New team t-shirts
 

My PR team is in the middle of a small debate. They are wondering whether or not we should change the design of our shirt each year. There are some students on the team who say that it's fun to have a new shirt each year, and there are some who say having the same/similar shirt for a while helps with making the team more recognizable, and helps with the team brand.

I am neutral, since as leader of the PR team I would like to see how my students will figure this out, and since both sides have good arguments.

Since this was brought up in today's meeting, it got me thinking. Where does your team stand in the whole new shirt/old shirt thing? Please give reasons if you can.

Thanks!

*Note, this is not for the debate purposes, just for my own curiosity*

Re: New team t-shirts
 

We decided to keep the back of the shirt the same (team logo, name, number, school, etc) and change the "slogan" on the front of the shirt. First year on the team you get shirt #1, second year you get shirt #2, etc.

That way as a senior you will have four different team shirts, not four shirts that are the same.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

My old team, 11, has a very recognizable presence at our events because of our competition uniforms. What we have done as a tradition is wear our yearly t-shirts, sweatshirts/hoodies on Thursday and sometimes Friday, and then wear our Pit Crew uniforms on Saturday. It allows us to have new and different t-shirts in each student's collection but then on Saturday we are all one big unit. The uniforms are purchased freshman year and last all 4 years (at 40 bucks a pop) and then t-shirts are cheap.

Some of the t-shirts are "I <3 Autonomous Mode", regular MORT t-shirts, and new for the year are shirts related to the team's pumpkin chunkin contests.

You can see all the different apparel in these pictures http://mort11.org/photos/2011mortrollout

Most teams share this concept as well. We'll most likely do something similar on 3929- have a dedicated uniform for competitions and major events, and then have other t-shirts and hoodies that can change year to year or whenever someone comes up with a cool design. (I personally love 2056's polo's).

Hope that helps.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

2537 is known locally for our "bowling" shirts. It's a big part of our identity. We don't put any sponsor information on our shirts (except for a NASA patch the first 2 years) so that isn't a factor for us. This is our 5th year and our shirts have never changed. It's also good for the families financially because students usually wear the shirt for more than one year.



But another thing is that we don't have any students really interested in design. If you do it would be a fun project for them.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Well first I want to compliment you on your shirt color at CalGames. The bright yellow was easily identifiable and stood out from the crowd.

Now for the topic of shirt design, a wholly consistent design would get a bit boring, but a complete change every year would also not be a great way to promote identity. I would suggest having the front be more complex and change every year, but having the back stay consistent.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

111 wore bowling shirts for one year during the 90s. According to some of my mentors from that time, everyone was totally confused.

Needless to say, we switched back to Tie Dye. From this experience, you could infer that keeping a recognizable image is very important. Especially after something as drastic as going from "Hippie Culture" all the way to "Backup ESPN2 Programming".

The colors should definitely not change. You guys should also have a standard logo (i.e. the Thunderchicken or our little MWM-esque symbol); however, every year, we have a new image & text that we put on the back of our shirts to mix things up.
To satisfy both parties, figure out what things you want to standardize in order to keep that sought-after team image, but take a few creative liberties otherwise.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Our team has basically decided to have two shirts - one is our off-season and demonstration shirt and the other is our competition shirt. The former will change each year and the latter will stay the same.

-Daniel

Re: New team t-shirts
 

We do custom game specific t-shirts for every game. Here are some examples.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Thanks! The color was just an idea, and I guess the plan of standing out a bit more worked! Thanks for the advice! I like the idea of changing the front and leaving the back the same.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

If you're concerned with the team brand but want something new, changing only one side sounds like a good compromise.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

This year we have decided to stick with the same t-shirt year after year and just change the sponsors. Although the past few years we have had our bowling shirts. We are also considering a polo for those who are doing chairman's/ demonstrations.

On the other hand I do understand why people like a changing shirt year after year. I still have all of mine from in high school and every other one we have had. I also have 3 or 4 different style of 1108's shirts that I've acquired from my cousin's and aunt being apart of the team.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Another option you may wish to look at is additional spirit wear: hooded sweatshirts, hats, polo shirts, button up shirts, jerseys, etc. Our hooded sweatshirt is done by the same vendor that does our tshirt and since it is the same layout the only additional cost is the sweatshirt.

If you decide to go the embroidery option I would ask your local schools' activities director who they use for the sports teams.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

We keep our shirts the same every year, but there are some minor changes as they years go on (ex. add sponsor names, put a background of the SparX logo)

Re: New team t-shirts
 

We do something very similar on 125 (most likely because members of 125 that were on MORT in HS started the uniform tradition on 11). We find it works very well for us.


I'll point out a few examples I can think of where teams "mix it up" but stay within a certain zone. Right off the bat, TJ^2 and WildStang use tie-dye to great success. However, I've seen both teams mix up the tie-dye scheme slightly to give a different look, but still keep the "brand".

I've seen many teams utilize the same color scheme, but change the logo or slogan up on the uniform. I personally don't think theres any problem with this if you do it right. The first thing teams will identify you with is your team colors, so staying consistent is important. However, maybe one year you can invert your colors. Say you are usually black with bits of yellow, maybe you can be mostly yellow with bits of black, you get the idea.

I think you will find a good balance between "mixing it up" and "keeping the brand" if you are conscious of the choices you are making.

-Brando

Re: New team t-shirts
 

From 2002 to 2006 we changed our team shirts, logo and name from year to year and there really wasn't much that stayed the same aside from our team colors, blue and orange. Since 2006, we've kept the same basic shirt design (excluding our 10 year anniversary shirts) and have become more strict about our team colors. I'd have to say it's helped branding quite a bit.

That being said, there are quite a few teams I can think off of the top of my head that have a different shirt for every year, but usually use the same color combinations or shirt type. 1089 and 365 come to mind here, they use soccer type shirts and print a different logo for each year. From a distance, the shirts look the same, but up close it's neat to see how they've changed the logo for the game.

To me at least, there's nothing wrong with changing up shirts from year to year, as long as they stay somewhat similar. You don't want to be Orange one year, Green the next and then Purple the following. Makes it a bit hard to remember your team.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Unless you're 399... but they only do that to their robot.:D

Since 2003, 330 has only changed their basic design once, and it was a minor change (though the exact blue used has changed a few times). Blue with yellow lettering, front stays the same, sponsor list on the back changes.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

We do a different design every year. Some have to do with the game and some don't, but each different design brings back a little nostalgia for that year. We also in the past used to get 2 different colors, our traditional maroon with gold graphics and the inverse, gold with maroon graphics. We have also thrown in hoodie's, polo shirts and long sleeves every few years so each group of students going through can get them if they want to.

But thebiggest reason to vary tee-shirt design is so that you can participate in "THROWBACK THURSDAY", wearing an older year tee-shirt to events on Thursday. This is a tradition on my team and we encourage others to join in.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Team recognition is very important. Our first year was 2001 and oe thing that stannds out for me is Team 175 and their yellow smiley face.

On 716 we wear a tie dyed shirt with a huge question mark on the front during competition days. On practice days we allow the students the option to wear a silk screened shirt with question mark.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

It seems like most people have already hit on the point that branding is extremely important, so even if you change some aspects of your t-shirt design you want the overall appearance to be recognizable from year to year. Changing just one side of the shirt, or keeping the same color scheme and certain aspects but adding game-specific designs seems like it may be a good option if you do want new designs each year. 1124 re-branded as the UberBots in 2005 after our main sponsor changed, and we didn't come up with a logo until 2006, but since then our shirts have been essentially the same each year because of the branding aspect.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

MOE does has the continuity that each year's logo has one gear per year of existence - last year's shirt had 12 gears (really - see if you can find them). They are all at http://moe365.org/shirts.php . The design (and robot name) are chosen each year in a contest from entries submitted by team members.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

418 seems to continually add to our repertoire. We have a logo that is recognizable and is always on the shirt but the shirts seem to evolve and change. We have tee shirts, polos, and we've recently added a Hawaiian-style shirt with a mixed pattern of our logo and different robots. We place our tee shirt order very early in the fall semester in preparation for the community outreach efforts and for various competitions. Our next order coming up will be the polos. We wear those as a team on the days that members of the team have a presentation to make at Texas BEST or for the Chairman's Award or in meetings with sponsors/VIPs. By wearing the polos as a team, we want our presentation team to know that we are supporting their efforts. The tee shirts have become our generic shirts for travel, practice days, demos, and S.M.A.R.T. Camps. Our Hawaiian shirt is still evolving. We used it last year at the Dallas Regional on Saturday. Saturdays can be very intense but they are also a lot of fun and I think the Hawaiian shirts reflect that.

It's hard not to want to create new shirts because the team is full of creative people who are always thinking. The constraints that we deal with are the family budgets and what they are willing to spend on shirts, the branding aspect of the design, and the overall appearance as a unified team. When we travel, we ask that veteran members pack extra and share with the newer members at the event. We make sure that the members keep track of who borrowed/loaned what and it works out. Then as the new members become veterans, they are asked to share with the new members as needed. It's become a cycle of helping our team keep ourselves unified and branded in a happy way.

We've made some poor choices, too. The years that we decide to use gray for our main tee shirt color never works. There are those of us who shall remain anonymous *cough* who love to use the gray. It doesn't work because we are known for our purple branding. In the end, the gray shirts usually become travel shirts or Throw Back shirts and we stick with purple and with our logo. One last thought - we get busy so early in the school year that we ask/tell our new team members to wear a plain purple shirt to the events until they can borrow or purchase a team shirt. That works, too.

I like this topic. It's fun.
Jane

Re: New team t-shirts
 

My team (team 45) has been around for a while and to my knowledge each year the shirts have differed. We typically have 3 themed shirts, one for each day of competition. My freshman year (2010) we had a red shirt with a batman-like technokat symbol, a navy shirt with a green lantern-like FIRST symbol and a light blue button up (the theme was superheroes that year). We generally change up the designs and colors each year to fit the game and the large group of fashion minded people on our team. Recently we have been discussing getting a set shirt to use for each season though.

For the sake of image it would probably be wise to keep a standard shirt style/design.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Last year we finally got a logo and are trying hard to build a brand. While the basic shirt with our logo and sponsors will be our standard shirt, we want to have a new one every year that is fun and personalized for that year.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

For the past 4 year, 610 has had a different form of team clothing, whether it be a "rugby shirt", polos or sweatshirts. It is really cool to have a variety of team clothing from all your different years on a team. I do agree with having a more consistant look when team clothing is being created. I know an idea that we are throwing around is creating a set color palette for all team clothing and that the clothes all need to have certain features to them (team number, logo, sponsors, etc...). Clothing is always one of the hardest thing to decide upon amongst team members.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

I know that. Our team typically has a hard time agreeing on designs and colors.

Re: New team t-shirts
 

Well Tech High Robotics is known for changing their theme every year and having different T-shirts. It's kind of fun each year to have a new t-shirt and not bound to the same theme every year.