World famous football player, ambassador, model, role model, and family man David Beckham announced his retirment from football yesterday. The highly successful 38 year old stated that he wanted to leave the sport on a high. However, he did mention his concern at being remembered more for his actions off the pitch than those on it. This is quite likely, given his global fame for his style and position in the public eye, but that is what the Beckham brand is all about.

Beckham retires from football

David Beckham married Spice Girl Victoria (Posh Spice) in 1999 two years after they met and the nickname ‘Posh and Becks’ has stuck ever since. This powerhouse couple work tirelessly in promotion, fashion, style, events, fund-raising, awareness raising and have tried their hand a numerous different ventures. His links to the music industry through his wife would have been notable enough alongside his footballing carreer but Beckham’s name is a brand, a brand which he has built up and should be proud of.

David Beckham Homme Eau de Toilette

David was ridiculed by the media on a few occasions for his accent, vocabulary, and one-liners that could rival President Bush for their quotability and daftness. However, Beckham worked to change his public speaking voice which assisted him in his current position as ambassador for numerous charities, the Great Britain Olympic bid and many fashion houses.

His tireless work on and off the pitch is important and an excellent example of brand development. Starting from raw talent in a sport he transformed himself from a sportsman to a succsefully packaged brand everyone wants a piece of.

David and Victoria Beckham have a huge stake in the fashion industry; Victoria turned her hand to fashion design after her pop career dwindled and the pair have been dressed by the world’s biggest and best fashion houses. Both have made some fashion choices which have had them in the public eye for all the wrong reasons; remember the sarong? Or the matching his and hers outfits? Nonetheless his marketable style is what has moved him from a fashionable footballer to a fashion icon who plays football.

David made headlines in the sarong on a night out

His ‘n’ Hers matching leather outfits

After the media name-calling about Beckham’s IQ died down he was even spotted in a printed t-shirt with famous American poet Alan Ginsburg on it.

Beckham dons an Alan Ginsberg t-shirt

He was even involved in t-shirt design when the whole Beckham family got involved to desgin a t-shirt range for Sport Relief in 2010.

David in one of the Beckham’s t-shirt designs for Sports Relief

Wearing a t-shirt with his wife Victoria on in Brazil

From hoodies to underwear Beckham has proved he can sell it and for the past 18 years he has the ability to bend a ball, as the film of his namesake suggests, like Beckham.

The Beckham brand in fashion, charity or ambassadorial roles will no doubt be unaffected by his retirement from ‘the beautiful game’, in fact it will allow him more time to focus on it. Or, perhaps, to help his son Romeo who at just  10 years old is already setting out his own goals with his brand appearing alongside Eddie Redmayne and Carla Devingne in a Burberry campaign this year.

We’re always looking to improve your experience of using our website and are close to unveiling a new and improved Clothes2Order.

We hope you’ll agree our new logo and colour scheme is more attractive, but it’s not just our looks we’re changing. The website is being redeveloped to bring you an improved shopping experience, aiming to make our website remarkably easy to use, saving you time and hassle when creating your uniforms and event clothing.

So without further ado, here’s a sneak peek at our new logo. We’d love any feedback and look forward to announcing the full roll out coming soon!

After Sir Alex Furguson announced his retirement last week the creativity of Manchester United fans began brewing as they wrote, drew, bought and created tributes to the manager of their team for the last 26 1/2 years.

Scarves and clackers have long been a fans way of sharing his or her admiration and support for a team but in recent years customised t-shirts have become synonymous not just with supporting a team by wearing their football strip but by commenting on social and political events within the sphere of football itself. It comes as no surprise then that so many of the tributes to Furguson were on t-shirts.

Yesterday the celebratory parade took place in Manchester for people to celebrate United’s Premier League win and bid farewell to Sir Alex Furguson, unsurprisingly a mass of red and a fair few customized t-shirts were there amongst the revelers.

We thought we’d look back at some of the notable t-shirts from his past 26 years and 38 trophies whilst at the club.

A controversial time in Ferguson’s career came when his once pal Magnier disputed Ferguson’s claim to the race horse he part owned ‘Rock of Gibraltar’. This infiltrated Ferguson’s football career as Magnier who owned 25% of Premiership champions with partner J.P McManus wrote letters to United suggesting Ferguson’s contract should not be renewed.

After Manchester City’s win against city rivals Manchester United to secure the Premier League trophy in 2012 the City supporters rubbed salt into United’s wounds by claiming it was Ferguson’s habit of extra extra time which had helped them win it.

Rafael paid his own tribute to Ferguson by donning a personalised t-shirt saying ‘Thank You’ and showing a photo of himself with Ferguson.
The pair have a great relationship as Ferguson has stuck by the 22 year old Brazillian player who has had a great season. We think this personal touch amongst a team’s good bye is very touching.

They say that today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper, however this t-shirt uses an image from a newspaper to memorialise and celebrates Oldham Athletic’s 1-0 win against Manchester United in 1993. The t-shirt has added customization as it’s been signed by the match goal scorer Niel Adams.

Commemorative t-shirts were bountiful at Sir Alex’s Silver Jubilee at Manchester United just two years ago in 2011.

Only time will tell if new manager Moyes can earn the unwavering support of the United fans in the same was as Ferguson, but perhaps one day instead of t-shirt printing people will wear Moyes caps or jakets to show their appreciation.

Chances are you’ve been walking down the street behind someone and seen their personalised hoody emblazoned with ‘LEAVERS 08′ or words to that effect. Any powers of deduction can calculate that that was over 5 years ago and yet they are still wearing their commemorative garment. At university  it’s as hard to escape  fresher flu as it is leavers hoodies at. Comedien Jack Whitehall’s tv programme ‘Fresh Meat’ characterises the typical student with many of them wearing Leavers hoodies. Clearly, this is because it’s not just another hooded sweatshirt, it represents more than just clothing, it means something to the wearer. Some universities even give out university hoodies to thank students for accepting them as their first choice.

Fresh Meat’s quintessential student

Hoodies aren’t just for hoodlums, despite the bad media a hoody is the default wardrobe choice for many and is an ideal garment which can go with just about anything and everything. For nearly every milestone educational event there is now a habit to buy a hoody. From skiing trips, to gap years and leaving school to leaving University. Not to mention sports teams in and out of education. Long before hoodies were as fashionable as they are now personalising clothes and memorialising school days in outfits still happened. In the 1978 film ‘Grease’ the two main cliques in the school customise jackets for their final year at high school.

‘Pink Ladies’ jackets in Grease

Sports clubs such as rugby or cricket tours to other countries will wear hoodies to show who they are with and why they are there. After the tour they then have a keepsake beyond photographs and ticket stubs, they have a wearable memory too big for any scrapbook. These hoodies then tell a story when you wear them they invite questions and lead to story-telling, bringing people together.

One reason the personalised hoody has really taken off amongst student is the comfort factor. It offers warmth and cosiness, and the hood gives the added feature of being able to hide away, and protect you from cold and wind. It is ideal for travelling for this reason, they aren’t tight fitting so you can be comfortable without lugging a blanket around with you. The comfort is physical as well as psychological as the hoody has meaning and memories imbued in it it too.

cosy hoody

With the end of the academic year rapidly approaching, it’s important to start planning any academic hoodies now. How many people want them, what personalisations would they like and when do you need them by? Similarly with sports tours or events it’s always easier to start planning early to give you time to get everyone’s size and personalisation.

As May has begun flinging us into the summer months it can mean only one thing; no, not sunshine and ice creams, the festival season is about to begin.

With more festivals cropping up earlier and later over the festival season it is now possible to go from May to September and attend a different festival in a different county every weekend (if you can afford it!).

Larmer Tree Festival

So, as the musicians organise their sets and pyrotechnics the models and fashion conscious attending are styling and restyling their festival fashion. It seems the environment of a festival allows people to wear and be entirely different from their normal selves. Fashion experiments aren’t looked at in shock, but rather complimented, blasted over the beauty magazines and in a few months a less erratic version has been created and stocked in all of the high street fashion stores.

vibrant fashion at Coachella in the US

How Can Your Business Benefit?

If you can get a promotional stall, vendor or ambassador to some festivals you can make the most of attendees open nature at festivals, they are far more likely to try something new or different, chat to you or even purchase or sign up to something. Your products need an audience so why not go for a more receptive and relaxed audience than a high street or shopping mall.

Relaxed Vitamin Water vendor at a festival

Give away freebies

I have been given soft drinks, energy drinks, food, hats and t-shirts at music festivals, all of which I still have (I ate and drank the food and drink of course). I still have them because a) they were free and b) they remind me of the festival. The freebies will attract people towards you and open up a dialogue between you and potential customers. Festival t-shirts cost upwards from £15, a big cut into a festival-goers budget, so if you can provide a promotional t-shirt for your brand which also references the festival or will remind them of their time there, then  they’ll opt for your free t-shirt.

Many charities use freebies such as free face painting to get people to their stall, from there they can then use their attention to tell them about their campaigns and engage them.

Oxfam’s blue festival face paint

Branding

If you can’t give away freebies make sure your brand is easy to see and obvious to passers by. Have you staff in personalised uniforms with your logo and brand colours so they are instantly recognisable as brand representatives. Have your staff move around the festival to be seen by as many people as possible and get the brand out there.

Sainsbury promotional staff stound out in their vibrant orange brand colour.

Try something different

This is a perceptive crowd, if you aren’t sure of a new marketing idea or technique which is aimed at lovers of the outdoors, music, summer, fashion etc then why not test it out at the festival. The chances are if it’s a good idea it will create hype at festivals, people will remember you, tell their friends and then when they see your brand again they’ll feel a familiarity to it and be more eager to try it.

Latitude Festival stands out with dyed sheep

If you’ve been promoting through branded clothing for a while, no doubt you feel you’ve been there, done that and have the t-shirt, polo-shirt and maybe a jacket or fleece too. Alternatively, you might be looking into your first promotional clothing order and be at a loss for what garment to buy. If you are worried about originality and want to keep your  promotional wear interesting and unique why not go for another garment, preferably one not as common for promotion today.

The baseball cap is currently enjoying a comeback as it’s embraced by all sorts of fashion styles, becoming synonymous with everyone from Hollywood stars and couture models to hipsters. No longer is it purely a hip-hop style, nor is it ridiculed as something those who don’t care about fashion wear.

NWA

Backwards caps were ridiculed in 90s film ‘Clueless’

The baseball cap is both practical and stylish, but edgy enough to set your business apart.

Trucker caps are baseball caps which usually have mesh material at the back and an adjustable strap. They are also known as ‘gimmes’ because they were so often given away as promotional freebies by farm and feed supply companies to farmers and more often than not to those travelling the road; the truckers.

As with many corporate products the caps have moved away from purely ‘gimmes’ or freebies and become sought after fashion items. This is in part due to celebrities donning them proudly in public, furthering their popularity. For instance musician Seasick Steve who harks from rural America is often pictured donning a John Deere (tractor company) baseball cap in his performances.

Seasick Steve in a John Deere Cap

A recent rise in hipster and ‘geek chic’ fashion has seen flat peak caps usually associated with hip-hop style emerging across the board as a fashion must. From Will.I.Am sharing his unique fashion every week on The Voice and Rita Ora wearing a backwards cap with hippy sunglasses to baseball caps with shirt and tie or with ‘GEEK’ emblazoned upon them there is a way to wear a baseball cap to suit every style.

Will.I.Am in a lego baseball cap

The suit and cap combination

The snap-back cap, (a cap with a flat peak and adjustable strap) is one of the most  popular styles of baseball caps of today, particularly for embroidering logos or statements.

Geek Chic

The memphis 5 pannel baseball cap has a great surface for print or embroidery and has a classic baseball cap style.

Even Prince William wears them.

Prince William and Kate

From Chris Evans’ programme in the 1990s to the cheesy pop songs of the 21^st Century Friday induces the silly side of most people. The working week is done with and makes way for the weekend. To celebrate this silliness we’re looking at some of the best Friday themed t-shirts and offering you a chance to win one!

Apt for every Monday morning the monkey on this tee surely symbolises how we all feel dragging ourselves out of bed at an ungodly hour.

The song may have been a hit for The Cure in early 1990s but its reach and popularity hasn’t died down. A couple of years ago ‘It’s Friday I’m in Love’ slogans within a heart became the new fashionable customized t-shirt.

Are dress down Friday’s popular in your office? Maybe try not to take it as far as Homer from the Simpsons in this t-shirt. I suspect if you came into the office without trousers you might go from a casual Friday to casually fired.

Ever wondered about the etymology of the word Friday? No, neither had I. It originated from “day of Frigg“ Frige being an Old English goddess who was associated with Venus and that day. It definitely isn’t a pun on Frying. Fry day Friday- but why not celebrate the coming of the weekend early with a fried breakfast? I’m sure all the English Breakfast lovers can appreciate this one.

The Cure’s Friday hit will be played for years to come, it is unlikely the same can be said of one-hit-wonder Rebecca Black whose Friday hit was a lot less poetic. There are some great novelty t-shirts ridiculing the lyrics. Such as this basic understanding of how a week works ‘Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday’.

Spooky Friday: when Friday falls on the 12th and not the 13th Jason isn’t very happy.

To win this ‘Thank Beer It’s Friday’ t-shirt to celebrate Fridays simply like this post on the Clothes2Order  facebook page any time over the weekend for a chance of winning.

Saint George is celebrated by Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox Christians as well as many countries and cities of which St George is a patron saint. The date and celebrations differ across the world, but in England April the 23^rd is the annual day to celebrate the Saint’s Feast Day. St George is the patron saint of England, so traditionally it has been a day of celebrations and flag waving in England.

The 21st of April is Queen Elizabeth II birthday, although her official birthday celebrations take place in June as traditionally the weather has been better. With today being St George’s Day, the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth and the Queen’s birthday and London marathon last week here are a few of our favourite English and British inspired t-shirt designs.

Sports

In 2008 Umbro celebrated St George’s Day by using a washing line of England football shirts as bunting across Carnaby Street in London.

Whilst Stella McCartney’s designs for the Team GB Olympic and Paralympic sportswear incoporated the union jack off centre and the colours red white and blue to promote the team .

Flags

The Union Flag (commonly referred to as the Union Jack) was created in its earliest form in 1603 when James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones  uniting the three. The flag we know today is a mix of Scottish flag of St Andrew, Irish flag of St Patrick and the English flag of St George.

Provocative Union Jack Dress

Geri Halliwell spiced up the flag’s reputation when she wore a dress (elongated vest) with the Spice Girls in 1997. Recently she has produced a fashion line with a less provocative version of the dress going on sale.

American actress and singer Willow Smith, Will Smith’s daughter recently wore a stylish pair of union jack trousers at the UK premier Karate Kid which her brother starred in.

Keep Calm

There has been a recent resurgence in historical memorabilia and a revival of war-time spirit and celebration. ’Keep Calm and Carry On’ was a British Ministry of Information propaganda poster created during the Second World War. The poster was intended to boost morale but was barely seen by the public and had little distribution. When it was found in 2000 it took off as a home decor symbol and was quickly printed across mugs, t-shirts, mouse mats and Britain couldn’t get enough of it.

Last Boxing Day Bulgarian footballer and Fulham striker Dimitar Berbatov embraced his inner  Briton when he revealed a hand written Keep Calm motto reading ‘Keep Calm and Pass Me the Ball’.

Weather

We like to talk about the weather, not just in England but across Britain. It would be nice if we were represented by a sun and not a rain cloud occasionally though.

 Monarchy

Love and loathed the British monarchy are a bit like another British staple marmite.

Revellers celebrate in customized t-shirts on the bank holiday in 2011 when Prince William and Kate Middleton got married.

Whilst anti wedding street parties took place with their own t-shirt customizations.

 Food and Drink

A staple for any Brit, or tourist visiting Britain. How would people cope without it?

Music man Mr Scruff has his own range of tea bags, tea t-shirts and tea towels.

What clothing says England or Britain to you? Let us know @Clothes2Order or our Facebook page

Today, whilst Margaret Thatcher’s funeral takes place in St Paul’s Cathedral hundreds (if not thousands) of people will wear red to signify their peaceful protest against Margaret Thatcher’s actions during her three terms as Prime Minister. The hashtag #wearredonwednesday has seen people tweeting photographs of their red lipstick, shirts, t-shirts, shoes whilst still trying to appear suitably dressed for work.

Slogans, colours, viral campaigns and creativity have all benefited protesters and moved certain symbols into the sphere of daily language.

Katharine Hamnet meets Margaret Thatcher

When British designer Katharine Hamnett was invited to 10 Downing Street by Margaret Thatcher she used her time with the Iron Lady to display one of her designs. Her t-shirt just so happened to be a protest t-shirt saying ’58% Don’t Want Pershing’ in protest of Prime Minister’s decision to allow US Pershing missiles to be stationed in Britain.

Wham

Hamnett’s oversized t-shirts with block lettering became popular and bands adapted them for their performances, such as Wham and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Katharine Hamnett is still producing her designs which in recent times she has used to protest cuts to NHS, support the Fair Trade movement and call for the end of nuclear weapons.

Katharine Hamnett against the cuts to the NHS and the existence of Trident

Hamnett’s influence has been seen widely in both fashion and protests.

Katy Perry ‘Happy’

Bold block writing of words or short phrases have been adapted to a range of tops and provided new ways to express yourself politically or emotionally. Holding a sign or going on a march is not for everyone, t-shirts allow peaceful yet seen opinions and protests, and can be more subtle and more fun.

Ian Mckellen shows off his characters as part of the ‘Some People are Gay. Get Over It!’ campaign

A hoody is a a hooded sweatshirt so you may not think the choice too hard. However, the sweatshirt can compliment a classy or suave look, whilst the hoody should stay well away from evening events. They share many of the same benefits, warmth, comfort and the ability to be used for sport. Both have their merits and their suitabilities, these examples of sweatshirts and hoodies should help you decide which style is right for you.

Danny in a grey sweatshirt in Grease

Sweatshirts originated as part of a sportswear fashion along with sweatpants, worn because the fabric would absorb sweat and give the flexibility for movement during exercise. Less seen as full outfits now they have become iconic items due to films in the 1970s and ’80s such as Grease and Police Academy. Whereas the trouser part of this original sports fashion has remained apparel for lounging or sports the sweatshirt has branched out into casual wear and work wear.

Police Academy

Style

Ex Manchester City player Mario Balotelli, known for his style and haircuts has adapted this look to express his wacky style through his hats and hoodies too.

Balotelli echoes his hair style with a mohawk hoody

The new face of Gucci‘s ‘Made To Measure’ collection James Franco wears sweatshirts to award ceremonies and film festivals and still look smart and suave with style appeal.

Promotional Clothing

Wags on Wheels chose hoodies for their fundraising bike ride.

Whilst Less Than Life clothing company chose swearshirts for their designs.

Celebrities

Hoodies are a favourite with celebrities who want to go about their daily lives away from the flash of camera bulbs.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis use their hoodies to hide from the paparazzi

Without a hoody you see some celebrities going to obscure measures in a desperate attempt to hide their identity.

Which is a disadvantage of the sweatshirt, unless of course you want everyone to see you.

Taylor Swift stands out in a panda sweatshirt