Customize Company Swag with the Best Quality Brands

What Are the Best Brands for Company Swag?

There are many different – read: seemingly endless – choices that you'll have when deciding which manufacturers to use for customized company swag. You can go with Nike, Columbia, Lululemon, or a similar well-known household name, but you'll be paying top-dollar. You could just as easily go with a manufacturer that sells plain products of equal quality and save a bunch of money.

There are higher-end options for "blank apparel," which will have products such as fitted, pre-shrunk men's and women's t-shirts, and other quality apparel items such as water-resistant outwear. And of course, there are lower-end options – often perfectly suitable for a company's purpose – which will be more limited, such as offering only unisex t-shirts with minimal customizable options.

You can't go wrong with apparel and wearables such as t-shirts, jackets and sweatshirts, polo shirts, hats, and bags. They're perpetually popular with consumers. According to the 2019 ASI Ad Impressions study, 63% of people keep company swag, like t-shirts, for over a year.

The numbers vary between items, but typically people keep company swag they're given for a while. During this time, the swag continues making impressions on consumers each time it's worn or used.

Some of the most popular apparel companies in the USA to choose from for customized company swag are listed below, along with information such as products offered, qualities, and relative price-point to other brands. Note that price will vary between regions and between promotional products companies. For example, suppose the promo product company has a ton of Gildan t-shirts on hand. In that case, they'll frequently be more inexpensive than ordering a new shipment of one of the other apparel brands.

Note that Gildan brands like American Apparel and Comfort Colors are listed separately for this list. Products are unique between subsidiary brands and possess unique characteristics.

Gildan

Gildan is one of the most popular blank apparel brands, with their most popular items being 100% cotton t-shirts. They offer various cuts, fabric types, and products, usually at a lower price than other brands. This isn't to say that Gildan isn't quality apparel available in a rainbow of colors, but it's nothing fancy.

T-shirt options range from standard unisex fit (their "Classic" and "Modern-classic" fit) to semi-fitted and come in a variety of fabric weights.

Gildan is most well-known for their t-shirts. They also offer polo shirts, water-wicking sports tops, and sweatshirts – crewneck, hoodie, and zip-up.

Port & Company

Port & Company is a great brand to choose for straightforward apparel designs with high value, well-styled clothing designs that don't break the bank. They offer t-shirts, wovens, polo shirts, sweatshirts, and headwear for both men and women.

These products are on a similar level to Gildan. They're inexpensive, they'll last, and often they're all you need if you're whipping up a bunch of freebie t-shirts for the company 5k or to hand out at a conference. They're not on the level of American Apparel or Alternative Apparel, but they'll get the job done at a lower price-point, albeit with less "style."

American Apparel

American Apparel is the most popular brand of ringspun t-shirts and is thinner and softer than "normal" 100% cotton tees. They offer a large variety of cuts and colors and organic options. It is generally considered of better quality than brands like Gildan (even though they're a Gildan brand) and often marketed as "fashion tees."

Price-points on American Apparel items will be higher than brands like Gildan or Port & Company but are much softer fabric and can be printed with specialty inks. If you're going for a higher-end feel to the material, with more complementary cuts, generally speaking, American Apparel or Alternative Apparel is one of the two you'll want to choose.

American Apparel has become a standard for clothing companies around the United States. It offers blanks of everything from tees to shorts, sweatshirts, bodysuits, swimsuits, dresses, jeans, hats, and the list goes on.

Comfort Colors

Comfort Colors is another Gildan brand focused on "mastering the art of comfort" with a unique process that makes the apparel look and feel the way it does. Their apparel comes in 33 styles, 75 colors, organized into six collections for men, women, and children.

Colors are intended to mimic the organic colors of nature. They typically have a "washed out" or slightly faded hue that makes them look and feel like a favorite article of clothing you've had and worn for years.

Alternative Apparel

Founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1995, Alternative Apparel has always tried to uphold its motto of "Soft. Simple. Sustainable." The brand claims to be rooted in sustainable, eco-friendly practices with fabrics sourced for their softness and durability and incorporate organic and recycled materials wherever possible.

Hanes acquired the brand in 2017. Though still headquartered in Atlanta, depending on whom you ask, their sustainability practices aren't what they once were.

However, Alternative Apparel is well-made, fashionable, simple, and available products range from tees and sweatshirts to men's and women's undergarments. Another notable characteristic is their "vintage distressed" fabric, which looks and feels incredibly similar to American Apparel, often at a lower price-point with nearly indistinguishable quality.

Is it Worth Paying Extra for High-Quality Customizations?

As you might have guessed, most people that keep promotional swag do so because they find the item attractive and valuable. This doesn't necessarily mean you need to shell out big bucks for high-quality customizations, but it does mean you should put some thought into what you create.

Sometimes a simple, minimalistic design is the best route for customizing company swag. In other situations, you might decide to hire a hot-shot graphic designer to whip up a design that's a creative statement or an outright work of art.

It's a good idea to think about your company swag design's purpose. Are you trying to stick out at an industry conference where you're one of many companies handing out swag? Are you trying to develop company-branded gear your employees can regularly wear to show their affiliation with your brand? Or something fun to bring home to share with their families?

Tips to Customize Company Swag

People want something they're going to use, and most of the time, being a walking billboard doesn't fit in with most people's style. Ryan Holmes, Founder and CEO of Hootsuite, wrote a piece for Inc.com on company swag people want to wear and included some great tips to keep in mind when creating promotional products for employees.

Holmes says free t-shirts are a dime a dozen in the corporate world, often more of an afterthought than a seriously considered marketing tactic, and most of the time, you're lucky to give them away. The same goes for stickers, USB drives, mousepads, pens, notebooks, or other freebie items.

Holmes argues that these are all missed opportunities, though, because everything you produce is an expression of your company's values. That seemingly insignificant t-shirt is going to be judged by employees and customers – everyone that sees the item – whether you like it or not. By extension, so is your business. So, it pays to customize company swag that people actually want.

Below are a couple of the tips Holmes offered to create high-quality company swag that works.

Consider Skipping a Huge Logo

A huge logo can make your employees and customers look – and feel – like a giant billboard, unless your company is the type of brand known for its logo and is desirable amongst consumers for that logo, such as name-brand apparel.

If you're the marketing manager for Todd's Toilets and Septic Solutions, maybe the recipients of your custom company swag won't be so keen to have a giant logo slapped on their back to be the butt-of-the-joke everywhere they go.

Holmes says if you're going to give something away, give it away with no expectation of immediate return. If you create quality swag products, your company will reap the benefits through positive brand association – a much better outcome than your company swag ending up in Salvation Army bins around the country the week after you hand it out to the intended recipients.

Great Custom Company Swag is the "Ticket to the Club"

Typically, people don't buy or use things for utility alone. With so many options available to them for any given product (broadly speaking, of course. If a company is the sole producer of an item, the exclusivity mentioned below already exists), people want something to wear or use that they also like – just because you gave them a quality, but ugly tote-bag, doesn't mean they're going to use it. If this product identifies them as part of the exclusive club, all the better. Think wearing a "Google Employee" sweatshirt.

People want to join the club –if it's a desirable club to be a member of that indicates their status to others – and all the better if the club is exclusive. Think Apple, high-end designer clothing, Tesla, Ferrari – all these brands have a dedicated customer base that knows they're in an "exclusive club" and want to flaunt their membership.

If you create customized company swag that makes people feel like they're "one of us, one of us;" a member of the private club, they're likely to respond positively to that emotional and materialistic bond and flaunt (or at least regularly use) your promotional products. Positive brand association leads to increased bottom-lines, even if it's not initially noticeable.