With an eye towards improving and growing brand identity, many corporate customers are moving away from choosing inexpensive promotional apparel to represent their brand, and are electing to give away merchandise that has the same quality and style as their customers buy at retail.  To answer that demand, now more than ever, there are a multitude of highly recognized retail brands that are offered in the promotional products industry.

Alternative Apparel, for example, offers a trendier version of the classic baseball jacket.  Their Eco Cashmere jersey style is made of a cotton/poly/rayon blend that features a slimmer fit and softer feel than the earlier, heavier versions of this timeless sports-inspired staple.  This jacket can be worn daily, which gives the brand visibility beyond the ballpark, and increased long-term exposure.

Columbia Sportswear fleece and outdoor apparel; Nike golf shirts and hats;  and Under Armour performance wear are all well-known retail clothing brands with fashion-forward style that are available to corporate customers.  And some of these retail giants support the growing demand for quality retail clothing in the promotional market by moving the placement of their own logo to accommodate a better decoration location for the corporate mark.  Columbia, for instance, places their logo on the right front chest, leaving the traditional left chest location for the corporate brand.  After all, while corporate customers don’t want to lose the advantage of paying up for co-branding with a recognized label, they still want their brand to be front-of-mind.

Consumers are more discriminating about the fit, feel and appearance of their branded apparel, which means the corporate buyer needs to be more informed on all the options when considering how to spend those limited marketing dollars.  Quality over quantity is always a good motto when purchasing clothing that is meant to impress the recipient and be worn again.  Ask about your favorite retail brands next time you meet with your promotional products partner – the choices may surprise you!