be worn on campus for some body types.