Looking forward to Autumn

It's been a while since our last blog update - the summer holiday period and other diversions (related to this business I should add!) have meant that the blog had taken second place to these other activities. But here we are at the keyboard again and what we want to do now is update you of some exciting developments that are around the corner....

We've been looking at new ranges of clothing to offer to expand our offerings to more specific industries and groups. In particular we have been impressed with the new customisable clothing that Kustom Kit have in their new ranges and we will shortly be presenting three new collections aimed at:

The Hospitality Industry - a range of clothing aimed at bars, restaurants, hotels and the catering sector. Christened 'Bargear', comfortable and stylish tailoring to ensure that your staff remain presentable, looking smart and cool in the hot house atmoshere that can often arise in these industries.

Sports Clubs - here Kustom Kit bring 'Gamegear'. Whether you run a health club or a sports team this is a new range of clothing in 'Cooltex' which looks to bring style, comfort and value into this market.

Corporate Wear - from more formal shirts to 'smart casual' the new Corporate wear collection is aimed at teams operating in public facing roles in a host of industries, with 'non-iron' cotton among the options on offer.

As you might expect from a company whose range Pier 32 chooses to promote, Kustom Kit operate under a comprehensive Ethical Code.

We are also looking forward to putting on line the new catalogue of clothing from Starworld, our Egyptian based supplier of ethical promotional clothing with WRAP certification and a great value organic range too. Starworld continues to be the best value out there for organisations whose buying considerations include price, quality and the welfare of the worker along the supply chain.

Finally, we are looking to carry out a revamp of our website. We've been listening to comments that, for example, t-shirts can be found under no less than 3 headings in our drop down menus. What we aim to do is have easy links for t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, kids wear, Hi Viz gear and many other items as well as the new kustom Kit ranges. Behind these links you will find our most popular lines of promotional clothing, whether the source is Starworld, the Continental fashion range or the many other options in our 'Clothing Catalogue'. There will also be Ethical pen pictures of the suppliers to hand with further links to our Ethical Brand Profiles in this blog. The aim, together with our fast, responsive "Quick Quote" service, always backed up with our friendly telephone advice, is to make the whole process of buying custom promotional clothing - ethically - as easy as possible for our customers.

Starworld WRAP it up

Although we offer a huge range of options, the majority of the t-shirts that we print are supplied by Starworld who manufacture the shirts in Egypt. We like Starworld because of the price and the high ethical standards under which they operate. They don't just boast about standards using flowery language, they back up their position with independent certification from a range of sources.

The Oeko-Tex 100 certification means that a whole range of harmful chemicals are not used in the production process. The quality management systems are certified to the ISO 9001 standard. The organic t-shirts are certified organic by Skal to the Global Organic Textiles Standard and carry the organisation's EKO symbol.

Now Starworld are certified by WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production). WRAP is a not for profit organisation based in the USA with an office in Hong Kong dedicated to promoting humane, ethical, and lawful conditions and practices in manufacturing facilities all over the world.

The organisation achieves this in two ways. First, the Certification Program certifies individual factories for compliance with WRAP's principles and procedures concerning, fair pay, workers' dignity, safe and secure conditions, and environmental impact. The Apparel Certification Program has operated since 2000; programs for other industries will be added in the future. Second, various training programs educate workers, factory managers, government inspectors, and others about issues related to global supply chains and their workers.

The WRAP website sets out here what gives their certification integrity. The certificate, which covers all the areas of the Starworld Ethical Policy Statement, and goes further, means that Starworld can be relied on to actually be following the high standards they set themselves - "Our compliance with the WRAP standards is just the beginning is just the beginning of our commitment to our employees and the environment. We have developed a wide range of initiatives that greatly reduce our impact on the planet and contribute positively to the well-being of our workers and the local community"

We'd like to highlight the vertical integration of Starworld. Aside from growing the cotton, the whole production process is carried out by Starworld and its employees. Pier32 buys direct and that means our customers get the best value while the new WRAP certification means that we have ever growing confidence about the ethics of our supply chain.

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!