RITchie Sells His Stripes

Finding a tiger on campus won’t be hard. Take a look at students’ bags, t-shirts, or even trash cans at Saunders. RIT has a long history of using a tiger for their marketing–and it didn’t just start with RITchie. The alias of “RIT Tigers” originated in late 1955 after a particularly successful sports season, replacing the previous name “RIT Techmen.” 

While it may not seem like marketing is integral to RITchie and RIT spirit, the way RIT has marketed itself and its mascot reflects changing trends, beliefs, and design choices, especially those pertaining to the tiger symbol. As time goes on and students become more familiar with RITchie, we even see RITchie derivatives pop up, such as balloon RITchie and the Tora-con mascots. 

RITchie Sells His Stripes explores the stylistic ancestry of the RIT tiger, its impact on RIT collectibles, and the ensuing looks that proud students have been assigning to him for 69 years.

Fun fact: The name of this exhibit is inspired by the name of Rick Mislan's book, Ritchie Finds His Stripes.