2022 BFA Fabric Design Alumna Julia Urrea Featured for Mending UGA Football Jerseys

In a recent UGAToday article titled “Community Threads,” writer Erica Techo celebrates the work of local boutique store Community in mending the University of Georgia’s football team jerseys. Among the group of sewers contributing to this ongoing support is recent BFA alumna Julia Urrea, who graduated in spring 2022 with her BFA in Fabric Design. Read an excerpt below about this synergistic collaboration between UGA Athletics and this cherished local business. Find the full article here.

It might be difficult to see on television or while attending a game in Sanford Stadium, but if you were to examine the University of Georgia’s football jerseys closely, you would see tokens from past games in the form of darned tears or re-stitched seams.

These repairs tell the story of the Bulldogs’ season. They are a “memory map,” said Sanni Baumgaertner, the owner of Community, the downtown Athens business that performs weekly repairs on the jerseys.

“As you continue to wear something, that garment gains more value—it doesn’t lose it. I believe these jerseys become very valuable to the players,” Baumgaertner said. “When something is repaired and valued, it takes on a different meaning. Also, to the fans, that becomes a valuable object—almost like a good luck charm.”