It appears that the subject of school uniforms is a hot one, and not just because children attending school during the recent cold spell have been turning up with several layers under their uniforms to keep them warm. While Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People thinks boys should be able to wear skirts to school because otherwise school uniform codes are a “discriminatory practice” against “gender variant” pupils.

In Scotland, of course, gender differences are rarely focused on who wears trousers, so the debate is a genuinely interesting one around how students “develop a strong sense of who they are” which can mean having a range of options from which children choose is more sensitive to cultural, gender and other differences but doesn’t foster such a strong sense of identity as a limited uniform where people dress like each other to develop a sense of team spirit.

Michael Gove certainly thinks so. According to radio station Totnes FM, the Education Secretary believes that a local school, King Edward VI community college, should introduce a uniform. His comments have left parents, who are still waiting to vote on the plans, somewhat confused at his interest in one school’s policy.

It’s true that uniforms often foster conformity – everybody from airline pilots to Hell’s Angels gains a sense of solidarity from dressing like each other – and everybody ‘outside’ that group gains from being able to identify which individual is a pilot and which a biker, so there’s a value to society from being able to recognise who’s in which ‘team’. But there are other gains too: a uniform can create a sense of self-esteem and remove the differences that stop people working well together: a rich university graduate and a poor self-educated person are identical when they are playing a team game in the same strip or kit, on the same playing field, and that allows them to bond in a way that might never be possible if they weren’t similarly dressed.

There’s another advantage too: branded, printed and monogrammed clothing all allow outsiders to spot the person they want, whether it’s the manager in a restaurant or the striker in a football team – it’s an intelligent approach to teamwork that allows everybody to benefit.

As President Obama fired a marshmallow cannon in the White House dining room in a publicity stunt that resonated around the world, a range of promotional clothing to fund the incumbent’s Presidential re-election campaign went on sale. It’s a bewildering concept for the British voter: while some people put up posters in their windows, or may put a sticker in their car, almost nobody would wear a campaign T-shirt, unless it was a satirical comment on the election process as a whole. In America though, dressing the part demonstrates commitment to a candidate and to their funding, which is strictly regulated by the Federal Electoral Commission. Beyonce Knowles has designed a T-shirt for the campaign, and a silk scarf created by Monique Pean bears the President’s portrait.

The drive to sell is being fuelled by deliberately low prices which allow people to get a designer label (tops by Marc Jacobs, or a bag by Diane von Furstenburg) at much lower than usual prices. The opposition have raised questions about the issue, suggesting that while the designers may have donated their time for free, anybody who would normally be paid to help produce printed clothing would be ‘underwriting’ the campaign, which is illegal, but the Obama team say they are confident that all the technical support given to and by the designers was voluntary and unpaid.

It’s not always easy to see how you can promote your business: if you’re a plumber then you have contact details on the side of your van; if you’re a baker you put Bakery above your shopfront or market stall, but many businesses these days are more difficult to showcase.

How does a horse-sitter (somebody who exercises horses while their owner is unable to) or a pilates instructor or a public speaking coach get the kind of publicity that other businesses rack up simply by having a shop or vehicle?

It may require a certain amount of ingenuity. If you’re a horse sitter or dog walker, it may be worth getting customised clothing for the animals you work with: dog jackets and dog T-shirts are big fashion business, as well as ideal promotional surfaces, and giving the owner of your dogs a free garment for their animal can help spread your message to others.

For a Pilates instructor, sponsorship may be a great way to go: offering a free session to the local bowls club or running group, followed by having your logo and contact number on their club clothing, is an effective way of enhancing a local visibility and spreading the message to likely clients. It allows you to become identified with something that is positive (sports for older people or community fitness) and can lead to opportunities such as having a stall at a race or local competition.

For a speaking coach, why not consider sponsoring a schools debate – getting children involved in public speaking can lead to a lot of free publicity, local newspapers, TV and radio always love to feature kids doing something interesting and positive and if they are wearing clothing branded with your logo, that can be a lot of free publicity!

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.

‘Karl’ is an online fashion collection which will be offered to net buyers for a month before it is made available in shops.

It’s an increasing trend which analysts identify as being part of the move towards rejuvenation of the fashion industry via the web. Online clothing retail has become a large growth area in otherwise moribund economies, and brands like Versace have seen it as a way of maintaining exclusivity for differing areas of their clothing empires, for example by having an online brand specifically targeted at preteens that doesn’t impinge on their established brands for adults.

In the ten years from April 2001 the overall value of online clothing retail grew by an astonishing 3,200% according to a report by the Interactive Media in Retail Group. This may be in part due to the fact that better-off individuals are more likely to buy named brands and also less likely to be suffering the effects of the recession. Mid-range branded clothing is also growing comfortably through online retailing and group purchasing has increased, suggesting sports teams and small companies are focusing on the benefits to be gained from buying uniforms or team clothing online with free postage, easy returns and discounts for larger orders.

Burberry and Coach have also moved into the online retail market which offers several other benefits, including the ability to discount more heavily. Sports brands such as Nike and Adidas in particular are keen to expand their access to new markets and this is likely to mean that online shoppers benefit from bargains in the months ahead.

While Facebook is the Goliath of social networking, there are many Davids out there, getting niche attention.

One way that brands and businesses are using bespoke social media is to drive networking through only the media that will reach their ideal customer base. So for example, Levis is using Instagram, the hip and retro photographic network, to find models for its next advertising campaign. One committed Instagram user is Jamie Oliver, and Barack Obama’s campaign team use the photo networking site too, as do Burberry, MTV and Bergdorf’s, Gucci, Billboard Magazine and Starbucks.

It’s easy to see that there’s a target market there: liberal, food conscious, keen to be on trend but not a brand slave … and that Instagram carries a message that links similar brands so that Jamie Oliver can be seen wearing Levi’s jeans, or a Bergdorf’s catwalk model spotted drinking Starbucks – the linkages create interest that drives activity.

So for Redbull, for example, find that posting pictures of casually clad people doing ‘out there’ things in daily life – skateboarding to work or dancing in an underground train – links their brand to a small but dedicated social media outlet that will drive attention to their product.

Promotional clothing has an unusual role in this kind of media, because it’s an almost wordless communication – Burberry works hard to ensure its models have a distinctly British look and boosts that by setting them against quintessential British backgrounds to give a strong, if silent, message to viewers.

Storify is being used by many big brands in a similar fashion, but to wrap social media into a brand line (eg Levi’s recent foray into the way women see themselves through their clothing choices) that gives a social media boost to a brand led statement. Tumblr is another social network that is being used to integrate promotional activity, branded clothing, consumer aspirations and peer recommendation.

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.

We’ve got used to camel, merino, bamboo and hemp as additions to textiles and organic cotton has become a commonplace choice for uniforms where companies are committed to environmental progress, but the newest addition to the clothing market is Yak!

The reasoning behind the idea is that wool from yaks, particularly Tibetan Plateau yaks is warmer than lambs wool and softer than cashmere, making it an ideal for sports clothing and outdoor enthusiasts.

The company behind the launch is a consortium of Beijing-based entrepreneurs including a former British Army officer and an American aid worker, and their promotional activity included kitting out Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, (aka the Snow Leopard) who is the first Ghanaian to compete in the Winter Olympics. He wore their fleeces and winter tops throughout the contest.

The company, called Khunu, hopes that the Snow Leopard will be as durable as their products and is donating 2% of the profits back to the yak-herders in the hope that this promotional activity will also garner publicity.

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.