Thinking of investing in promotional clothing for your business in 2016? If so, here are five things to consider, from cost to quality and design to practicality.
What to Opt for: T-shirts, Hoodies, Hats and More
When considering in investing in promotional clothing, one of the first things to think about is what sort of clothing to opt for. Then, whether items are worn by staff or sold / given out to customers and the nature of your business should all be carefully considered. For example, if your business is a catering company you might think to have promotional aprons made for staff to wear and which can be given out or sold to customers. Meanwhile, if you specialise in, for example, sports equipment, caps and hoodies could prove sensible options. The key to getting it right is to:
- Be sensible; invest in items which relate to and celebrate what it is your business or company do.
- Be creative: ‘stand out from the crowd’ of businesses making use of promotional clothing to ensure your brand and business get noticed.
- Be business savvy: keep in mind that for promotional clothing to best promote your business, it will need to be seen.
For further advice on what can be created in terms of promotional clothing and what it is wise to invest in, the Business Know How Website features the (brilliantly insightful) article: ‘Tips on Using Promotional Products in Your Business’.
Practicality: Who, Where and Why?
Only practical promotional clothing will get worn by customers. Meanwhile, impractical staff promotional clothing is an obvious no-no. Hence, think about:
- Who will be wearing your business’s promotional clothing? Consider the sex, age and fashions and lifestyles of your intended wearers.
- Where will your promotional clothing be worn? Consider the nature of your business, climate in the country in which your promotional clothing will be worn and what it is those you hope to wear the clothing will be doing.
- Why would a person choose to wear clothing which promotes your business? If you cannot answer why anybody should wear your promotional clothing over leading brands, you can guarantee no one else will.
Design: How to Make the Most of Promotional Clothing
Design encompasses all aspects of a clothing item. Hence, deciding how to go about creating promotional clothing is not simply a matter of having a chosen clothing item slapped with your business logo. Rather, you will need to consider:
- In almost all cases it is advisable from an advertising stand point to opt for promotional clothing items which are available in the colour(s) which your business and / or business logo make use of. Then, even those who fail to see or read a logo affixed to a promotional clothing item will at least see the colour(s) and hopefully conjure your business or brand name in their mind. Just remember, promotional clothing should clearly point in all and every way to what it is you want people to see. Then, do not fall into the trap of choosing purple hoodies because your business logo is purple as this will only ensure that your logo blends in rather than stands out.
- Placement: Think carefully about where to place logos and business information on promotional clothing items. For example, placing a logo on the back of a hoody might seem a great way to effectively create a human billboard to advertise your business, but place the logo too high and it can easy become obscured or hidden beneath the hood when not being worn. Equally, placing logos on the breast piece of a garment might be popularly done, but when an item is worn by a woman this can also prove counterproductive as people do not like to be seen staring at a woman’s chest.
- Design: whilst colour and logo placement are important elements of promotional clothing design, the overall design of any clothing item requires careful thought and no one element should be thought of within equally considering it alongside all others.
Quality: Transfers vs. Embroidered Logos
Trying to save money on having promotional clothing items made for staff, customers or both which feature transferred rather than embroidered logos is a sure way to save money, but (and it is a big and important but) it is also a sure way to create cheap looking and short-living items. Further, those who continue to wear clothing which features peeling, cracked or poorly transferred logos can potentially do more harm than good to your business; people correlate the quality of advertisements (whether TV adverts, promotional clothing or billboards or flyers) with the quality of a business and few who see advertisements take the time to consciously consider them.
Therefore, it is worth avoiding items bearing transfers and turning to companies who use them in favour of an genuine, reputable and established promotional clothing company, such as Stitch Embroidery here in the UK. The negligible (if any) extra cost incurred will almost always be re-cooped if not resulting in a profit long term.
Cost: How to Make Money via Promotional Clothing
Observing the above aspects of how to make promotional clothing and establishing a budget to spend on promotional clothing are both imperative in order to avoid losing sight of just what promotional clothing can cost. Hence, it is important to set a budget and stick to it.