The American South can be a pretty polarized place, but there’s one thing everybody down here agrees on, and that’s that “you all” is just too damn long. This is Y’ALL territory, by god. And we at Kentucky for Kentucky have turned it into a battlecry.
Kentucky for Kentucky has been up in Y'ALL's business for almost a decade when we launched our now-famous Y’ALL sweatshirt, a parody of the classic Yale crewneck, in October of 2013, with the caption, “Yale doesn’t like people that say Y’all. We showed them.” It sold out within minutes.
Look, we're not saying we, or Kentucky, or anyone owns Y'ALL. In fact, Y'ALL is un-ownable, which is one of the pure beauties of it. But what we are saying is that people love our Y'ALL. Don't believe us? Read on.
For nearly a decade now, people have flocked to KY for KY's Y'ALL. Today, we offer an entire line of Y’ALL gear that includes everything from socks to koozies.
It continues to be a year-after-year bestseller online at KYforKY.com, in our flagship brick-and-mortar store, the Fun Mall, and for our stunning list of wholesalers. You can find Y'ALL throughout New Orleans in Fleurty Girl, all around Tennessee in White's Mercantile, and in Louisville at the Frazier History Museum.
If this isn't convincing enough, consider how often KY for KY's Y'ALL shows up in popular culture. Our Y'ALL has been memed, and re-memed, and makes appearances on iconic cultural programming including the 90 Day Fiancé as recently as November 26, 2022. Actor and comedian, Adam Sandler; Connecticuter and political satirist, Kevin Nealon; Twitter legend, show host, and UK Men's Basketball Hall-of-Famer, Rex Chapman; and even the Director of Community Engagement at Beinecke Library at Yale University and Kentuckian, Michael Morand, proudly sport KY for KY's Y'ALL.
 |
 |
Image Left: Adam Sandler recovering from a filming injury, wearing his comfy Y'all T-Shirt in 2022, via Daily Mail. Image Right: Adam Sandler visiting Ralph's Italian Restaurant in Phillidelphia wearing his fancy-for-fine-dining Y'all T-Shirt in September 2021. Via Instagram @ralphsitalrest
Kevin Nealon wearing KY for KY's Y'all Sweatshirt in November 2015.
UK Men's Basketball Hall-of-Famer, Twitter legend, and Kentuckian, Rex Chapman, on the Kelly Clarkson Show in January 2021. Via Twitter @KellyClarksonTV.
Michael Morand, who was part of the Yale University administrative communications team in 2014, proudly sported KY for KY's Y'ALL, and still does! Via Instagram @mimoct
And if you're ever deeply mourning the loss of a Supreme Court Justice who advocated for and won federal cases for the promotion human rights, such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you had best grab your Y'ALL Sweatshirt because the New York Times definitely wants that as their front page image.
RGB mourner wearing KY for KY Y'all Sweatshirt, September 20, 2020, via The New York Times.
If you still aren’t convinced that people have gone Y’ALL crazy, consider that in December of 2013, just a few months after we debuted the world’s original Y’ALL apparel, The New York Times published an interactive dialect map entitled “How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk.” It ended up being their most popular piece of content for the entire year.
Now here we are. We certainly weren’t the first to say Y’ALL, but we like to think we played a part in pumping up people’s pride in small-town upbringings and that beautiful southern drawl, y'all.
