When a trencher is returned in a sorry state, with a corner or two the worse for wear, the volunteers from the Federation of Graduate Women know exactly what has happened.
Despite strict instruction to the contrary, some happy graduate has followed the time-honoured tradition of tossing their headgear in the air.
The only trouble is, the cloth-covered trenchers, which retail for $115 each in New Zealand, are not designed to withstand rough landings.
Too many trips skyward, and too many failed catches, and they were only suitable for the "dress-up box".
"Whenever we are hiring out regalia, and in all our advertising material, we always tell people to please not throw trenchers in the air . . . But they still come back dented, and with the corners covered in mud, some-times damaged beyond repair," volunteer Pat Mark said.
While commercial regalia hire businesses operated in most other tertiary centres, hirage in Dunedin was the preserve of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women.
Its members had provided a service at the University of Otago for almost 80 years, and at Otago Polytechnic for about 15 years.
Most of the helpers were volunteers, although a team of co-ordinators received honorariums and students were hired to help in November and December as the busy season approached.
The volunteers' efforts had raised many hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to support travel awards, university prizes, community grants and the Helen Benson Awards, which helped women from all walks of life re-enter the workforce.
There was not much the women had not encountered.
More than one trencher had to be carefully dried off after floating off down the Leith, lost over the side of a bridge while its wearer had been posing for photographs.
And university regalia convener Sue Cathro recalled the young man who ripped his gown while climbing through a barbed wire fence to have photographs taken on the family farm.
"He confessed though, which we were pleased about."
Surprisingly, not many gowns returned with marks or stains.
Those that did were spot-cleaned.
"We only dryclean them if absolutely necessary. At one stage, we were taking gowns in in batches to be drycleaned, but we found it took the stuffing out of them," Mrs Cathro said.
The fed-eration's involvement in the university hire service began in the early 1930s, when branch members discovered graduands were unable to find the correct academic dress to wear to the sole capping ceremony held in May.
Staff at Otago Girls and Otago Boys High Schools were lending gowns and hoods, and the university was hiring trenchers, but some students could not obtain the hood to match their degree.
In 1933, the branch committee spent seven pounds, one shilling and five pence buying the satin material and making six hoods - three bachelor of arts, one bachelor of science, one bachelor of education and one bachelor of commerce.
The hoods were hired out and the branch made a profit of 16 shillings and one pence.
It ploughed this back into further purchases.
This was the start of a significant business.
Now, the branch owns stock insured for more than $1.5 million, including more than 2500 hoods for 88 different bachelor degrees.
Branch members co-ordinate the polytechnic's hire service; the institution owns the stock.
As new degrees were created, new hood colours were prescribed, and Mrs Cathro and her team of four sewers had to source the correct fabric and whip up sufficient hoods to meet the demand.
"Fiddly" to sew, each hood took about three and a-half hours to produce, she said.
This year had been a bumper one for graduates, with the university expecting a record 5029 by the end of the year, 403 more than last year.
Of this year's total, 3265 students had already received their degree in person or would do so in the next few weeks.
Otago Polytechnic was expecting 1151 graduates this year, of whom 614 had attended, or planned to attend, a graduation ceremony.
The increasing numbers were also placing demand on the hire services.
For instance, 25 university students were graduating this year with a degree for which only 13 hoods were in stock.
After her interview with the Otago Daily Times, Mrs Cathro was off to try and find enough material.
She had been told a major fabric retailer only had enough of the colour to make four hoods.
It was yet another problem Mrs Cathro and her team would overcome before graduation day.
More graduates meant more demand for regalia.
In the past five years, the branch had purchased 400 gowns and trenchers to replace worn stock and increase the hire pool at the university hire centre.
The gowns came from two New Zealand manufacturers, Auckland-based Etude Classique, and the Ballantynes department store in Christchurch.
So far the service has not struck an unfittable student.
The women have dealt with graduands varying in height from 2m tall to a little person.
The little person's gown was specially made, hired out at standard rates and put back in stock for the next time it was needed.
Mrs Cathro said she was ordering more gowns in bigger sizes.
"Students tend to be taller and a bit wider than they were a couple of generations ago."
While students and tertiary staff were the main customers, they were not the only customers.
The day the ODT called, Mrs Cathro and her volunteers were packing up suitcases full of regalia ready to be couriered to staff at 22 Otago schools for formal end-of-year functions.
Regalia was also regularly hired out to families who want to be outfitted for group photographs and to schools and theatre companies requiring academic dress for drama productions.
But Mrs Cathro said it was first-time graduates she and her volunteers particularly enjoyed outfitting.
"It is a lovely time for us and them - a happy time. They come in with their families and parade and twirl in their regalia. Then most of them go off to pose for photographs in front of the [university] clocktower. They all have smiles on their faces, and our members are pleased to help them."
