Quarter-zips, T-shirts and hashtags: How Lamont Paris’ pullover created an obsession
God forbid Lamont Paris wears anything other than a quarter-zip to a men’s basketball game.
The Gamecocks’ head coach has worn that style of sweater his entire head coaching career, beginning at Chattanooga (2017-22). Paris has cultivated a rotation of four different quarter-zips this season: two different black quarter-zips, a charcoal and a white option have all made appearances on the sidelines.
Don’t think the South Carolina fans haven’t noticed. They’ve made apparel piece a part of this team’s identity.
There’s a hashtag — #QZipSeason. There’s a sign — “You’ve been quarter-zipped” — that mascot Cocky regularly carries around. There’s a fan-made account on X (formerly Twitter) with the name “Lamont’s quarter zip.” And the lines forming in front of Colonial Life Arena before tip off are dubbed “quarter zip parades.”
“It’s taken a life of its own,” Paris said, “but it’s fun. Our fans have rallied around it, and our players.”
The excitement surrounding South Carolina’s success through the first half of the season has certainly boosted the quarter-zip obsession. The Gamecocks have gotten into it, too. They poke fun at their head coach occasionally, but are all on board with the fans making it their own.
“We joke around about it a little bit, but we’re all embracing it and making something fun out of it,” Wright said back in December. “I saw him with a hoodie one time, but it’s usually a quarter-zip.”
Tuesday brought the quarter-zip fandom to a new level, as USC hosted a Quarter-Zip Night for its game against Georgia. The Gamecocks’ marketing team, led by USC Director of Marketing and Fane Experience Tyler Cater, created 1,000 specialty T-shirts with a printed zipper design for students.
“It’s about having fun with it,” Carter said. “And then before you know it, we decided that like you know what, like the fans are really starting to kind of buy into it like let’s have some fun with this.”
It took about two weeks to take the promotion from the initial concept to the boxes of t-shirts at Colonial Life Arena. Simplicity was the goal, Carter said, because that’s what quarter zips are.
“Every quarter is that I have as a basic zip, most of it, if it’s a branded one it has the block C or Carolina script or something like that on the on the left,” Carter said. “So I was like ‘hey, let’s just keep it real, real simple.’”
The promotion was created specifically for students, so Carter doesn’t anticipate the shirts becoming available for purchase. There are, of course, actual quarter zips available though, coming in Paris’ preferred black, charcoal, white or garnet.
“Certain situations are just for a fun thing and they’re kind of targeted for students only,” Carter said. “And you know, last night was definitely one of those situations where we targeted students with this promotion.”
While Paris hasn’t worn a garnet quarter-zip during a game this season, they do exist online. Paris has elected for his four options, two black, one charcoal and one white. It’s reached a point where the four quarter-zips have their own record.
- Black with a white block C logo: 2-0.
- Black with a printed white ‘Gamecocks’: 7-2.
- Charcoal with a black block C logo: 2-0.
- White with gray sleeves: 3-0.
Quarter-zips may have become more popular since the COVID-19 pandemic, when many collegiate coaches — and also those in the NBA — traded suits for a more casual look. But Paris has been wearing them since he began coaching in 1997.
“I had a guy from from the state of Wisconsin call me and he asked,” Paris said. And at the end he was like, ‘Oh, by the way,’ he said ‘Why? Why are you always wearing quarter zips?’”
How many does he own now? A lot.
How many do South Carolina fans own? At least one, now.
This story was originally published January 16, 2024 at 9:02 PM.
