With a wide variety of potential uses and applications, promotional apparel remains very a very popular advertising medium. The value of a simple shirt is great when it is used as a vehicle for a company logo, brand name or slogan, so choosing the right polo shirt for your needs is important. Finding the best polo shirt involves examining your intended purposes for the shirts, as well as the type of message you want them to convey. Consider design decisions such as color, design, comfort and fit, and of course the cost of the items, before making your final selection.
- Color and Design
The color of your polo shirts is a more important factor than you might think at first glance. Colors are important because they can be reflective of your company image--somber and serious neutral tones may be your preference if your shirts are to be worn by your staff in a bank or other professional institution, but this will not do if your shirts are intended for the attendees of a company picnic or sporting event. Also make sure to choose colors that will complement your company colors and logo, and will appeal to the recipients of your shirts, too.
- Comfort and Fit
Comfortable, durable fabrics are a must no matter who will wear the shirts and for what purpose. Nobody will want to wear shirts made from itchy or uncomfortable fabrics. Cotton and polyester-cotton blends are the ideal fabrics for polo shirts, and in fact polo shirts are almost always made from these. Pure cotton is generally softer and better-wearing than the poly-cotton blend; however it is also usually more expensive, so it's important to weigh up quality versus cost when deciding what type of fabrics to use.
Good-fitting shirts are also a must. Don't simply buy one size of shirt and hope that will do--it certainly won't! It's always best to buy shirts in as many sizes as are available, so that all possibilities--and all shapes and sizes--are covered. In general, you will need more medium-sized shirts than you will very large or very small ones but it is definitely a good idea to make sure you have a range of sizes on hand.
- Cost
Polo shirts and other promotional apparel typically offer a good return on your investment, since they tend to be longer-lived items than things such as promotional pens, and because they are a highly visible advertising medium.
Cost may end up being your primary consideration--it will, after all, determine how many shirts you can afford to buy, and the quality of the items as well. In general it's best to buy the best quality you can afford, both to increase the longevity of your polo shirts and to make sure that the recipients of your gifts are satisfied with the item. Buying shirts made from good quality, durable fabrics is important if your staff will be wearing them at work--the harder-wearing the item is, the less often it will need to be replaced, and in the long run that means more value for your money.
