New team t-shirts

[Akash Rastogi]

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.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

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

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

[thefro526]

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.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by thefro526

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.

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

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.

[Peter Matteson]

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.

[Andy Brockway]

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.

[smurfgirl]

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.

[Carol]

Originally Posted by thefro526

....
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 closeen it's neat to see how they've changed the logo for the game..

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.

[JaneYoung]

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

[Peyton Yeung]

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.

[rachelholladay]

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.

[hat_ios]

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.

[Peyton Yeung]

Originally Posted by hat_ios

Clothing is always one of the hardest thing to decide upon amongst team members.

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