It’s Ugly Sweater time! Ugly sweaters are a staple of Christmas. You can find them pretty much anywhere. You can find them online, at stores, and you’ll find people wearing them. But have you ever stopped to think, when did ugly sweaters all start? Why did ugly Christmas sweaters become such a big part of Christmas? 

Is it because of how comfortable they are, how quirky they are, or just because they’re ugly? There’s so many questions to be 

asked when it comes to ugly sweaters. The way ugly sweaters started will likely shock you. Ugly sweaters are such a weird phenomenon. 

Dating back to the 1950s, ugly Christmas sweaters were just known as “knitting patterns of snowy pines”. Though, it wasn’t until the 80’s

that the ugly Christmas sweaters came to get recognition. Originally, these ugly sweaters were actually supposed to be fashionable. Can you believe that?

Bill Cosby, a TV icon, is said to have started this trend because he always wore ugly designer sweaters on “The Cosby Show”.  His popularity back in the 80’s helped ugly sweaters gain more and more recognition. Cosby’s sweaters were designed by an NYC fashion designer named Koos Van DenAkker, who sold more than $1 million dollars worth of sweaters on QVC in just an hour. Moreover, there were Christmas movies that had characters wear ugly sweaters, like in the movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” which pushed the popularity of them even further.

Sadly enough, the ugly sweaters popularity seemed to vanish by the 90’s. The sweaters were looked at as just something an older relative would think of getting you for Christmas.  Though, they again started to pick back up in popularity back in the 2000’s when the popular movie known by many called ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ had one of the characters named Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth, wear an ugly sweater with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on it.

A year later in 2002, the first ugly sweater get-together was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Soon after, the popularity sky-rocketed again from there. In 2007, Stella McCartney, an English fashion designer who owns a company after her own name, ended up making a polar-bear themed alpine sweater which caught the eye of Givenchy. Following in their footsteps came along fashion company Dolce & Gabbana.

A few years later in 2012 had other people showing love for the ugly sweaters. The UK charity organization called ‘Save The Children’ made a fundraising event called Christmas Jumper Day which encouraged others to get their ugliest, most foul sweaters yet. Reports on this came from all around like the New York Times, and The Telegraph. It became a staple of Christmas and is still even now a popular thing to wear during Christmas.

Today, Ugly Christmas Sweaters are still a world phenomenon that people buy, where, and go all out with during the holiday season. It became an entire holiday tradition with clothing stores being creative with their ugly sweaters. Besides ugly sweaters, stores sell ugly socks, ugly shirts, and ugly plants. Celebrities like Kanye, Taylor Swift, and Miley Cirus show their appreciation for ugly Christmas sweaters by wearing their own. 

Ugly Christmas sweaters will always be a staple of Christmas, and they are here to stay. Show your love for Christmas by getting you your very own ugly Christmas sweater!