Turns out university girls won’t be able to drop Terp-themed panties no matter how hard they try this semester: University-branded hoodies, sweaters and undergarments are now nowhere to be found in Victoria’s Secret stores.

The Victoria’s Secret PINK Collegiate Collection dropped the university-themed loungewear from its line of college gear earlier this semester for reasons that remain unclear, though officials partly attributed the decision to poor sales.

“Up until recently we were enjoying a very nice relationship with the Victoria Secret’s PINK line,” university Director of Trademark Licensing Joe Ebaugh said. “But in mid-September we got notice that they had dropped Maryland from their program.”

Ebaugh said he contacted The Collegiate Licensing Company, the agency through which Victoria’s Secret approached the university to do the line, but they were also vague, saying only that the decision was based on “numbers.”

CLC’s Media Relations manager Tricia Hornsby said the “numbers” were based on a variety of factors — some directly related to the sales performance of each school and others for reasons unrelated to sales. Hornsby said that PINK does not use one specific measurement, but rather a combination of elements, to make the decision. Victoria’s Secret representatives could not be reached for comment.

The university signed a contract with PINK in March 2008 and profited early, Ebaugh said. The university received more than $34,000 in royalties between June 2008 and September 2008, mostly from the initial production and shipments to retailers. After September 2008, however, the PINK producers, 5th & Ocean and Jones & Mitchell reported no royalties, Ebaugh said.

“If the initial goods got placed into stores and didn’t sell through enough to generate more orders for a year, I would have to drop us too,” Ebaugh said. “Of course this begs the question of distribution: Where had they placed the product? If all they did was place it in department stores in area malls that our students can’t get to very easily, it would of course fail. College Park doesn’t offer many locations for fashion-oriented collegiate women’s wear.”

Some Victoria’s Secret stores in the College Park area, including the mall in Prince George’s Plaza, have begun carrying gear for Howard University, an institution that has about a fifth of the enrollment of this university. 

“When I heard that, I asked precisely about the Howard situation, not believing that they could have had bigger numbers than us. There was some explanation about Victoria’s Secret not dropping the historic black college,” Ebaugh said. 

Some students, however, said the line was expensive and was getting too popular at the university, a possible explanation for the drop in sales.

“I loved the line and currently own a lot of it,” senior physical education major Sarah Wenzel said. “My only problem was how expensive it was and repetitive.” 

Junior international business and supply chain management major Kasia Jaskowska said she had heard the line ended because of lack of interest and that she had no problem buying the clothes before from nearby malls and online. 

“It’s kind of weird because if you walk around campus, it seems like a lot of people have the clothes, like the hoodies,” Jaskowska said. “I feel like everyone had this stuff, so how much more could we do?” 

But many students had been wondering where the university line had gone after not being able to find it in local Victoria’s Secret stores. 

“I’m obsessed with Victoria’s Secret PINK, and I was pissed that they took our school off of the website,” junior psychology major Caroline Hubschman said. “My sister’s school, NYU, got on to it, and they don’t even have a mascot! I have bought, like, three Maryland pieces of clothing, and it is one of my favorite brands so I was really sad.” 

Sophomore English major Taryn Mitchell said she wished fans of the line had gotten a warning before the line was dropped.

“I am pretty irritated — not that I need any more clothes — but just the idea that if the company isn’t making tons of money off one school that they will just drop us like that,” Mitchell said. “I’m sure if people know that we were close to being dumped by Victoria’s Secret, plenty of girls would have rushed out to buy items before they became unavailable.”

cetrone at umdbk dot com