Twice in recent days, promotional clothing has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. To begin with, one retailer managed to list T-shirts for sale that appeared to predict a win in the upcoming England v Scotland match!

It appears that an online stock checking system was incorrectly implemented, so that a promotional T-shirt that had been designed to commemorate the 2008 Calcutta Cup win by Scotland were reoffered for sale, in relation to the opening Six Nations match which has yet to be played. Last time the two sides met, England won.

Scotland fans seem to have decided that relisting old T-shirt was a bad omen: the Scots have a story that many companies produced commemorative ties and sportswear based on a confidently predicted English Grand Slam victory in 1990, which had to be destroyed when Scotland won 13-7. The parallels have left many superstitious Scotland supporters very unhappy!

Also making negative headlines is the new ruling that New York City police officers cannot wear, own or possess anything that carries the famous NYPD shield, unless that item is an official uniform component. The ban has caused an outcry, as many officers chose to wear non-official shield-bearing clothing when they are off duty, as a sign of solidarity, particularly since 9/11.

A spokesman for the NYPD said, “The department wants to deter the unprofessional appearance associated with unauthorized police-related logos and slogans.” However, the president of the police union claims that the ruling is nonsensical and may infringe the right to free speech. Many officers are already asking why the only people in the world who can’t have an NYPD keyring or vest are the members of the NYPD itself.

Both stories highlight the risks involved in pre-empting anything, whether it’s public opinion, a sporting result, or market testing before choosing promotional material. It’s difficult to turn bad press into good news, and taking time to ensure that promotional clothing is legal, decent and accurately portrays the story you wish to tell can save a lot of negative headlines.

In a recent case, Bobosky v. Adidas AG d/b/a Adidas Group, the US District Court for Oregon has ruled that the National Basketball Association and sportswear company Adidas did not have to prove trademark registrations in a slogan they used in the Basketball Brotherhood advertisements in the USA. The case was brought by a community fundraising group in Chicago who had applied for trademark use for the slogan We Not Me in 1999. The plaintiff was given leave to proceed in trying to establish rights to an unregistered mark with regard to his use of the slogan on T-shirts and baseball caps.

The ruling came about when W. Brand Bobosky, a lawyer and community activist created badges, T-shirts and baseball caps with the slogan printed on them as part of his community development activity in Naperville, Illinois. In 2004 he registered the slogan with the Trademark Office and formed a company to licence goods bearing the slogan. When Adidas created their promotional campaign “Basketball is Brotherhood,” in 2007, it used the slogan in print, on TV and on clothing and Bobosky sued.

The magistrate found that while there were trademark registrations in existence, many were intent-to-use applications covering many categories of clothing from hoodies through to sleepwear. Part of the Adidas case was evidence that much of the clothing did not contain the mark and that on other promotional garments the trademark used was different to the intent-to-use registration. As a result the court ruled that the case could proceed only in relation to the caps which bore the intended mark as had been stated.

This kind of intent registration is increasingly being clamped down on by trademark organisations where individuals register a mark and then do not use it at all or use it in a much more limited fashion than was stated in the intent registration. ‘Blocking’ the use of trademarks, especially slogans, on clothing is seen as a non-competitive practice and in a period of recession, ruling bodies are taking a dim view of anything that limits retail markets operating with as much freedom as possible.

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.

A staff uniform is becoming a more popular incentive for employees the longer the difficult economic situation continues. Everybody can see that being provided with work clothing is a worthwhile benefit, and that when that clothing is easy to care for, it’s a saving both on the wear and tear on personal garments and on the washing and laundering of them too.

So how does a company or organisation benefit from this process?

First, a uniform reveals something a company or business. It conveys an image that the organisation has chosen to adopt, and it displays that image in a way that works both up close and at a distance. If you see a person in a pin-striped suit carrying an umbrella, it conveys a different image to the same person wearing jeans and a hoodie. Organisations can typify themselves equally easily, depending on the garment they choose, the colours they select and the logo or other image that encapsulates their brand.

Polo shirts tend to be the default choice for workplace uniforms because they are unisex, culturally appropriate (as long as both long and short sleeved options are available) and come in a vast range of colours that can help shape an organisation’s identity.

While a corporate identity doesn’t just depend on uniform, the nature of the uniform can shape the identity of the organisation and the culture it develops.

With the bad news about retail sales over the past month, it may be time for many small businesses to design a strategy that uses promotional clothing to increase awareness and boost sales.

One of the easiest ways to win a good share of the Christmas spend is to offer something for nothing. Station a couple of temps outside your premises, giving passers-by a voucher for a free mince pie or glass of mulled apple juice. Set up the hospitality station in the heart of the shop or business, so that people have to walk right in to get their freebie and ensure you have good footfall with a couple more staff members giving away the food or drink and more guiding people back on a circular route through the space so that there isn’t a log-jam. Dress the temps and food servers in appropriate hospitality clothing such as branded aprons and caps trimmed with holly or tinsel so that their role is clear.

Alternatively, identify a local good cause and print some promotional T-shirts for your staff, including both your logo and theirs. Tell the press that you’re going to donate a certain percentage of every purchase over £100 to the charity and make sure you have posters and flyers so that customers know their spend is going to help the good cause. Make sure you issue a press release detailing the amount donated and featuring a picture of your staff in their promotional clothing. It gives you three chances at good publicity: through publicity for the event, during the event itself, and as a good news story after the event.

Disappointing figures in the last quarter show that the slew of promotions offered by many High Street retailers have failed to boost sales.

The British Retail Consortium says that the unseasonably mild weather may have had a part to play in the decline in spending, as people felt no need to buy warmer winter clothing or electrical items that usually herald the run up to Christmas because the temperature did not drop until late November. Clothing retailers saw their worst year-on-year performance in more than two years.

The figures also showed that when purchases were made, spending was on promotional and discounted items, so those shops, whether real or virtual, that stayed out of the promotional scurry may have lost out dramatically.

For the next few weeks, nerves will be tightly strung, as the Christmas rush segues into the January sales period. It seems that the more aggressive promoting tactics being used by many stores, such as leafleting outside shopping centres and having staff in bright T-shirts with Sale! Messages offering to give away bottles of water or handwipes, have been successful in driving crowds stores, but what the spend will be is anybody’s guess – until next month.

This week has seen the unveiling of the uniforms that will be worn by the support staff and volunteers for the London Olympics. Around 70,000 volunteers and 6,000 paid employees will wear the branded clothing which has been designed to be a clear presence for the millions of tourists who will travel to the games.

The clothing has also been designed to balance the practical requirements of uniforms for active people, brand image and promotion of London, of the Olympics and of British heritage. The case study behind the design of the clothing is a useful tool for any company designing work clothing.

The uniform is a functional outfit that divides into two categories:
1.    Games Makers who will be given a jacket, polo shirt, trousers, trainers, socks, cap, and umbrella
2.    Technical Officials receive a jacket, trousers and (for women) a skirt, a shirt, a trilby hat and a tie for men and a scarf for women.
Epaulettes in different colours are used to identify special staff such as white for medical officials, red for team leaders and green for those involved in the anti-doping programme.

This is a good idea for any company that has staff with a range of different roles and functions. Making the various accessories colour-coded helps everybody to know what their job is and what tasks others will be undertaking.

The basic colourway is deep red and purple which picks up on the themes of the regimental uniform of the Grenadier Guards uniform, the original clothing worn by the staff at the 1948 London Olympics, Wimbledon tennis colours and those of the Henley Regatta.

Picking a theme that echoes your company’s heritage is a great way to build brand values – this can be a colour, the cut of the clothing or an emblem that you build into the design to remind people of what underpins your company and why it matter.

There’s a lot of up-to-date detail in the clothing too, drawn from the latest designs in sportswear such as the cut, ergonomic seams and the wicking fabrics.

Using modern detailing such as flat seams, poly-cotton fabrics and work socks that help inhibit foot infections can all keep staff happy and comfortable at work.

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.

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.

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.