Oh, the fracket. A slang term meaning “frat jacket” used by collegiate women everywhere – or at least those who experience the true meaning of winter. According to Urban Dictionary, the top definition for a fracket is “a jacket you wear to frats because you don’t mind if, at the end of the night, it is covered in beer, frat sludge, or other unidentifiable liquids. Also, it is not a big deal if this jacket is lost or stolen during the course of the night.” Urban Dictionary is pretty on point, but an item as important as the fracket deserves more thought and attention than just one measly definition on a used-to-be-hip website. That is why our team here at Her Campus Bucknell joined together and discussed all the memories – the good, the bad, and the ugly – we have experienced because of or shared with our beloved frackets over the years, as well as the advice we wish we had known as young and naïve freshmen. Below is a comprehensive guide and tribute to the jacket that is socially acceptable for wear for only four short years of your life, but whose purpose will live on for generations to come.
It takes a few months into your first winter to realize just what a fracket should be. Many freshmen mistakenly bring out their favorite oversized grey Bucknell sweatshirt with a hood on the first few chilly nights of first semester. BIG mistake. A sweatshirt as common as that one will be swiped before you even get to your second house of the night. Why risk bringing out a nice sweatshirt when you will probably take it off as soon as you step inside that sweaty black-lit downtown house to show off your cute top? Furthermore, the fracket is not meant to show off how trendy you are. Ladies, I too made the mistake one night freshman year of wearing a nice North Face jacket with my dorm room key on my favorite Smathers and Branson stitched lanyard zipped into the pocket. It was a night of poor decisions, as I ended my night not only cold, but also on the phone with P.Safe because I was locked out of my room.
The fracket should be the least *hashtag* basic item in your closet. In fact, the louder and tackier your fracket is, the better! It is the one coat that should absolutely mandate attention. Who is going to avert their eyes from the girl strutting down 7th Street in the bright pink knee length puffer? Furthermore, no girl is going to get away with smuggling out a jacket that is neon and distinct.
You may be wearing the most overpriced jeans and fancy top out on a Saturday night, but no more than $20 should ever (like, ever) be spent on a fracket. Utilize Wal-Mart and Good Will to your advantage as both are teeming with loud, warm, and extremely affordable jackets. (My current $8 fracket from Good Will has actually received numerous compliments – I guess old men’s quilted fleece-lined zip-ups are making a come back!) Since you are spending so little on this crucial item, you should feel no shame when you immediately write your name with a big black permanent marker on the inside. Or, if you’re really feeling bold, writing your Bucknell email on the back of it.
Why is it so crucial to claim this cheap piece of clothing that you realistically only wear for 30 minutes total over the duration of the night as your own? Because if there’s one thing frackets are prone to – though it may seem counterintuitive given their definition – it is theft. Yes, these tacky oversized jackets are prime real estate once the clock strikes midnight and people begin to shift their locations. St. Louis to St. Catherine or St. Catherine to Market. Once people’s inhibitions are lowered and it’s time to make moves, the temptation to grab any sweatshirt or coat is tempting, so you can move on to the next DP. Now, we know all our readers would never succumb to stealing a fracket, which is a very punishable crime in girl world, but we can’t say the same for others. You need to hide this fracket as if it is your grandmother’s engagement ring and don’t stick to any typical go-to (i.e., the cabinet right next to the door.) The gold standard would be someone’s room upstairs, that is if a guy friend is willing to unlock his door for the night for the sake of you and twelve of your girlfriends’ warmth. However, since we are not all friends with every boy or girl that hosts every party, consider some other sneaky options such as inside a washer or dryer, under the bathroom cabinet, stuffed behind a sofa, or in the oven. After all, even Carrie Bradshaw used her oven for sweater storage…why shouldn’t you for fracket storage?
When it’s time to finally wrap it up and go home, you may discover that an earring fell out when you were jumping up and down on the risers or that you misplaced your BUID, but so long as you have your trusty fracket in tow – despite the fact that, as Urban Dictionary says, it may be covered in unidentifiable liquids – you know it’s been a successful night.