The excellent and exhaustive blog, Clothes on Film has taken its annual trip through just about every film that came out this year (and some that we’d never heard of but apparently premiered anyway) to look at what clothing tells us about character. It’s fascinating.

Helena Bonham Carter and Colin Firth both played with reality – Helena by sticking to it and wearing genuine vintage fur, while Colin insisted on not wearing a suit jacket underneath his overcoat because it made him too bulky to be a realistic King George VI. Russell Brand played Arthur Bach in suits tailored by Martin Greenfield in New York to included a wide range of fabrics and to look like Savile Row tailoring while meeting the demands of an active character on a film
set.

Several films this year also focus on masculinity, using the most traditional symbol, the plain white T-shirt as worn by Elvis Presley and James Dean and seen in Drive worn by Ryan Gosling and even by Captain America! So plain white T-shirts for men add to their sense of masculinity, but make women feel vulnerable because of the risk of underwear showing through. Putting male staff in white and women in grey, blue or black T-shirts can create an impression of gender balance.

On TV, Boardwalk Empire also used Martin Greenfield to dress its characters in 1920s style and this focus has been particularly important in giving the impression of authority, power and prestige – according to the designers, this has involved using ‘hard’ dressing such as starch, brilliant whites and matte neutrals like beige and hats. Baseball style or soft caps were saved for lower ranking characters while harder headwear like fedoras or boaters were worn by bosses. Hats functioned to reveal who had power. That’s something that businesses tend to forget – if you put somebody in a
baseball cap, they have no authority – so let senior staff go bare-headed or give them a hat with a harder profile that denotes power.

There’s a lot to learn from film … and smart companies will use a designer who has a finger on the pulse to ensure that staff uniforms convey some of these subtle messages that help boost business success and productivity.

Once again, printed T-shirts have caused a debate, this time on the football pitch. Liverpoo’s Luis Suarez has been suspended for racist language and his teammates chose to wear a T-shirt with his image on for their match with Wigan this week. It didn’t go down too well with some other players …

Paul McGrath said he was ‘saddened’ to see the Liverpool players in their printed T-shirts and would have been ‘… much happier if they had worn anti-racist t-shirts’ while Jason Roberts (Blackburn Rovers) chipped in on Twitter to ask if other clubs were now going to wear T-shirts with the image of Man U’s Patrice Evra, against who Suarez has been found guilty of using the offending language?

But Kenny Dalgish, Liverpool Manager and Suarez supporting T-shirt wearer was unrepentant claiming that he and the players were showing their their respect and admiration for the suspended player.

It’s yet another piece of evidence that shows how easily printed clothing can become part of a wider controversy – and why it’s important to ensure that your design, slogan or clever promotional idea doesn’t cause confusion or draw criticism from wider society if your intent is to win friends for your product or brand.

As the American government faces cutbacks, President Obama has told government agencies to reduce spending on ‘extraneous promotional items’ such as mouse pads and coffee mugs. It’s not quite as silly as it sounds: each department is required to demonstrate how it’s going to reduce wasteful spending and/or create more efficient ways of operating.

Commemorative gifts such as backpacks have been ruled out except for where such an item has a clear purpose so that the logo-emblazoned baseball caps and printed T-shirts many American agencies give away to both staff and visitors may now become rare items. However some branded clothing has been given a special status: the printed jackets FBI agents wear on raids will remain because they are classed as ‘essential work-related clothing’.

So how can the average business be sure that it’s not wasting money on inappropriate branded clothing? Customer or staff research in advance of placing an order is key to getting it right. There’s no point designing and printing hundreds of bags for your customers if they actually prefer to carry backpacks. If your staff wear baseball caps and you order beanie hats, you’re likely to find that your investment is wasted.

It’s said that Brooks Brothers has dressed more American Presidents than any other clothing line, and this month it had a Scottish showcase in its Regent Street shop.

More than 300 fashionistas attended the event which featured knitwear, tweed, cashmere, ties, embroidered and embossed items and hand-made shirts. The occasion was the Harris Tweed centenary and Brooks Brothers used the event to highlight its own nearly two century pedigree, with photos of Abraham Lincoln (who got that black coat from the Brooks Brothers store), Andy Warhol and Clarke Gable, all dressed in Brooks Brother’s clothing.

It’s not just tweed that makes Brooks Brothers different – the brand has driven the search for new clothing fashions that it can import, such as bringing button-down shirts to the USA and inventing the wash and wear suit. Branding clothes with the classic Brooks Brothers logo has kept the company in the public mind as one that delivers a formal quality along with ease of wear and laundering and it has also been careful to supply clothes for TV shows that match its brand identity such as Mad Men and Glee.

This clever association of clothing, famous wearer and innovation has really driven the brand as one that innovates and yet contains the best of American heritage. Other companies might find a very different focus for their brands – more casual companies might like a figurehead who plays a cool sport to wear a sponsored polo shirt or to find a band or actor who typify the brand values and then to offer them promotional clothing to wear in public. Whatever way you play the famous clothing game, it benefits both brand and individual to be associated with each other.

After their first Rugby World Cup win in 24 years, All Blacks fans have bought up and bought out virtually every piece of promotional clothing bearing their teams name in the entire country.

Nobody can ever know how well sporting promotions will work out because one of the variables is the performance of the team that wears the sponsored clothing, but when it works, it really works.
Major New Zealand retailers have sold out of stock with one retailer sending out more than 100,000 fan-wear items including hats, scarves and shirts. Most stores, whether physical or online, ran out of stock before the final weekend’s matches.

New rugby shirts were printed to commemorate the win, and they have already sold out too.

Interestingly, New Zealanders also bought many hats, bags and scarves to support the Pacific Island teams who are their near neighbours, showing that once a sporting event catches the information, many smaller promoters and brands benefit from the rush to possess a memento of the event.

Increasingly, athletes at all levels are choosing running caps and beanie hats to contribute to their sporting success. The old adage that a vast amount of body heat is lost through the head has been proven to be a myth, but even so, good hats really make a difference to sporting safety and performance, and they are very fashionable: Cheryl Cole wore one when she landed in the UK this week and Gryffindor beanie hats are one of the top selling Halloween costumes in the UK this year.

If you want to find a good way to publicise a business, event or person, then quality caps or hats are ideal. Sportspeople know that headgear protects them from the sun, conserve warmth in colder times and may even add a reflective safety element at night through high visibility fabrics or flashings.

When choosing the hat or cap to feature your design remember that knit hats have a more porous quality giving better wicking and breathability while woven hats are less breathable and have less wicking but offer better sun protection. Anglers and sailors like a brim to help avoid low winter sun, while runners like hats that they can crumple up and carry in the hand if they get too hot. Winter athletes need close-fitting hats that don’t fall off when they perform stunts or move at hight speeds – take advice from your clothing provider to ensure your hat will do what you want it to.

Ensure your logo or wording has high contrast to the material of the hat. Athletes move fast so observers need to be able to spot the promotional message easily. If you can run the image or wording right round the hat or on both front and back, you get double the chance of it appearing in photographs of sporting events, which means twice the opportunity to promote yourself.

The New Zealand Rugby Union is fearful of a boycott of the 2015 World Cup, and it’s partly down to branded clothing.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has controls over the way national sponsors can be included in international tournaments which means that national teams lose money – according to New Zealand, $13 million in a world cup year. How so?

Rugby and football are very different: at a FIFA World Cup the teams are allowed to continue to promote their individual sponsors by having them appear on clothing worn at the team hotels and at press conferences up to two days before every match. But the IRB imposes a complete ban all sponsors (except their own) at the Rugby World Cup. This means that photo opportunities, interviews and other publicity activities that usually allow a team to parade in branded clothing before a big match are denied to the rugby teams.

And in South Africa the team jerseys being sold to the Springboks fans have caused ructions. One MP has said that he will boycott the national shirts, because they were made in China instead of South Africa – and that this denied the country’s struggling clothing industry a chance to benefit from the Springbok phenomenon.

The South African Rugby Union has been lambasted by the national Trade Union Congress for ignoring national job-creation policy, causing a national and international flurry.

Neither national team has achieved the kind of publicity it hoped with its branded clothing initiatives, and while neither of them are likely to be thrilled by the way their promotional clothing initiatives have worked out, neither issue is likely to cause a long term problem for the national team.  The unanticipated outcomes might have been avoided by operating a better sourcing policy, having regard for fair trade and organic products in relation to national pride, and understanding and considering the constraints of sponsorship agreements in advance of investing in them.

Freddie Flintoff is 6ft 4in tall. That’s significant, as he’s just become the figurehead of online shop Jamaco, where he’ll model for the catalogue as well as having his own clothing range Flintoff by Jacamo appearing on the virtual shelves early next year. What’s the appeal?

Well Jacamo sell clothing up to 5XL and Flintoff has regularly complained how difficult he finds it to get his favourite clothing styles, such as cargo trousers and relaxed fit shirts, in his size. The match between his size and the customer base, make the role a natural one.

Over in the USA, Guy Harvey Inc is a company that markets and licences the artworks of Guy Harvey – a nautical artist famous for his marine landscapes. The company works hard to build brand, from organising promotional clothing for events through to links with cause-related marketing work with Harvey’s own foundation and research institute. This includes printing and selling more than 50,000 printed T-shirts to support the cleanup of the Deep Water Horizon disaster.

Profits will fund a special fishing research fund set up through the foundation to create partnerships with local universities and laboratories looking at marine cleanup issues. By creating promotional clothing that is relevant and gives back to the community, the link between Harvey’s artwork, marine conservation and giving back to the natural world are all strengthened. Promotional clothing can thus become a central part of an organisation’s brand identity, as well as a way of funding activities that give a company a great public profile.

The British Retail Consortium has revealed that ‘household budgets are under pressure’ – which won’t come as any surprise to anybody trying to sell something to an individual, or business. Apparently, disposable incomes have dropped more than at any time in the previous 34 years.

On the retail side, food inflation is up, but 39% of current grocery spending is going on promoted goods – showing the value of promotional activity in both retail and non-retail markets. Also in retail, clothes and shoes are cheaper than a year ago.

For the savvy business promoter, this is a great time to invest in cost-effective promotional clothing, especially if they want to generate the kind of buzz that earns them enough market share to thrive where others are only managing to survive. On the high streets of the UK, summer promotions have begun earlier and 70% of shops had promotional displays in their windows during the survey, compared with 60% in 2010.

One of the biggest areas of growth in promotional clothing is baby and children’s wear, as businesses recognise the value of the ‘potty pound’ and the way that fashion conscious parents are brand dressing children younger and younger. The arrival of Harper Seven Beckham and the anticipation of a baby boom as soon as the Duke and Duchess of Beckham announce that they are starting a family are contributing to this drive towards promotional clothing for the very small and T-shirts are one of the easiest ways to get a brand, band, book or company on the very small chests of the very small consumers in society. Choosing a child-friendly colour and a bold logo or image to accompany promotional details is a great way to use pester power to get your garment worn by the smart toddler or pre-teen.

One of the key features of Wimbledon is clothing: Venus Williams and her EleVen clothing line steal the headlines every year, although Nadal’s $525,000 watch has been getting a lot of attention. Venus has used her clothing line to promote ‘brand Venus’ but it also intimidates opponents who know that whatever they wear, Venus will upstage them both at the net and in the fashion pages.

The clothing worn by the staff at Wimbledon is always carefully designed to promote the image of Wimbledon as the home of tennis too.

It may surprise you to discover that the official outfitter for Wimbledon is Ralph Lauren, who has updated the uniform of the ball boys and girls this year. The classic look is a navy polo-shirt with the Wimbledon logo on the right sleeve, and either shorts for the boys or tennis skirts for the girls. This year there are two stripes in Wimbledon colours (green and purple) printed across the shirt and a white embroidered 125 on the collar in honour of this year’s anniversary.