TOP 10 TIPS on Buying Promotional Clothing
Redmark Ltd has been established for over 10 years. The company supplies a range of promotional clothing, staff uniforms, work wear and other promotional items.
Jocelyn Faris is Sales Director at Redmark, she tells us that Redmark’s strength is in giving friendly advice on selecting garments and branding them and she offers these top tips on buying promotional clothing and uniforms.
1. COLOURS. There is a vast range of colours available. Remember fashion colours may only be available for a year or two. Choosing standard colours such as black, navy, light blue and white means you can select from a larger number
of stock supported ranges.
2. STYLES also vary, but whether you are buying for an on-going promotion or selecting a uniform you need to consider continuity of supply. Again, choosing from a stock range means there will be more choice of male and female styles and prices may be more competitive.
3. If you are buying uniforms, then BRANDING these garments with your logo will make your staff feel part of the team. It is all about visibility, image and feeling good.
4. ARTWORK. Logos are often designed to be printed on white paper. However, white is not always a practical colour for a uniform. As a consequence, in embroidery there may be the need for a background box which is fully stitched and this pushes up the price. So, when designing your logo, have an option in the brand guidelines for application onto dark backgrounds and also for the logo to be used as a single colour.
5. SIZING. Those wearing your garments, whether for work or promotional purposes, will come in all shapes and sizes, so select a garment with a good size range.
6. COST. The most common promotional clothing item is the T-shirt. White T-shirts are cheaper than coloured T-shirts. If you want the best price for a printed promotional T-shirt choose a design that is one colour one position on a white T-shirt. Black T-shirts printed with full colour designs require good quality artwork to get a clear result. A realistic minimum order quantity to obtain a good price is 250 .
7. ACCESSORIES. Baseball Caps – when embroidered, a baseball cap offers a highly visible way of displaying your logo. An embroidered cap is often perceived as having a much higher value than the actual cost of production. For these reasons it can be a most effective promotional clothing item.
8. SPECIAL MANUFACTURE. It is possible to have unique garments manufactured in special pantone dyed colours.You can create a range of garments that suit your brand image. Minimum orders for this are typically 300 pieces per garment with a lead-time 6 - 8 weeks.
9. PACKAGING and LABELLING. For a special promotion and to add further perceived value, special packaging/labelling should be considered. For example to re-enforce your brand identity stock garments can be given the appearance of a special manufacture by replacing the neck labels with your own specially designed woven labels. T-shirts can also be compressed or despatched in tins of special shapes.
10. BE PRACTICAL. Use your business head when making decisions about styles and colours and choose those that suit the item or company being promoted, not your personal favourites. Remember everyone will have a different idea and opinion when it comes to clothing, so have a clear idea of your budget and delivery date and form a small team who have clear guidelines and are prepared and authorised to make quick decisions.
Jocelyn Faris - Sales Director Redmark Limited
(Related categories of interest see Promotional Clothing, Staff Uniforms, Work Wear)
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