The Advantages of Walking Billboards
T-shirts are a wardrobe staple and a canvas for self-expression. They are the foundations for showcasing yourself and your brand—a potential walking billboard for your brand if you will.
Despite its humble appearance, a printed t-shirt with your brand's logo is the perfect canvas to foster brand awareness. Let us dive into the world of custom t-shirts, exploring their potential for businesses of all sizes. Everything from choosing the right shirt and printing method to crafting an impactful design that resonates with your target market. Use us as a guide to navigating through all things custom personalised t-shirts.
More than a freebie, promotional t-shirts represent your brand and display your marketing message. As for your recipient, your brand's logo, message and ethos follow them. It’s essentially a walking billboard, which is why they make such a good choice for corporate events and gifting:
● Versatile
● Cost-effective
● Brand Awareness
● Engagement and memories
The foundation of a successful custom promotional t-shirt is the t-shirt itself! Some factors to consider are:
● Fabric - from comfortable cotton and cotton blends to low-cost polyester, every fabric gives a branded t-shirt a different look and feel. You can choose from:
○ Cotton and cotton blends
○ Recycled materials
○ Polyester
Cotton and cotton blends are natural fibres that are soft, breathable, and durable. They are great for keeping cool in the summer and for layering in the winter. Cotton and cotton blends are easy to care for and are a brilliant canvas to paint on.
This fabric type has recently gained popularity as a more sustainable and eco-friendly option. Recycled materials t-shirts can be made with anything from pre-consumed waste (fabric scraps) to plastic bottles that make recycled polyester fabric. The t-shirt material can be made from purely recycled fabric or with recycled fibres mixed with other fibres to make a hybrid fabric.
Polyester is a synthetic fibre widely used in t-shirt making. It is easy to care for, budget-friendly, durable, and quick to dry.
Typically, t-shirts will come in a mix of these types of materials.
Now for the fun part! When designing marketing materials, including promotional items and clothing, remember what you want to say and to whom. Some of our design tips are:
● Company logo and taglines - It’s a given to include these, but if you go solely for your logo and strapline, it’s a classic design known for its minimalism and professional impact.
● Event-specific design - conferences, events and big campaigns are the perfect occasion to release a ‘limited’ edition promotional t-shirt to highlight the event with a specific theme, date, location or more. Event designs can be targeted towards either customers to remember the occasion or employees to make them look uniform and stand out at an event.
● Humour and wit - A funny or clever design is a great way to grab attention and make your brand memorable. However, we highly recommend due diligence to ensure the humour is aligned with your brand's guidelines.
● Motivational quotes and inspirational messages - This technique can be tricky as it can quickly become ingenuous or cliched. However, if pulled off correctly, it can promote a positive company image (particularly around health and mental health).
● Company mascot/character - These can add a unique personality and create a brand icon that people easily recognise. Have you met Bailey, the bat behind Acrobat? He’s full of weird and wonderful facts (Sign up to enjoy these in our newsletter.)
There are several custom-printed t-shirt methods, each with its advantages:
Screenprinting is a traditional and cost-effective method for producing large quantities of T-shirts with bold, vibrant designs. Screenprinting is versatile and can be used on most materials, including cotton, polyester blends, and even some synthetic materials.
The one limitation of screenprinting is that it’s not great with delicate and tiny details. If your brand aesthetic is based on small fine details with intricate text, there may be better options than the screen printing technique.
Printing directly onto the fabric has gained popularity in the promotional printed t-shirt industry. DTG works like a fancy inkjet printer, allowing for high-quality designs and small-batch printing.
This technique is best used on minimum-quantity and quick-turnaround orders. However, this tech has limitations on the areas that can be printed.
Heat transfer is a popular technique in the custom t-shirt industry. This technique offers a good all-around blend of affordability, simplicity, and customisation. Heat transfers work by printing a digital design on a special carrier sheet (typically clear film or vinyl).
Then, the sheet is placed onto the T-shirt, and a heat press machine is placed on top. The heat and pressure from the heat press bond the design from the carrier sheet onto the fabric of the T-shirt.
This technique allows for more complicated high-quality designs. However, it is not as durable as screenprinting and DTG, especially with improper washing and care.
Although not a printing technique, this decorative method is a very popular option for customising embroidered t-shirts. It involves stitching a creative design.
Embroidery can be used to apply:
● Text and logos
● 3D textured looks
● Simple designs
This technique can be used on most materials. However, it cannot create very detailed or intricate designs on machines.
Depending on the stitch density, embroidery on a T-shirt may feel bulky or stiff compared to a print design.
(Each t-shirt or clothing product will have a list of recommended decoration options)
As we near the end of our guide, we wanted to leave you with some final winning tips to help you make a lasting impression:
● Keep it simple - Complex designs can be difficult to read and lose their impact when printed
● Choose high-quality graphics - fuzzy or low-resolution images will look low-quality and unprofessional.
● Focus on readability - Clear and simple fonts work best. We recommend considering a strong colour contrast for legibility.
● Consider the back of the t-shirt - Use the back for additional information, slogans and more.
Do you have a custom t-shirt project? Contact a member of our team or check out our range of t-shirts online.
