Football season in Western New York is not one season. It is four of them, back to back, and you will dress for every one of them between the first Sunday in September and the last one in January.
Here is how people who have done this for decades actually get dressed for the lots, and what we make that fits each stage.
September: the tee and nothing else
The first two home games are the lie. It is 74 degrees, the sun is out, somebody is wearing shorts, and you will forget everything you know about this place. Enjoy it.
This is tee weather, and it is the reason the ALL In football drop is ten tees and not ten hoodies. Where Else Would You Rather Be on Natural is the one we would grab first. Go Buffalo if you want the loud one. Ketchup and Mustard if you plan on standing anywhere near the man in question.
One tip from experience: get the tee a size roomier than you think. In three weeks it is going under something.
October: the tee, then the hoodie over it
The light goes by about 6:30, the wind off the lake finds the parking lot, and the tee becomes the layer nobody sees until you get inside and warm up. This is the month the hoodie earns its keep.
The ALL Together hoodie is the plain one, royal blue and red, and it goes over any of the football tees without arguing with them. If you would rather wear your town, the Lockport Upside-Down Bridge hoodie carries the landmark on the back with a small patch on the chest.
A dad hat goes on now too, mostly to keep the sun out of your eyes at a one o'clock kickoff. The ALL Together hat is black and does not shout.
November: everything you own
The order, from the skin out: tee, long sleeve, hoodie, the big coat. Hat under the hood. Two pairs of socks. Hand warmers in the coat pockets before you leave the house, not when you get there.
The tee is still doing a job here. It is what you are wearing when you take the coat off inside a friend's garage at halftime, and it is what shows in the photo. Pick the one that says something. Be Good Do Good is the one people ask about.
For the kids in the lot, the ALL Together kids tee and the youth tee go under whatever snowsuit they are already wearing.
December and January: the coat is the outfit
Nobody can see what you have on. You know what you have on. That is the point.
The people who show up to a January game in the snow are not doing it for anyone else. Comeback City under four layers, on a night nobody else believes in, is the most honest way to wear it.
The short version
Buy the tee now while it is warm enough to see it. Add the hoodie in October. The rest of your closet already knows what to do after that.
Orders over $70 ship free in the US, which happens to be about one hoodie and two tees.
The football drop lives in ALL In. The stories behind all ten sayings are in Ten Things Buffalo Says on Sunday, and the tailgating rules for the new building are in Gameday in the 716.
BuffALLo Apparel is an independent Buffalo brand. We are not affiliated with any team. We just live here.