Microsoft has an interesting tradition of releasing offbeat sweaters just in time for the holiday season. They call them the ugly sweaters as an ironic and humorous take on the garish holiday sweaters that were once deemed unstylish, especially in the 90s and early 2000 era. In 2002, the first ugly sweater parties were held in Vancouver to show off tacky sweaters bought from thrift stores. Over the decades, this bad fashion morphed into a collective celebration that now Microsoft also embraces.
The silicon giant released the first-ever ugly sweater limited edition collection in 2018 with the Windows 95 logo, followed by the Windows XP “Bliss” wallpaper in 2019, Minesweeper influence in 2021, Clippy vibes in 2022, and again the Biss wallpaper-themed sweater in 2023. For some reason, Microsoft didn’t release the winterwear in 2024, but this year, the ugly sweaters are making a comeback, celebrating the iconography from Windows’ glorious five-decade history, the Xbox gaming console, and the Zune logo. The release comes just in time to pair with your Xbox-themed crocs that were released a few days earlier.
Designer: Microsoft
The niche merchandizes this year, celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary, lets you choose from among three ugly Christmas sweaters. I find the Zune one to be the ugliest, the iconography sweater a bit too tacky, but the Xbox sweater is interesting on a serious note.
Artifact Sweater
This one is an ode to Microsoft’s hot pan of software flaws and ugly content that nobody ever bothered to remember. The Clippy Assistant paperclip from the 1990s takes the limelight with other ignore-worthy icons, including the MSN butterfly logo, Minesweeper bomb, Internet Explorer icon, Paint app, and Windows OS logos dotted all over. The background is a subtle off-white hue, with the blue border and the bright orange collar adding to the tackiness.
The Artifact Sweater is woven from soft acrylic and wool combo material, in a range of the gaudiest colors you would instantly ignore. Priced at $79.95, the Clippy edition sweater is the one for your craziest holiday celebrations. The first wave of the collection has already sold, so you better pre-order it the next time this ugly one arrives.
Zune Sweater
Highlighting the Zune portable music player, this sweater is giving me serious nausea owing to its color palette. The doomed music player of the music industry that couldn’t even make it past the mid-2000s will either make it to the closet of the craziest Microsoft fan or be completely ignored for its kitschy persona. Although I’m a music affectionate, and the sweater features landmark albums from OutKast and Coldplay on the inside of the cuffs, this one is not coming anywhere near me.
For those who might want to sport this for a Christmas party, the song names silhouetted in tiny typeface, and the headphone plug threads are appealing. There are back and play/pause buttons on the front with a big visualization adding to the gaudy effect. The material of the sweater is the same as the other one, and the brown-orange winterwear also costs $79.95.
Xbox Holiday Sweater
This one in the collection has my fancy as it is more subtle and cannot be deemed ugly. The color combos are more muted and basic, with black contrasting against the Xbox’s signature lime green, which looks cool. On closer look, the sweater has a controller outline, with the knit circles you can push. Also, there are the Halo rings with subtle silhouettes of the Master Chief in action. You can choose from the metallic thread material (bronze, platinum) for the achievement insignia that loops around the body.
Even better, it costs less than the two uglier options, priced at $59.99. The Xbox Holiday Sweater has a pattern that imitates falling snow. The knitted sweater is made from 100 percent polyester material; therefore, it won’t be as warm as the other two, still that isn’t a deal breaker in any way.
The post Microsoft’s ugly sweaters are back for this holiday season first appeared on Yanko Design.