Companies have been using clothing for centuries to promote a certain person, team, or unit. Kings had colours, and their soldiers and followers had to wear clothing that was specifically designed to indicate their loyalty to a particular leader or king. This made them instantly recognisable as a follower or a promoter of a particular clan, king, or leader. In the meantime, not much has changed. Sports teams still wear their team colours, and companies often used branded corporate clothing to promote their brands.
Providing people with branded corporate clothing can work on three levels. These include the following:
- Clients: When gifting branded corporate clothing to your clients, they feel appreciated and valued as clients. This builds brand loyalty and often results in repeat business with those clients. In addition to this, when a client is seen wearing your brand in or out of the office, they are, in effect, acting as an ambassador of your brand. Whether they are on the golf course or attending a meeting wearing a branded tie, they will display your brand wherever they are.
Sometimes, the wearing of such branded clothing may even encourage other business people to ask questions about your brand or business, and if the client is happy with your business, they will endorse you to others. The most important thing is that any branded corporate clothing or gifts that you bestow upon your clients have to be of the highest quality possible. Giving someone an inferior, low-quality gift is insulting. It has to be good to look at, comfortable to wear, and make the wearer proud of wearing or using it, otherwise, they will never wear or use it, and this defeats the entire purpose of gifting branded items.
- Employees: As discussed above, dressing in the same colours indicates an allegiance towards a particular team, king, leader or business. Employees who wear uniforms are, in fact, then aligned with your company or brand. If you have different teams, you may decide to provide different types of corporate wear for these teams to suit their particular type of work. Employees are often very relieved to find that they can wear uniforms to work because it means that they do not have to invest in an expensive work wardrobe in addition to their usual casual wear.
They feel more appreciated and associate better with team members as a unit. It may even provide them with a collective corporate identity that enables them to work together better and to communicate as a team. Uniforms, however, do need to be comfortable, well-made, and not restrict movement at work. Breathable fabrics, outstanding workmanship, colourfast materials, and resilient fasteners and zips have to be used. Uniforms are worn every day, and as a result, they are subjected to an enormous amount of wear and tear and repeated washing, drying, and ironing. The branded corporate clothing used for uniforms has to remain in good shape and be able to withstand the challenges.
- Members of the Public or Target Markets: Often, at promotional events, branded corporate clothing is gifted to members of the public who attend a certain event or sports day. They will then be able to wear this whenever they want – perhaps just as casual wear over the weekend, while playing soccer, or when they go to the shop. Wherever they go, they will display your brand, and often, the gift of branded corporate clothing along with a sample or information brochure about the business can encourage them to make use of the business. This can help drive their business towards your company and result in customer loyalty.
If you would like to know more about how to use branded corporate clothing to promote your brand, give our team at Best Clothing a call today!