MRise
Added: 02/03/2006 |
Promotional Apparel Delivers Bang For The BuckA wide range of promotional apparel choices are available to advertise and to market your business or services. Be aware, in considering apparel as a promotional choice, that most manufacturers require a purchase of a minimum lot number. Prices tend to go down as number of items produced goes up. Fortunately, minimum lot numbers applied to apparel are smaller than to items like specially branded pens or cups. (With those kinds of items it is not unusual to buy 250 to 500 pieces minimum.) For apparel, expect a minimum lot number of somewhere around 25.
Shirts are popular promotional apparel items. Working with shirts, a logo can be applied to a pocket, an especially attractive choice for a polo-type shirt. Although somewhat more expensive, polo shirts give a finished and upscale appearance and might be an excellent choice for recognizing a certain class of donors at a charitable event.
For a larger number of shirts to be given away, perhaps at a trade show, for instance, more casual T-shirts would be a good choice. With this style it is possible to emblazon the front and back of the shirt with logos and verbiage of almost any style. Such “gimme” shirts as they are called have been wildly popular in promoting bands and musical groups to the point of being considered collectibles by some fans.
Another popular piece of promotional apparel is the “gimme” cap. Especially popular to promote sporting teams and rural branded items – John Deer Tractor caps come to mind – a simple ball cap is a perfect item on which to place a brand name, logo, or team mascot. Normally caps may be ordered in lots of fifty and up.
Other apparel items popular as promotional items are vests, jackets (usually windbreakers), and sweaters (usually a golf style). On these higher end promotional apparel items branding is usually kept at a discreet minimum with logos being placed on the breast (after the fashion of trendy apparel manufacturers like Izod or Ralph Lauren) and are kept small in size. These items are considerably more expensive than shirts or caps and can usually be ordered in lots as small as a dozen. Understandably, these sorts of items tend to be handed out much more selectively than T-shirts and ball caps.
Almost any article of clothing can be used for promotional purposes but some select items have come to be considered as standards in this line of advertising with shirts and caps at the top of the list. In the American culture of advertising which is pervasive throughout our society, logos have themselves become cultural icons. This kind of advertising is so popular because people actually like and at times covet the so-called “gimme” items.
In planning the promotional budget for your business or personal endeavor, consider the likely tastes of your target audience. If they are the kind of people who would find promotional apparel attractive and desirable, such items are an excellent advertising investment and deliver considerable “bang for the buck” to the businessman.
