T-Shirt Marketing

HR pros are constantly challenged with dress code policies.  As such, I saw something in the attire at the recent Social Recruiting Summit that I wanted to explore further.  It was t-shirts.

Yep, t-shirts.  But not just any t-shirt.  A company t-shirt.

Some people labeled it brand marketing.  Some just called it being comfortable.  Either way – I wonder if it makes sense?

And let me clarify…we’re not talking logo polo shirts.  They were regular cotton t-shirts with big logos on them.

When I worked at the airline, our marketing department had the nicest t-shirts.  Well designed, nice materials.  Everyone loved them.  But we really weren’t encouraged to wear them to work.  At home, sure…great way to promote the company.  Now I wonder if that was the right thing – if the shirts were good enough to give to our customers and we wanted people to wear them around town – then why weren’t they good enough to wear to work?

The benefits to wearing t-shirts at work are several – it does promote your brand.  If your employees like working at your company, they will probably wear a t-shirt with the company logo.  T-shirts are worn all the time – at work, grocery store, bank, etc.  You could get some marketing mileage that magazine ads and billboards can’t duplicate.  And they’re comfortable – who doesn’t like a nice comfy t-shirt?!

The downside is … well, it’s a t-shirt.  Let’s face it, the t-shirt is considered cheap clothing.  Whether it really is or not.  As a general rule, when we think of corporate attire, the logo polo gets the vote.  But that negates the casual comfort of a t-shirt.  Not to mention that logos on polos are small.  A t-shirt has plenty of advertising real estate – both on the front and back.

So what do you guys think?  Are t-shirts in style for corporate attire?  Should we give our employees comfort in exchange for them being a walking advertisement for our business?

It’s got me thinking…HR Bartender t-shirts?  In organic materials, of course.

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