One area that has made huge strides forward in the promotional merchandise industry is that of promotional clothing. With huge choice on the high street and numerous brands competing for our retail spend, branded and corporate wear has needed to keep up with styles and appeal that will be well received when given.

As designs have evolved along with trends, the transfer through to the promotional side is becoming quicker all the time, allowing clients to take advantage of what people are wearing and buying, brand items up with their corporate identity and use these as budget giveaway items for the mass market, or as high end, value added gifts for top corporate clients.

Historically the choice would be limited and the white T’shirt would have been a common branded giveaway item.  There would have been limited choice of polo shirts, the odd fleece and a jacket or two.

Large manufacturers have the product lines available and the wholesale side allows a consistent volume supply with decent pricing to achieve an end product to fit whatever budget the client has. 

Fruit of the Loom have been one of the biggest names to supply items for promotional use, but there are many others such as Jerzees, Kustom Kit, Result, Gildan to name but a few.

The uses of promotional clothing is now considerable. The high volume, low budget giveaways are covered by the white or coloured T’shirts. There is a large colour and style choice of polo shirts, often used as workwear, exhibition wear or a giveaway to a smaller audience.

Corporate events such as golf days are satisfied by great choice of including Ping, Callaway, Adidas and Nike, where a logo can sit very nicely alongside a world famous brand name, adding prestige to the item.

Companies are also looking to improve how their clients perceive them in the workplace, and branded workwear is often a result of this. Employees tend to respond when wearing the corporate ID, as they are representing the company. Clients see this as quality and it gives a great impression seeing a workforce “uniform”.

Finally, with a slight deviation from the workwear that is now commonplace, there is considerable choice in fleeces, soft shell and other jackets – which can not only be used for employess, budget depending, but are also incredibly well received corporate gifts.

There will certainly be even closer links and merging of retail styles into the promotional clothing side of the industry – and this can only benefit the end user, who may have more choice, but ultimately will be satisfied with the item they decide upon.

It is very often acknowledged that the best received gifts are the ones that are needed. Had they not been given they would be something that would be bought. Items that have a purpose and are useful are obviously the best and they also don’t have to be high value to achieve the desired results.

Of all the categories of business and promotional gifts, keyrings must surely be one of the areas with the greatest variety and choice.  There is certainly one available to meet any budget restrictions that may apply. Keyrings are also one of the most powerful advertisers, remaining in use for considerable time, subtly reminding the user and anyone else that views it of your product, service or brand. 

It is often discussed that the impression made by an item given as a promotional tool is far greater than most advertising methods and keyrings are one category that crops up during these debates.

The product choice is enormous, starting with the budget acrylic key fobs, where printed paper inserts allow both sides to take up to full colour print.  There is considerable choice at the budget end, suiting all tastes and accommodating great choice in colours and shapes.  PVC, vinyl, silicon and plastic are materials consistently appearing in the low price bracket.

Moving up the pricing scale, and the choice of styles can incorporate an additional feature such as a small ice scraper or a tiny LED beam, adding value and usability. Bonded leather has been a traditional key fob material and this remains a popular choice.  Trolley coin keyfobs are another dual use item with the almost daily requirement to insert a coin into a trolley or a locker!

Executive choice is also considerable and the metal and combined metal and leather items allow for engraving for the superior finish or blocking into the leather and  even a protective dome where full colour print is possible. Quite often these will have contrasting materials or say a matt and mirror finish – increasing the appeal of the product and allowing branding to stand out.

The possibilities do not stop there; with the option of putting larger marketing spend towards a multi tool keyring or with an added torch including the LED Lenser – a great retail range that is available with branding.

With such choice in just one product area, time must be taken to ensure the right product is selected and that this suits the brand, service or product that is being advertised.

The production process from placing an order to delivery of finished goods in the promotional gifts industry has always been a multiple stage process. The Business Gift Supplier is almost like a personal shopper for his client, discussing ideas, providing costs, discussing lead times. Then samples are posted out to ensure that the product matches the exact requirements given – great effort and detail is put into the early stages to assist the client.

There is also the issue of visualising the end result, something that is vital for the client when making important decisions and often for the person signing the order and therefore the funds off.  “I really like this product, but how will my logo look?” is a common question or the client will want to see an item in a different colour. 

Obviously with email and the web, we are able to view or send data instantly and this provides answers to most of the questions raised, without delaying an order on a potentially short lead time.

But the visual side of the end result has been an area that has either caused delays or potentially prevented an order from progressing due to the nervousness generated – people do get nervous about spending budget!

This is a hurdle no longer, with fantastic Virtual Sample software using images of the products which are available online. Logos on the item can be “removed”, it is simple to upload your logo which can then be positioned, moved, stretched and bent to fit well onto any business gift idea you are looking at. This can then be emailed, saved as a jpeg and printed out, and is invaluable for that meeting where you need to convince the boss to sign off the spend!

Our promotional gifts website (www.steel-city.co.uk) has a fantastic virtual sample tool and you can produce a guide visual from any item on the site in minutes. This is so easy to use and if you should have problems, a member of the Steel City Marketing sales team would be more than happy to help you out and take you through each stage. Please call on 0114 2754150.