{{Short description|Disposable outerwear worn to college parties}} A '''fracket''' is a disposable outerwear item that can be discarded at a party.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Lange |first=Maggie |date=2014-10-24 |title=The Best Idea Ever to Come From a Frat Party {{!}} The Cut |url=https://www.thecut.com/2014/10/song-of-praise-for-the-fracket-a-frat-jacket.html |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=New York Magazine |language=en}}</ref> The term was coined by American college students to describe an inexpensive jacket or sweatshirt worn solely to keep warm at fraternity parties, with the understanding that it may get lost.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=DiSorbo |first1=Dan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W24oJlpp0y0C&dq=%22Fracket%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA113 |title=The Book of the Party Animal: A Champion's Guide to Party Skills, Pranks, and Mayhem |last2=Applebaum |first2=Ben |date=2013-08-20 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-1-4521-2977-8 |page=113 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shoket |first1=Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sKI_BAAAQBAJ&q=fracket |title=Seventeen Ultimate Guide to College: Everything You Need to Know to Walk Onto Campus and Own It! |author2=((Editors of Seventeen Magazine))|date=2014-07-08 |publisher=Running Press |isbn=978-0-7624-5193-7 |pages=31 and 159 |language=en}}</ref>
== History == The term 'fracket' may have originated at Pennsylvania State University.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2017-03-23 |title=An Unofficial Guide to the 'Fracket' |url=https://www.hercampus.com/school/drexel/unofficial-guide-fracket/ |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=Her Campus |language=en-US}}</ref> In their study of university campus parties, sociologists Ashley Mears and Heather Mooney observed that the need for frackets arose from the lack of coat rooms at fraternity and final club houses.<ref name=":4">Mears, Ashley and Mooney, Heather. "Getting In: Status Stratification and the Pursuit of the Good College Party". ''Qualitative Sociology,'' '''47''', 221–247 (June 2024).</ref> The challenge of keeping track of one’s jacket at a fraternity party, along with the need to stay warm while traveling to and from the event, led to the concept of frackets.<ref name=":0" /> The term 'fracket' is a portmanteau of 'frat jacket,' with 'fraternity' and 'jacket' as the root words.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Aribindi |first=Priyanka |date=September 17, 2014 |title=5 Party Essentials for Your Year on Greek Row |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/community.34447057.pdf |access-date=August 8, 2024 |work=The Vanderbilt Huster |publisher=Vanderbilt University |page=11 |jstor=community.34447057 }}</ref><ref name=":2" />
What sets a fracket apart from a jacket is the owner's voluntary suspension of the expectation that the jacket will remain in their custody. This practice essentially allows for the situational social acceptance of theft under the pretense that the original owner expected the property to be stolen.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Halper |first=Emma |date=March 20, 2023 |title=Frackets and Beaters and Bears, Oh My! |url=https://www.34st.com/article/2023/03/fraternity-greek-life-fashion-sorority-student-culture-fracket-beater |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=34st Street Magazine |publisher=University of Pennsylvania}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Cobb |first1=Emma C. |last2=Rubin-Budick |first2=Sylvie |last3=Steinman |first3=Jill E. |date=December 5, 2013 |title=Anatomy of a Fracket |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/flyby/article/2013/12/5/fracket-diagram-cold-coat/ |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=Flyby, The Harvard Crimson |publisher=Harvard University}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Swiatkowski |first=Megan |date=2013-02-22 |title=The Fracket Bible |url=https://onwardstate.com/2013/02/22/the-fracket-bible/ |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=Onward State |publisher=Pennsylvania State University |language=en-US}}</ref> As a result, wearers do not store anything valuable in the pockets of their fracket when they take it off.<ref name=":6" />
Two key characteristics of the fracket are that it is inexpensive and distinctive.<ref name=":3" /> Mears and Mooney noted the care taken in the selection of frackets, as well as the evaluation of potential organizational members based on this selection.<ref name=":4" /> In 2023, CNET included a fracket on its list of ten wardrobe essentials to pack for college.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maracina |first=Charlotte |date=July 21, 2023 |title=10 College Wardrobe Essentials to Put on Your Packing List for 2023 |url=https://www.cnet.com/culture/fashion/10-college-wardrobe-essentials-to-put-on-your-packing-list/ |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=CNET |language=en}}</ref>
== Frackit == In 2014, University of Pennsylvania students Caroline Calle and Melissa Greenblatt created FRACKIT, a company that manufactured and sold waterproof hooded jackets.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Mathis |first=Joel |date=2014-09-23 |title=Penn Juniors Create "Frat Jacket" |url=https://www.phillymag.com/shoppist/2014/09/23/penn-juniors-create-frat-jacket/ |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=Philadelphia Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Husain |first=Zahra |date=September 23, 2014 |title=Designing a frat jacket, from zipper to hood |url=https://www.thedp.com/article/2014/09/frackit-to-sell-frat-jackets |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=The Daily Pennsylvanian |language=en-us}}</ref> The company's name was derived from 'fracket.'<ref name=":7" /> Calle and Greenblatt were members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority at the University of Pennsylvania.<ref name=":7" />
== Literary references == Author Anna Caritj mentions a fracket in her 2022 novel, ''Leda and the Swan''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caritj |first=Anna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDtYEAAAQBAJ |title=Leda and the Swan |publisher=Penguin |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-525-54015-1 |page=113 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://sites.dartmouth.edu/jacko/2016/02/24/all-frackets-found-2/ All Frackets Found, ''The Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern,'' Dartmouth College] * [https://onwardstate.com/2013/09/27/the-best-places-to-get-your-fracket/ The Best Places To Get Your Fracket, ''Onward State,'' Penn State] * [https://jerkmagazine.net/9mfehhs6kt2vag7aqn19w0hd2b5dka/dude-wheres-my-fracket Dude, Where's My Fracket?, ''Jerk Magazine,'' Syracuse University] * [https://www.theodysseyonline.com/fracket-etiquette Fracket Etiquette, ''Odyssey''] * [https://bucknellian.net/116230/satire/fracket-has-a-whole-new-meaning-now/ “Fracket” has a whole new meaning now, ''The Bucknellian.'' Bucknell University] * [https://thetab.com/us/pennstate/2015/11/19/frackets-fashionable-functional-whats-pick-2198 Frackets: Fashionable or functional, what’s your pick?, ''The Tab''] * [https://universitygirlsu.com/collegelife/2022/1/29/how-to-obtain-a-fracket How to Obtain a Fracket, ''University Girl,'' Syracuse University] * [https://sites.dartmouth.edu/jacko/2017/02/25/report-your-missing-fracket-doesnt-want-you-back/ Report: Your missing fracket doesn’t want you back, ''The Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern,'' Dartmouth College] * [https://www.theodysseyonline.com/fracket Why Everyone Needs a Fracket, ''Odyssey Online'']
Category:Jackets Category:Fraternity and sorority culture