I own a wolf t-shirt. I also had a wolf for 17 years.
Does it get me off the hook that my parents gave me the shirt or does it still reflect badly upon me through association?
I am already a red-neck and I fear that if I am white-trash as well that my self-esteem may plummet. If I return the shirt can I go back to being just a red-neck?
I am a huge wolf lover and have wolf stuff all over my house and used to (before economic times became harsh) be a wolf sponsor for a wolf shelter in Idaho.
With that said, many of the wolf tshirts out there are plain lame. They make you think white trash when you look at them because it’s TOO much. I don’t own one and I wont until someone comes up with a design that doesn’t cover the entire front and in some instances, goes to the back of a beautiful creature like the wolf.
It doesn’t stop at just wolves though, you can find the same lame looking stuff with virtually any North American animal from eagles to elk on horrifically, yet intended to be nice, tshirts. The bigger the better, the more “white trash” looking it is.
I used to have some cool wolf shorts but can’t find them…I also have a coordinating hat and a nicely done applica (sp) t-shirt I got through the same people that put out the pyramidcollection.com catalog. Anyhow, they weren’t “white trash” looking at all…they looked good while supporting my effort in reviving the wolf population in the lower 48. If I can find them (I have boxes of shit that needs going through) I will take pictures of me in them.
But frankly a lot of the wolf stuff I see is icky and even though I am a wolf lover, very few of the items I see will I wear.
Just think if Izod had gigantic alligators on their golf shirts…the only people that would have purchased them in the 80s were alligator handlers.
If it’s tastefully done, I will wear it. If it’s large enough to hang as a flag so that people down the street can see it, no way.
techchick68 - go to shop.newf.org. (no www before that).
I’m eyeing that Howling Wolf Jacket.
I probably should mention that I have an ex who, at least at the time we were together, owned few tops that weren’t wolf shirts. She just really liked wolves.
And what about people who donate to Wolf Park?
I am totally unfamiliar with this particular stereotype. My daughter has several wolf tee shirts. We are pretty far outside the rural Rocky Mountain region. She strikes me as your basic suburban middle-class teenager. Maybe I need to get out more.
One of her shirts is from Bear Mountain State Park, one is from Wolf Park (yes, we have donated), the other(s?) I think she just liked. She wants to be a veterinarian and she really likes wolves. Oh, and she’s an Elfquest fan, which probably accounts for it, too. None of that pushes my “white trash” stereotype buttons. Maybe you need to get out more.
I’ve loved wolves since I was a little kid in New York in the mid- 1960’s, and over the years I have made my own wolf t shirts as well as bought a few to benefit various wolf organizations.
Here in Colorado, there are no wolves in the wild, which make all of those Rocky Mountain National Park wolf t-shirts sadly ironic.
But there are plenty of wolves and wolf hybrids being bred, and lots of them end up here:
Mission Wolf
I think that there probably is a bit of truth to the wolf shirt/white trash thing. And I guess I am not too worried about it. I agree with techchick that most of the wolf merchandise out there is pretty icky, and this tends to contribute to the white trash notion. I am just happy that the wolf’s publicity is better now than when I was in third grade.
SparrowHawk
Am another Elfquest fan. Also, we have a pair of sparrowhawks (kestrels) right smack in the middle of our neighborhood, which is central Denver. They are raising a nestful of fledgeling kestrels.
I hadn’t heard of this stereotype. Of course, it probably wouldn’t hold in Canada anyway.
Actually, ^^, this stereotype was first mentioned in reference to Canadians. Specifically, those in Southern Ontario.
Merci, neutron star. I stand by my, “They’re pretty” remark.
Anyway, what is it with trying to identify someone with by their clothing? It’s almost like looking for a secret code. They wear a wolf t-shirt…they’re to be avoided. And it’s done with all kinds of other clothing, too. It’s starting to really irritate me. One of these days, I’m going to have to put on a gunny sack, and go live in the woods.
Right or wrong, that’s the first impression that comes to mind when I think of wolf shirts.
The only place I’ve ever seen a wildlife shirt for sale in my neck of the woods is at truck stops, 3 shirts for $10. “White trash” is usually the first impression I get when I see someone in one of these shirts. Unfair? Probably. Honestly my first impression? Hell yes.
BTW, I have purchased one photograph from http://www.wolfphotography.com/ which is waiting some cash to be properly framed…
He has some beautiful photos of wolves and I think some of his proceeds work to educate the public with regards to wolves and the fact they aren’t evil.
If I had more $ I would buy more of is photography but right now, that’s not in the budget, sadly.
I wouldn’t say that! It most defintely holds here too! 
I own some wolf t-shirts and sweatshirts purchased at a wildlife park. I have seen the funky ones and they are bad.
I had no idea that I had an affinity for wolves until I was in my late forties and a wildlife park was built in my neighborhood. (At one time gray wolves were native to Tennessee.) After the wolf pups came in, I couldn’t stay away. I became a docent for them.
They are fascinating animals.
Maybe I’m white trash. How can I tell other than the shirts?
I think we’re confusing separate issues here.
There’s nothing wrong with liking wolves/ourdoors/northern wildlife, etc.
The white trash implication, I think, comes from the fact that you can usually find a plethora of these shirts for like 3/$10 and they have a very cheap look about them.
My wife has a license plate with her name and and airbrushed wolf on it. It is a tip of the hat to pop-art. Like a velvet Elvis hanging on the mantle, she immediately put it on the front of her car.
My favorite pieces were the “Van Art” airbrushed wildlife scenes that graced the sides of many coversion vans and were so popular in the seventies and eighties.
I ask you, “What happened to the airbrush masters of yesteryear?”
Are they all working at the fair?
White Trash wear black concert or Jack Daniel’s T-shirts with the sleeves ripped off. Harley-Davidson shirts are a close second.
Actual headline: “Church ends probe of Gay Bishop”
So- is California outside of the “rural Rocky Mountain region”? :dubious:
I wear “wildlife” T-shirts (including a few wolves) and so does my wife. No “mullets” truckdrivers, bikers, or hard-ridden women here. Such T-shirts are very common, in fact dudes ask us where we got ours, and they are very popular. Thus out here- it would not be “most” or even “many” - in fact it would come under “damn few”. Sure, I do see bikers wearing Harley wolf and/or eagle t-shirts, but “wildlife” t-shirts out here are a symbol more of an appreciation of Nature. CA is the largest State, and this simply is not so here.
Out here the symbol of “white trash” is the “wife-beater” white sleeveless undershirt. Like on Cops.
Before I read this thread, I have never heard of such an association, not on this , nor any of the dozen or so I frequesnt. With all due respect, I think our OP is either crazy, making it up, or there is a such an association only in his neck of the woods.
I always wore these in high school because I liked animals…