Home is Where the T-Shirt is From
(Or tote) Part 1 of a series on notions around home & (home) language(s)
Last month on a crowded tube in London, a man uttered the dreaded and rare, “excuse me but…” After 12 years in the UK, I am well-versed in the ubiquitous art of silence and mind-your-own-business on public transport. But then came the rest of that sentence: “…are you from Saskatoon?” The man had noticed my favourite tote, black with the Remai Modern logo on it. Remai is a museum and contemporary gallery located in the smallish Canadian prairie city where I grew up, a place most people outside of Canada have never heard of. “I only know Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver,” is what I usually hear. The man and I chatted for a stop and it turned out he lived in Saskatoon in the 1990s and is familiar with the gallery. The encounter left me beaming for the rest of the day, much to the chagrin of my fellow sullen tube-travellers.
A couple of years ago, I was the one who pulled the “excuse me but…” when I saw a young woman in East London wearing a sweatshirt with “Saskatchewan” emblazoned on it. She was from Regina and we exchanged Instagram handles because, ahem, that’s what the kids do these days, especially the friendly ones from Canada!
When you are from a small place no one really knows in a big city like London, a place that holds fond memories of a prairie childhood, the blast from the past of seeing someone who might be from your hometown, or at least have a T-shirt or tote connection to it is a nostalgic balm.
I spent the past couple of weeks back in this prairie city, perhaps the longest I have been “home” since I moved away more than 20 years ago. It has been wonderful as I’ve rediscovered the city and all it has to offer. I went to my favourite restaurants, to art shows, a concert, did a charity walk around the river, went back to childhood haunts and discovered new ones with my children. I ran into high school classmates, teachers, parents of children I babysat and other friends from my time in the city — I know, a nightmare for many people but something I adore. And the one thing I kept noticing almost every day: people in Saskatoon love to wear shirts with logos and sports teams not from somewhere else, but from right there, the city they live in.

There was the man at the brunch place we went right after flying in with a T-shirt that under the shape of the province had the slogan: “Saskatchewan, easy to draw, hard to spell.” There were the many Saskatchewan Roughriders, a local football team, shirts and hats I saw around town and the University of Saskatchewan sweatshirts.1 I even bought my dearest childhood friend, who now lives in the U.S. but spent part of her childhood in Saskatoon with me, a tee that says: “Sask, Prairie Proud”.
When I asked another friend, one who left the city for some years but returned to raise her family there if I had recency (nostalgia?) bias, she joked that people in other cities wear concert tees but because most of the big acts don’t come through Saskatoon, people in the city are left with eponymous logos! (This was of course a joke and in fact, I was inspired by the art and culture scene I encountered in Saskatoon during this visit. Plus, we always have Joni Mitchell!)
Do I own a Saskatoon logo’ed shirt? Of course I do. I purchased it a few years ago at a street festival in my hometown, on a sunny day, after running into old friends from high school because nostalgia is a powerful (consumerism) influence. I have never worn it while in Saskatoon but on this trip, I did wear my Wimbledon hat often, as did my husband and son.2 Yes, we all have hats from Wimbledon my husband, who usually attends the tournament yearly, bought a few years ago.3

While doing a charity walk one morning near the river in Saskatoon on this last trip, a man started to chat with us about… well, parking. But then he mentioned our ball caps and asked if we have ever been to the French Open. It turned out he was from Paris and had only been in Saskatoon for six months. He loved the city but was nervous about the upcoming winter. Winters in Saskatoon are long and a type of cold unimaginable to most people. It was a ubiquitous Saskatchewan-ian (Canadian?) conversation (parking! winter weather!) but with a Parisian and London twist and I loved every moment of it.
Have you ever worn a top or tote4 with a logo from your hometown or something that had some sort of meaning for you? I’d love to hear in the comments!
As a child, when my father went away for work at different universities, I would always ask him to bring back a university shirt. Is it weird to wear a top with a university logo you have no personal ties to? I discussed this with my BF recently but still have no answers.
I sometimes feel weird wearing my Wimbledon hat while in London, especially parts of London. I worry it makes me look too much like a tourist. Is this a bad thing? I do not have the answer to this question either.
They are great quality hats so we all wear them often despite having many other ball caps to choose from.
I know the logo tote is its own phenomenon and there are many articles about what your tote says about you!