Custom printed T-shirts are ubiquitous in our day-to-day world. Almost 50% of all consumers have some type of promotional T-shirt and T-shirts are one of the most popular custom apparel items out there. They’re relatively inexpensive to make, can come in a variety of colors, and are easy to personalize with a slogan, a business or organization’s name, and other information. They also serve as “walking advertisements” of sorts — the more people that wear them and are out and about, the wider the T-shirt’s message will spread. (It’s natural for other people to try and read T-shirts, especially if there’s a funny graphic or eye-catching slogan.) If you’re trying to drum up business or make yourself better known in the community or surrounding area, consider offering free T-shirts or other promotional items, like hats, bags, coffee mugs, etc. People will be interested — if only to get the free item — and you might be able to speak with them about what your business does or how it operates and gain new customers.
Why Are T-Shirts Such a Good Idea?
T-shirts are among the most beloved custom apparel products out there. Almost 60% of consumers say they felt positively about an advertiser who handed them a promotional T-shirt and almost 50% of Americans have a logoed shirt. And we get attached — over 90% of Americans say they have a favorite T-shirt. Over 60% say they have more than ten T-shirts in their closet and the average person has almost 30 T-shirts! Globally, around two billion T-shirts are sold worldwide — that’s a lot of T-shirts! There’s really no question that T-shirts are the most popular custom apparel items out there. Plus, you could be doing the environment a favor — if you purchase T-shirts for your screen printing that are made of recycled cotton, you could keep over five billion tons of textile waste from being dumped in the landfill per year!
How Effective Is Customized Apparel At Advertising?
The statistics aren’t bad for popular custom apparel items. Most people tend to remember the brands or companies who gave them a custom shirt, although interestingly enough, the rate of remembering was dependent on region. If you’re from the Midwest, 95% of people were able to remember what brands they received a T-shirt from and just over 80% of people in the Southeast remembered. The other regions fell between the Southeast and Midwest.
It may actually be a little surprising to some people how effective T-shirts are at advertising — a shocking number of people do wear them out and about on a regular basis. Although many custom printed T-shirts are relegated to sleepwear or doing outdoor work, many people will opt to wear a free T-shirt while exercising or wearing it out and about on casual errands. If you give out 1,000 T-shirts and only 500 people wear them in public, that’s still a lot of free advertising being done in different areas, without a lot of effort from you! Now that’s what we call a win-win!
Where Can I Go to Get T-shirts Printed?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Internet is making T-shirt printing even easier than before. There are many websites where you can design your T-shirts online, choosing a base color, type font, font color, and what you want your T-shirt to say. In these cases, usually purchasing a bulk order is better, as you’ll receive a discounted price. You can also print on other popular custom apparel items like hats, sweatpants, tank tops, etc.
If there’s an apparel store in your neighborhood, they may also do custom printing right there in the store, and that’s a great way for you to support another local business as well. They may also point customers in the direction of your store or keep promotional materials for you in their store. After all, they’re advertising their good handiwork on your T-shirts — they want people to be able to see it!
If you’re thinking about an effective way to start advertising your business, opting for custom apparel is certainly one of them. Making that apparel free is another sure-fire way to draw customers in at first and advertise!