Back in action....

Yes, there's not been a blog article for a while! It's not that things slow down in the summer months, if anything with the profusion of outdoor events it gets busier, but we have been getting in our own holidays and making significant changes to the web site as well. But things are settling down now and we intend to be blogging again on a regular basis.

So what are the changes on the website? They are aimed at making life easier for our customers through amendments to the site that make it simpler to use and by providing more information in a cleaner, clearer way....

• There's a new cleaner home page design; we've reduced the number of navigation links and this makes it easier for customers to head off in the right direction
• We've introduced the Quick Quote facility which allows customers to answer a minimum of questions about what they want, and send us an artwork sample, so we can get back to them with a clear t-shirt printing quote within a working day
• We'd provided new pages setting out information such as what exactly we need in the way of artwork and segmented lots of information that previously used to be on a single page
• We've set up a new section to deal with the Earth Positive range of climate neutral t-shirts
• We've reduced the clutter from our banner to give you a more soothing fluffy blue sky experience (just like the blog has always been!).
  
• And, finally, you navigate from page to page using our new extended menu system that, yes, works not only in Internet Explorer but also in Firefox and far more obscure browsers

The plan for the blog is now to complete our Brand Profiles before concentrating on bringing you more general articles and news. With talk of recession and the seemingly interminable credit crunch, it's the businesses that invest in promoting themselves that will be the ones that will ride out the storm - and we will be here as ever helping them to cut costs while not sacrificing their ethics.

A t-shirt is a t-shirt..... Am I right?

Well a t-shirt has a collar, two arm holes and no buttons so, insofar that this is true, the statement is correct.

But look a little deeper and you find that the variety is enormous:

Crew necks, V-necks, deep V-necks.....
Short sleeves, long sleeves, three quarter sleeves, no sleeves......
Loose fit, tight fit, lady fit.......
Light weight, medium weight, heavy weight, layered.....
Cotton, vintage cotton, organic cotton, bamboo, polyester, polyester / elastane etc etc

- and that's before we start considering the trivial details of colour!

So for promotional wear, should you be thinking beyond "t-shirt"? And if so what will the drivers be?

How often will the shirt be worn?

Some t-shirts will be worn once. We'll hate to suggest they are then discarded, but it happens. Here it normally makes sense that the t-shirt is an economy light weight cotton fabric. But if these t-shirts are to be worn again and again - the more built in quality in the fabric and the printing the better because after all they promote YOUR company or cause. A more resilient heavier weight might be a wise investment.

How warm is the climate?

Although there is normally a correlation between weight and ruggedness, some light weight fabrics are long lasting. So if it's going to be hot, perhaps a better investment is in fabric quality rather than weight.

And then there's humidity. Perhaps the wearers are to be engaged in sporting activities? This needs to be taken account of in making a choice and there are quick dry t-shirts now available made from fast wicking 100% textured polyester that will in some circumstances be a more comfortable alternative to cotton.

Do you want to fuss about size?

If distributing many t-shirts and you don't know who is to be turning up, then it's a good idea to invest in t-shirts that look good on many differently shaped people. Some styles need the right fit to look good, others are far more tolerant.

What exactly is being printed?

When it comes to printing, using plastisol or water based inks, cotton gives safe, predictable results. that said, any fabric making up a promotional wear t-shirt is likely to be suitable for most applications but it's good to take advice for unusual size, shape or colour designs.

What's in fashion?

The t-shirt manufacturer with the longer tighter style will tell you one thing, the one with the shorter looser cut another! But it's a t-shirt, and as long as the cut is right and fabric is quality, it will look good. Think about the range of people who will be wearing it; high fashion does not necessarily work when it comes to promotional wear.

What are your organisation's ethical policies?

Taking account of everything that precedes this question, have you also taken account of the stated ethical policies for purchasing of the organisation that you work for? They may not be communicated well or you may not think they mean it. But if some embarrassing publicity is going to be directed at your organisation because you've made the decision to purchase from a source that is at best obscure in its ethics then it may be you that carries the can.

And the wearer's ethics?

Now we are getting to the core of the business decision. The promotional wear is likely to carry two logos - yours and (unobtrusively to everyone except the person who wears it) that of the t-shirt maker. And quality wise, the recipient may have an adverse reaction to something they perceive to be a throwaway garment.

How about your ethics?

If the purchase decision is yours and you'd be be fussy about what you bought for yourself then why not apply the same principles in buying for your company? The arguments for buying ethically are strong and it need not cost materially more than other options. You'll probably be easily able to justify the cost differential to anyone who questions you!

And if you really want to impress?

Buy organic cotton for it's environmental ethics and its kindness to skin. Or bamboo, for its ethics and its feel of luxurious softness.

There you have it. A t-shirt is not a t-shirt. It's a statement about you and the extent to which you consider the people who wear it. If this all makes the decision too complicated then a quick discussion with our team here at Pier 32 will soon help you out!

What's in a name?

The eagle eyed will have noticed that this section of the Pier 32 site has been renamed "News & Views".

Why?

Well, that's what it is. It may be a blog too, but 'blog' is not quite as precise and for customers visiting the site they now know a little more what to expect.

There's a scurrilous rumour circulating here that it was simply that I wanted to stop Gerry asking me, "Scott, what's a blog?"

New Organic T-Shirt Range from Starworld

We are excited to be able to soon expand our organic options when Starworld, our Egyptian supplier from whom we purchase most of the ethically produced T-shirts, Hoodies and other cotton garments that we supply, make available a range of organic garments.

The new range is going to be tagged "Fair Price" organic and will be made from the finest 100% organic cotton fibres - "The garments are 100% organic - we do not use cheaper 'organic: in conversion' fibres - only fully certified organic cotton" say Starworld. Indeed, the shirts are to be certified to GOTS (the Global Organic Textiles Standard) by the internationally respected Netherlands based Control Union.

Starworld is a manufacturer that have supplied Pier 32 with ethically manufactured t-shirts for many years. They insist that no corners will be cut to achieve a "Fair Price" and that price will enable the promotional clothing buyer, who has previously assumed that to look at the organic option is cost prohibitive, to think again. "We know that there is a growing demand for organic cotton promotional wear in the wider marketplace: printers and embroiderers are interested in promoting organic alternatives, and their customers want to buy organics. However, those customers are still working to budgets that rule out the highly priced products from most other suppliers. Affordability is key, and that's just what the Starworld Organic Cotton range delivers".

The Starworld Organic Cotton range of T-Shirts and other promotional clothing will be available from March 2008. Look out for the forthcoming update of our site!

The Climate Neutral T-shirt

"The humble T-shirt - the most basic canvas for communicating a brand name, corporate identity or political slogan, has become the environmental product"

Thus spake Continental Clothing who have just come up with the Climate Neutral T-Shirt (which Pier 32 are pleased to able to supply). These T-shirts are manufactured with power generated from wind and solar power and combined with the use of low impact organic cotton and other climate sensitive measures such as containerised ocean shipping, carbon emissions per T-shirt by up to 80-85% reduced compared with T-shirts measured by conventional methods.

More good news (as you can tell from the image) is that it's not just T-shirts - there are hoodies and polos too.

See the Climate Neutral Apparel website for more information or see the continental organic T-shirt selection on our website.

Christmas Day wishes....

Being a bit of a geek (only a bit, I hope), I logged on today, Christmas Day, to see if friends might just be pushing emails in my direction.

But no, thankfully, almost nothing in the inbox. My physical letter box has been fully functional and everyone who I expected to drop me a note already has.

I say almost nothing in the Inbox, but in fact, gosh, there a more than the odd High Street store dropping me an email with Christmas Greetings and an invitation to...

....go sale shopping.

TODAY!

Now the commercialisation of Christmas has pushed Boxing Day into a working day for many but today surely is a day too far.

Anyway, Pier 32 are pleased to announce that no T-shirts are being printed today. Or tomorrow. And if someone really needs them, yes we'll be printing on Thursday but given half a chance we are all going to have a well earned rest all week

And we hope you are too.

As for me, I'm a bit of a geek. Just checking my emails, honest ;-)

And hoping you are all have a great day. Away from the computer!

Welcome!

Over the last year or so a tide of change has been sweeping through the clothing industry as consumers, as in other sectors, begin to look beyond (and behind) brands, high street fashion, and price to see what impact their purchase might have on this planet and other people.

At Pier32 we are thrilled at this new conciousness, and we want to do our bit to raise it even more and broaden the knowledge base of those already in the know. But its not just the general public we want to communicate with, we want to keep our customers informed of the direction things are moving and and what we are doing to provide them an ethical choice. And we want to hear what they want if we are not already providing it.

To help keep things organised, we will be labeling posts with the big issues - ethics in clothing, organics, child labour etc - or just Pier 32 when we are dealing with news that is more about our business and its customers.

I am Gerry Hayter and Pier32 is my business, but I am not the only one contributing to its success so on this blog you will hear from others too. And you can contribute by responding to our posts, to make this blog better, and the business better too.

I hope you check back often to see what's going on