April/May 2007

Chocolate's the New Black

By Kenneth Hein

Revolutionize jeans and tees by adding an ornate headband. Tie a woman’s scarf onto a bag strap. These are just two of the fashion tips Glamour recommends for spring. And, don’t forget your $290 Betsey Johnson shoes and $95 Juicy Couture necklace.

Such is the world of fashion, and while promotional products purveyors need to keep an eye on whether floral prints are in (they are), the ad specialties industry is generally guided by more mainstream (and generally less expensive) macro trends.
Wearables Business set out to decipher what’s hot in the wearables world. After talking to nearly a dozen distributors of various sizes and sensibilities, we’ve come up with these 10 must-know fashion tips.

1 Female employees fit in. The demand for fashionable logoed women’s apparel has increased greatly, and the trend isn’t likely to reverse itself. Not so long ago, women were given men’s clothing, albeit in smaller sizes. Today, companies are tailoring apparel to properly fit women’s forms.

“We sell a lot of polo shirts, men’s and women’s,” says Geri De Good, manager of Middleville, MI-based Trinity Systems. “In the past, the orders would be for traditional men’s-style polo shirts, and women would just wear them. Now we’re getting requests from end-users who want to see women’s fitted styles.”
These shirts tend to be shorter in the shoulders and in length. “People are getting used to the fact that they have a choice. There are a lot more women’s stylings,” says Martha Bede, president of GDC Embroidery & Promotional Products in Virginia Beach, VA.

All About Accessories Any fashion magazine will tell you that the proper accessories can bring an entire outfit together. This holds true for ad specialty accessories: The right accessory can really grab an end-user’s attention and bring the whole program together. Here are three items to recommend to your clients.     1. Crocs. These plastic Italian shoes are all the rage these days. Wearers swear by their comfort, as the shoes mold to the wearer’s feet. Crocs are slip- and odor-resistant, as well as antimicrobial. What’s more, they float. Harmalene Kurz, promotional products manager at St. Louis-based FRI Resources says she’s been getting orders for imprinted Crocs for her lawn and garden store clients. It’s only a matter of time before everyone else slips into this fashion craze. 2. Jelly wraps. For people on the go who want their lip balm or hand sanitizers with them all the time, jelly wraps are essential. These items can be attached to backpacks, diaper bags or tote bags via a clip. Purell GoJo products are currently available, and Staples has already clipped onto the trend, offering jelly wraps at its retail outlets.     3. iPod apparel. OK, everyone officially has an iPod. Now what? iPod clothes. Designers are creating shirts and jackets with hidden pockets and a hole to poke the headphone wire through. “Clients aren’t asking for it on a regular basis, but if it’s a youth market, it’s a different story,” says Michael Kaufman, owner of Jenkintown, PA-based Wear It’s At. Rock on!

2 Let’s talk about the weather. Climate-controlled wearables, which keep the wearer cool, are cited by distributors across the board as a hot product. Moisture-wicking fabrics popularized by Nike and the like have attracted everyone from corporate buyers looking to give an in-demand gift to hotel chains wanting to upgrade their uniforms.

“We’re selling a lot more of the climate-controlled fabrics than we had in
the past,” says Jim Meeks, president of Motes Advertising in Chattanooga, TN.
The only problem? “Getting supplies, since they sell out quickly. Here in the South, in the summer, people prefer moisture-wicking clothing. Hopefully the suppliers will do better this year,” Meeks says.

Eric Lerner, president of Charlotte, NC-based Action Plus Sportswear agrees. “Everyone’s asking for moisture-wicking fabrics.
It started last year.”

3 Chocolate is the new black. Colors in fashions change as quickly as, well, the latest fashions. Of late, many are opting for a chocolate brown color. Harmalene Kurz, promotional products manager at St. Louis-based FRI Resources says, “We’re doing a lot of chocolate in T-shirts right now. It started last summer.
“Stay away from white,” says Joyce McNeal, owner of Advertising Aids Co. in Springfield, OH. “I saw an article in Glamour saying that chocolate is the new black. I like that idea. It’s neat for a change.”

4 Love your mother (nature). Companies are warming to eco-friendly products as quickly as the planet is supposedly warming from greenhouse gases. Nature-friendly brands such as Cutter & Buck, which touts its global consciousness and organic cottons, have been getting the call of late.

“People are making more of a commitment to the environment. They’re trying to be one with the Earth,” Lerner says. Call it a coincidence, but he also notes that “tie-dye shirts are coming back strong.”

5 Thanks Tommy Bahama. Loose-fitting, short-sleeved camp shirts continue to prove popular. The shirts, once just a favorite of middle-aged men on vacation, were popularized by Tommy Bahama (although its fabric designs typically include women in hula skirts).

“Camp shirts are big. Every year more and more suppliers are offering them,” says Rod Miller, president of Oklahoma City, OK-based Homer Miller Co. Fittingly, “We did 600 pieces for a convention in Hawaii,” he says.

Jackie Giordano, partner at San Diego-based Personal Touch West, has also seen a demand for camp shirts. In some cases, her company has produced these all-over print shirts covered in a company’s logo. “People wear them at trade shows or give them away,” she says.

6 Try the patch. While embroidery will always be the tried-and-true embellishment technique, a number of suppliers are offering appliqué heat transfer patches that are sewn on. “It gives the piece a little more dimension than regular embroidery,” says Michael Kaufman, owner of Jenkintown, PA-based Wear It’s At.

Lerner agrees, calling appliqué patches the “coolest thing I saw all year. It’s like old school patches stepped up a notch,” he says.

7 Carry all sizes. There are many folks at companies who need big and tall sizes. Neglecting them could be the difference between getting an order and losing it. Miller says he likes men’s sizes that go up to 5X. “More and more employers with 15,000 employees need these sizes. I like to get about 15 4Xs and three 5Xs,” he says.

8 Shape up T-shirts. Some distributors such as Meeks have been offering shirts packaged in plastic and shaped like a tennis shoe, a plane or a machine, for example.

“We’ve had quite a few nice orders on custom-shaped T-shirts,” Meeks says. “They’re a little more unique. You can do a four-color imprint on the outside of the package and then a one-color imprint on the shirt. It’s not as costly, but you get the same effect.”

For example, shoe-shaped shirts have been used for corporate wellness programs that encourage walking.

9 Watch the logo-go-round. It depends on your client, of course. Logos don’t always have to go over the left pocket.

Lerner says he’s getting more requests for logos on the backs of shirts.
“What’s popular: a small logo placed between the shoulders,” says Garry Pierce, coordinator of Owensboro, KY-based Greenwell-Chisholm Printing. He says logo placement over the left pocket is still popular, but he’s seen lots of requests for shirt-back logos. McNeal, meanwhile, has seen logos on shirt and jacket sleeves as well.

10 A better brand of apparel. Brand names are getting the call from many clients these days. “Last year we had a client who insisted on a Greg Norman shirt for her golf outing. I tried to talk her out of it,” Kaufman says. “She could have gotten something with a similar look, but without the name. I’m glad she did it, though.”
Across the board, Kaufman has found that many buyers “will upsell themselves. They say for the reorder, ‘We want something nicer.’”