Promotional T-shirts often evoke a negative association in our subconscious because we have received one in the past that was too big or too small, baggy, wrinkled, in short, of poor quality. Yet promotional T-shirts are one of the most popular promotional gifts, mainly because of their everyday usefulness.
To help you order and produce really good quality and attractive promotional T-shirts next time, here are some tips to help you achieve that. The purpose of promotional T-shirts is to make people want them and wear them, and that’s not a given.
Why promotional T-shirts?
Before we move on to the guidelines for great promotional T-shirts, let’s first answer the question “Why T-shirts?”. Why should T-shirts be part of every company’s marketing toolkit?
T-shirts create greater emotional involvement
One of the most crucial differentiating features of T-shirts is the emotional involvement they generate. A person makes a conscious decision to wear a particular garment in the morning. If it is a T-shirt with your logo, slogan or print, this is an indicator of the person’s emotional involvement in your message.
Wearing a company T-shirt is a bit like wearing your favourite team’s jersey. It’s a way of expressing yourself, the brand reflects the consumer’s values and the consumer is proud to show it.
Creating such a T-shirt is a complex process, and this is precisely the topic we will discuss below.
T-shirts have a higher perceived value
The perceived value of a T-shirt is often much higher than its actual value. Most consumers consider the price of a T-shirt to be significantly higher than the actual price. This is not surprising as the average price of a good quality T-shirt in a shop is between €20 and €50.
In other words, a promotional T-shirt with a print costs around EUR 3 to 7 (the price is quite relative due to a number of factors), but the perceived value to the recipient is certainly many times higher.
Advertising impact of promotional T-shirts
T-shirts are one of the most effective advertising tools and therefore widely used. According to research by the Advertising Specialty Institute, recipients use a promotional T-shirt for 14 months, during which time it generates 3 400×0.002 cost per impression.
There are not many advertising tools that can boast such results.
Basic rules for making a company T-shirt
We’ve explained why you should think of T-shirts as a promotional item that can help build a stronger brand and increase sales.
Here are a few more tips that will significantly increase the chances of your promotional T-shirt being well received and worn by recipients.
Choose a quality T-shirt
The first and most important step is to choose a really comfortable and high-quality T-shirt with a fashionable cut. The T-shirt should be made of combed cotton, weighing 160-180 grams, with a four-layer collar and side seams to prevent it from swirling when washed. Some of our best promotional tees are the Roly T-shirts.
T-shirt sizes are important
Carefully consider and plan which sizes you will need so that everyone gets a size that really fits them. Ask the retailer for a chart and samples of shirt sizes so that you can really optimise your order.
The imprint must contain more than just your logo and website
Usually companies want to print a logo and a website because they are promotional T-shirts. However, in most cases this tactic does not work. Put yourself in the shoes of the recipient. Would you wear a T-shirt that is like a business card?
Promotional T-shirts are a tool for self-expression that companies and organisations can use for promotion, but the overall graphic design must be designed in such a way that it allows the recipient to express their opinion, value or affiliation. In this context, it is important to note that, in addition to the print itself, the colour of the T-shirt also plays a key role in establishing the appearance of the product.
Order women’s T-shirts too!
It’s true that men’s T-shirts could easily be described as unisex. This approach really simplifies the process of planning the sizes you need and also reduces the risk of running out of a size.
This is all well and good, but it would go against the two main guidelines above. A man cut will not fit women well and therefore such a shirt will not be comfortable.
Some tips to make your promotional T-shirts look better
Small details are most often overlooked, but they are the ones that make a T-shirt desirable and persuade the recipient to wear it. In other words, the more similar the promotional T-shirt is to a T-shirt that would be sold in a shop, the better.
- Individual packaging. There are many options available, from the classic polythene bag to a custom-designed gift box. It is important that the packaging is neat and reflects the quality of the product inside. The added value is that the packaging is printed with a message or a thought.
- Branded label. Look for T-shirts that have the option to remove the manufacturer’s label and print your own, custom-made label. Although this is a small, usually monochrome print, it has a strong messaging value. The promotional T-shirt loses all its old associations and becomes completely yours.
- Your own hang tag added. As mentioned above, the promotional T-shirt should be as similar as possible to the ones in the shops. And a hang tag is definitely an accessory that a promotional T-shirt should have. And if we are innovative and creative, we get an additional quality medium for our promotional messages for a low cost.
The difference between a good and a great promotional T-shirt is in the small details that are most often overlooked, but which contribute to making the T-shirt desirable and persuading the recipient to wear it.
Before you finalise your order, ask yourself whether you would actually wear the T-shirt yourself. If your answer is hesitant or negative, no problem – simply analyse what bothers you and try to adjust your ideas and execution to suit your wishes and expectations.
Our final advice would be to strive for originality and uniqueness when designing your promotional T-shirt. This will certainly help you to attract the attention of your existing and future business partners and create a memorable impression.
