Does Promotional Clothing Really Have a Value?
Posted on Wednesday, 22nd March 2017
Clothing is one of the most highly visible promotional products, whether as a giveaway, a resale item, or as staff uniforms. Printed or embroidered, clothing can be personalised with almost anything, from a subtle embroiderery of your logo, through to a vivid full colour all-over dye sublimation image. But is clothing as popular as we all assume?
In a nutshell, yes it is! The most recent research from the British Promotional Merchandise Association (2016) showed that of those who responded, a massive 91% used clothing as part of their promotions. Quality was the single most factor cited for choosing which garments to use, followed by price, and then style.
It probably comes as no surprise that t-shirts are top of the list for promo clothing, with 76% of respondents having used them within their campaigns, closely followed by polo shirts (52%) and hoodies (32%). However, almost anything can be branded - knitwear, workwear and protective clothing, hats, gloves - even aprons and chefs whites. Particularly popular at the moment is performance wear, such as wicking fabric clothing, for exercise and sport. These have a very high perceived value amongst recipients, making them a popular choice as advertisers.
Surprisingly, however, sports events are not high on the list of purposes for promotional clothing. The single most popular place for using printed or embroidered items was found to be at exhibitions (46% of respondents had used them for this purpose), followed by 42% saying they used them for general brand awareness. Employee uniforms were also a main use (35%). Clothing was also listed as being used for giveways, promotions, staff fun days, conferences, and charity events.
At Ellenell, we have 35 years industry experience, starting out in the early days with printed clothing - we really do know our stuff! If you have any ideas that you'd like to discuss, we'd be only too happy to help!