Our favorite local gifts - Olly Oxen

This week and next, WRAL Out & About contributors will be sharing our favorite local finds that make great holiday gifts. Next on our list: Olly Oxen - pride with style!

Posted 4:49 a.m. Dec 15, 2011 — Updated 1:24 a.m. Dec 17, 2011

Lisa Jeffries

Judging by the amount of folks who checked out our NCSU/UNC tailgate photos last month, I think it's safe to say we have a few Wolfpack fans in the WRAL Out & About audience (myself included). So without further delay, I bring you my second pick for favorite local gifts - Olly Oxen. In college,my first major was in textiles and I always enjoyed wearing something other than a generic t-shirt to any NCSU sporting event, so I've been been an avid follower of the growing trend in women's wear that is geared towards fashion-forward tailgate apparel for years.

Olly Oxen is one of the more recent additions to the game day apparel scene and according to its website, the red and white emblazoned brand was "established in 2009 by Raleigh-based designer Charlotte Guice, [to provide] an alternative to an environment where the only option for showing school spirit is covering yourself in logos. Simple, elegant, and designed to move from the football stands to the formal occasion, Olly Oxen's locally made products add personality without defining who you are."

Products available online through the Olly Oxen e-commerce site include scarves, shoe clips and skirts for women; bowties, belts, hats and visors for men; onesies and shoe clips for children; and koozies for the most casual of fans. Prices range from $5.00 for koozies, to $48.00 for embroidered belts, to $98.00 for the brand's signature Wolfpack skirt.

Do you cheer for a different collegiate team but really dig Guice's fun designs? Don't fret - the latest additions to her "State Pride" collection include shades of blue and purple with the shape of the state of North Carolina - so you can still show your North Carolina pride in your own team's colors, while still supporting a local, budding designer. And just like Charlotte from Olly Oxen says, "whether you graduated 30 years ago or three, with Olly Oxen on, it's like you never left."

As NC State and Carolina both head toward end of the year bowl game appearances, not only is an item from the Olly Oxen collection a cool, local buy, but it's also timely, too. (And you know what January means - college basketball season will be in full swing - so your gift recipient will have plenty of opportunities to wear their school pride when they're Out & About!)

Note: WRAL.com has not been compensated for this post. The business mentioned is not an advertising partner. The above story is meant as editorial content, reflecting the views of the author and is not an advertisement for the business featured.

Suggest A Correction