Overall Wednesday unites Aggie Nation one pair of overalls at a time

On Wednesdays, they wear overalls. 

USU students Parker Norton, Jaxon Hunt, Jeff Kelly, Connor Gray and Jake Hotchkiss are the overall-wearers behind Overall Wednesday, a movement with the goal of “uniting the nation through overalls, one Wednesday at a time.”   

This group of friends — and bandmates — started wearing overalls every Wednesday during fall semester 2021. 

When Norton returned from his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he didn’t have many clothes that still fit him, so he bought a pair of jeans and a pair of overalls. His roommate and cousin, Hunt, also had a pair, and the two decided to start wearing them on the same day.  

“We don’t see a lot of guys wearing overalls on campus, so we’re like, ‘Let’s just make sure to have strength in numbers and wear them on the same day,’” Norton said. “So we just chose Wednesday and just started wearing them every Wednesday.” 

The two chose to wear their overalls on Wednesdays because it was a “middle ground” day. 

“Friday’s a great day to wear your best outfit to go hang out with friends in the evening, but we didn’t want to be wearing overalls every Friday. That might get kind of weird,” Hunt said. “So we found a middle ground, which was Wednesday, and that has proven to be perfect. It breaks up the week — something to look forward to.” 

Overall Wednesday spread through the group. Norton said there was a lot of discussion about where to go with the movement. Norton designed t-shirts, and the group got a band together to perform at PoBev — in their overalls, of course. 

“We didn’t really have an official band name, so we all just went up there in our overalls,” Norton said. “I think the announcers called us Overall Wednesday, so we were just like, ‘Well, there it is.’” 

The PoBev performance was actually Gray’s first time wearing overalls. 

 “It was the first time I ever saddled up,” he said. “Honestly, it was a special feeling to be in the straps.”  

Jake Hotchkiss, Jeff Kelly, Connor Gray, Parker Norton and Jaxon Hunt are the overall-wearers behind Overall Wednesday. Photo by Bailey Rigby

What started as a group of friends wearing overalls every Wednesday grew into a movement taking campus and Instagram by storm. 

 At Day on the Quad in August, the group went around taking pictures of people wearing overalls and posted them to their new Instagram account, @overallwednesday.  

 “We said, ‘Well, we tell everybody about Overall Wednesday, and we’ve just been posting it on our own accounts. What if we started our own one?’” Kelly said. “So that day, we started an account, and then we would just go to everyone on Day on the Quad, and there was a lot of overalls. So we’d take a picture of them, tag them, and then we’d post it on our own stories.”  

Now, the group goes around every Wednesday to highlight people wearing overalls on campus. The Instagram page has over 500 followers, and every week, more and more people participate. 

“There’s just this little community,” Hotchkiss said. “You just see somebody else wearing overalls. You just smile at each other and wave. And it’s just — it’s just a lot easier to talk to people on campus, which is super fun.” 

Hotchkiss said it’s grown a lot more than he expected. Two workers once approached him while he was shopping at Al’s Sporting Goods on a Tuesday and asked if he was planning to wear his overalls tomorrow for Overall Wednesday. 

 “I was like, ‘This is so sick,’” he said. “It’s just spreading throughout Logan, which is super fun.”  

The group has big dreams for the future of Overall Wednesday. These dreams include creating a national overalls event, a promo code for a discount on overalls, and a pair of Aggie overalls for the campus store. But, according to Norton, the real dream is to find ways to “unite that community a little bit more.” 

“Whoever owns overalls — or doesn’t — feel free to join the movement, and we’d be happy to hype you up and get to know you,” he said.  

For those hoping to break into the overalls community, Hunt’s advice is to “just go for it.” 

“If you don’t think you can pull off overalls, you’re wrong,” he said, “because you can pull off whatever you want to pull off.” 

— darcy.ritchie@usu.edu

Featured photo by Bailey Rigby