For many companies, offering a personalised or branded gift at Christmas has several purposes:

1.    It recognises customer loyalty
2.    It creates brand recognition
3.    It offers a thank you to new customers who may not be fully engaged with the brand yet
4.    It establishes the company offering the gift as being substantial and caring.

These are great marketing opportunities that shouldn’t be neglected even when marketing budgets are tight. In fact, thinking creatively around the idea of a business to customer gift is a great way to establish some brand features that will encourage your customers to think of the company as one that supports them in tough times.

Branded clothing has practical value, unlike the traditional forms of corporate gift such bottles of wine or spirits, boxes of chocolates or the more modern and less personal approach of giving vouchers.

At the top end of the scale, monogrammed shirts, or hoodies for younger individuals offer a superb, highly-personalised approach to gift giving. It’s not a cheap way to recognise the customer’s value but for the truly valued client, it’s a brilliant approach. Think outside the box though, and see if you can select something that the customer will really value: sports clothing with a monogram that a customer can use for their favourite sport is an ideal way to say thank you.

In the middle of the market, T-shirts offer a chance to give a gift that gets worn, and is fully appreciated without breaking the bank. If your customers are young, find a young designer to style your company logo in a completely new way, that reflects current trends but if they’re more traditional, go for a classic and simple statement, maybe the company logo as a sleeve print or small embroidered detail with neat and unobtrusive contact details below it.

For the masses, if you have lots of customers and/or want to buy something that can be used for both Christmas gift and general promotional purposes, think about branded hats or lightweight bags. Don’t fall for too much novelty though: amusing images like Santa riding on your logo etc are only funny for a very short time and then fall out of favour and have no value to the recipient. It’s better to think about longevity and choose a hat or bag that will be used year round. Practicality is the key to a successful gift and you can double the promotional whammy you get from such items by running a competition that offers to reward the person who takes the best picture of their hat/bag in an unusual place or in a location appropriate to your business. Post the photos on facebook and tweet about them in your twitter account to get the maximum cross-platform marketing boost from your promotional clothing spend.

The recession means that many firms are having to forego the usual Christmas party for staff and forget about the usual bottle of tipple and box of chocs that have traditionally been given to employees at this time of year.

Instead, consider the value of investing in branded clothing for your team – it’s a workplace based gift that can benefit the individual and the company. Polo shirts or fleeces embroidered with the individual’s name or initials demonstrates that you value each person, and gives all your employee’s a chance to wear something new and exciting to work.

Personalised work clothing is also a great gift for promoting team development: it shows that you are investing in your staff and it gives them a sense of self-esteem and a long-term reminder of their value to the company.

You can even create a small brochure so that employees get to choose which item of branded clothing they would like to receive: T-shirts or hoodies appeal to the young and those who work away from the public eye but those in customer services might prefer to have a monogrammed shirt or a smart jacket. Offering a choice also shows that you respect individuality and gives your team a sense of having options and a stake in their own appearance.

Customers respond well to people in smart, well-kempt clothing too, so what benefits the team also improves customer relations.

Caps in winter are a valuable tool for business promotion and staff well-being! Not only do they help keep your staff safe and well by conserving body heat and protecting the vision from wind, rain and snow, they also serve as a great promotional item.

Winter caps are often worn by joggers and golfers, and those playing winter ball sports. This delivers a lot of public awareness of your brand if it’s emblazoned, printed or embroidered on a cap.

It’s important to decide whether to have a cap embroidered or printed – embroidered caps have a classic appeal while printed ones can carry bigger and bolder images and messages. Colour choice matters too. In winter you need to select strong colours to compensate for the low light and washed out skins of winter employees and to appeal to the jaded eyes of customers and clients who will enjoy a splash of brightness in an otherwise grey day.

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.

Autumn’s rainfall has begun – heavy snow is projected for December and January. Giving your customers and employees with good winter wear and safety products means that you’re preparing them and your business for bad weather.

Winter work wear is a great opportunity to get your name in front of clients knitted hats, fleeces, hoodies and gloves are ideal elements for embroidery while jackets and high-vis clothing lend themselves brilliantly to printing.

All winter clothing offers the opportunity to invest in comfort and safety for your staff and clients, reminding them that your company’s service or product is around to make their lives easier. This means that they start to associate your name with being part of their solution which means promotional clothing serves a double purpose, instant solution and long term positive association with your brand.

For something a little different, creating ‘winter fun’ kits can be a good way to show customers that you’re always focused on the positive. Branded gloves, hats and scarves, neatly packaged with a cheap toboggan, make ideal Christmas giveaways, and to double their promotional effect you can run a competition where the person who sends in the funniest or most exciting photo of them wearing their promotional clothing on their toboggan wins a winter-themed prize like an adventure day on a dry ski slope or a chance to make an ice sculpture. You can even display the photos on your facebook page or company website and ask the public to vote for the winter to get a triple promotional boost from your printed or embroidered clothing.

In Pennsylvania a businessman has started a new charitable organisation to provide encouragement to the masses and T-shirts to the most disadvantaged in American society, such as homeless people.

The idea behind the People Helping People Project is simple. For every T-shirt somebody purchases, another will be given away free to a disadvantaged individual.

The T-shirts for sale have inspirational messages on them, along with inspiring images such as the sun breaking free from clouds. The founder of the organisation says that he’s responding to a sense of gloom in US society, “ … the recession, the layoffs, the floods, the earthquakes, people are panicking …I want to inspire them and let them know that they just gotta go another day,” says David Wrobel.

The project also includes the option to sign up for a newsletter packed with inspirational tips, and it’s intended that in future there will be an option for individuals to buy their own shirt and nominate a person to receive the free one, along with a handwritten note of encouragement. People Helping People is also considering offering printing business T-shirts to businesses and clubs with their own company’s logo on them. For each one purchased, another T-shirt would be given away to a needy individual.

The hospitality industry is changing rapidly. HR Magazine says it now provides one in 15 jobs in the UK, and that over 7% of the working population are in the hospitality sector – it’s also expected to be one of the largest growth areas for new employment in the next decade.

Uniforms for hospitality staff have changed as the sector has grown – polo-shirts and smart trousers have replaced button-through shirts as daywear in around a third of eating establishments and more than two-thirds of pubs and bars.

Even casinos are changing their clothing choices, opting for bright T-shirts under waistcoats for table-waiting staff and black uniforms for croupiers giving way to green, red or even purple as a corporate colour. It seems that these brighter colours are intended to create a ‘point of difference’, in allowing venues to differentiate themselves from other locations. Because they are still dark enough to take stains and spills in their stride, the green, red and purple shirts are proving popular with staff too.

Table staff are increasingly being given ‘throwaway’ clothing – ultra-bright T-shirts or vests overprinted with large messages about two-for-one cocktail prices, house specials, or special rates being offered at the attached hotel for lucky gamblers who’ve won big.

Aprons have become a big deal in up-scale dining, with pizza and flambé chefs who work at table being given special aprons, bearing their name, so that guests can specify which individual they wish to cook their food.

Some work clothing has Health and Safety implications – it has to meet the needs of staff who are exposed to the elements or work in difficult conditions. In these cases, High Visibility clothing allows the company, and the individual, to feel confident about safe working.  However, for many companies the chance to brand the outer clothing of their employees is not just about identification – it’s a way to generate public awareness, build team identity and create opportunities to add to the company’s profile.

Choosing the right jacket or fleece is important as it gives employees confidence in their appearance: it needs to be fully comfortable, easy to wear and smart. The logo and details you add to the jacket, whether it’s embroidered or printed, is the final finishing touch that gives a jacket or fleece its professional appearance.

A tailored jacket for women looks fantastic and is specially designed to look good on the female form, while a more relaxed blouson-style jacket works well for a younger workforce in a more casual environment.

Detailing on a jacket can range from a discreet logo and telephone number or website address through to large images that showcase your business activity along with promotional details that encourage people to come and find out more from the wearer.

Perhaps the most famous promotional jackets are American: the letter jackets worn by High School athletes and the ‘colours’ worn by biker gangs – they both have instant recognition factor and carry a strong message to the viewer. This is why it’s important to work with a good clothing printer to ensure that the message your clothing carries is more ‘letter’ than ‘chapter’ – printers and designers have experience in how people respond to images, colours and ideas, so calling on a reputable supplier of printed and embroidered clothing to help you put your brand jacket together is essential for maximum success.

The way staff are dressed matters to them, to customers and clients, and to the world at large. How does a company make the right choices?
The right uniform for staff

Comfort and style both matter. Your staff have to be comfortable and able to conduct their duties without even the slightest hitch in their performance. This can mean choosing polo-shirts that are crease-resistant for drivers and delivery men, or crisp poly-cotton tabards for medical staff.

The right uniform for customers

Matching your clientele and the services you offer to the uniform you provide is vital. Make company clothing too formal and you turn off a younger, more relaxed customer base who might think you’re expensive and inflexible, but make it too casual and there’s the risk that more traditional customers will reject you as being unprofessional. Look at what your competitors do and whether you’re upscaling or downscaling from their position. If you’re a budget airline, for example, and your rival puts their staff in polo-shirts, you might go for bright T-shirts, but if you want to be considered an upmarket alternative to that rival, you might choose short-sleeved shirts with embroidered logos.

The right uniform for public awareness

If your chosen branded clothing is confusing or too similar to that of another company, you may end up with brand confusion rather than brand identity. Finding the perfect, easily replicable, globally identifiable logo can take time: not everybody manages the Nike swoosh or the WWF panda the first time they try, but logos can be adapted over time to work better and better, so work with a good designer to ensure your choice will deliver on all levels such as digital, clothing, stationery and vehicle branding as well as being an acceptable image internationally. You might not intend to capture global markets (yet!) but if your small town image travels, say on a company T-shirt or on a bag that’s taken on holiday, and it causes offence, it’s achieved the opposite of your intention. Getting the brand image right means that you can relax and feel that whoever sees your brand, wherever they see it, they’ll get the best impression of your organisation.