Tee Shirts

[JohnFogarty]

Now I'm probably weening on the side that my knowledge is limited but I'm going to go with this assumption.

FIRST is still far too localized/small for you to go into any mall/airport/crowded place and see FIRST shirts on a regular or even seldom basis. Think of it this way if FIRST has 800,000 participants in the US that's 800,000:314,000,000

The odds aren't in your favor to ever really see FIRST in public places.
Now obviously those odds are terribly inaccurate because if there's no FIRST presence in the city you're in then there is 0 chance you'll ever see anyone.

Like Dean said. Our problem is no one really knows who we are and you are just stating an excellent example of that truth.

The idea I have in my head more often times than not is how do we solve this problem. Having the support of international superstars is one thing, but until we have a YouTube video with over 10,000,000 views I don't believe people will know we exist. Just remember...Justin Beiber a sensation with just based off of his twitter following is 41 Million strong.....started on YouTube.

[Koko Ed]

Over the years many of the kids on my team wouldn't be caught dead wearing our team shirt outside of robotics. So most of the normal public won't be wearing our shirt. It's a niche product with a exclusive audience.
Though Greg Needel did spot a shirt at the Salvation Army and someone spotted a homeless man wearing one of our shirts (a ringing endorsement for the program if there ever was one for sure... )

[Zuelu562]

I've been known to dust off a BC shirt or a team shirt every now and then. All of my team shirts from my High School days don't fit anymore, and even my current ones are a little tight . Granted, I'm in "rural" Massachusetts, so finding someone with a FIRST shirt is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

[MARS_James]

Being the nerd that I am, I attend Scifi and anime conventions, at these events I have run into people rocking their team shirts (at Mega Con 2008 in Orlando two members of 233 were there one in the team uniform the other in the pink gorilla suit, really sticks out to me.)

Now out in public with the exception of seeing my own team members wearing our shirts I have run into members of 179 and 180 (all 3 of us wearing our team shirts) at the grocery store.

[nikeairmancurry]

Best place to see them? A college campus. At U of M, you can see them on a daily basis. Some of first people I met in college were because of a robotics shirt, easiest ice breaker ever!

[VexisDarksteele]

Even in the FIRST-saturated location we're in, I seldom see any signs of other teams around. And what I DO see isn't related to team t-shirts; twice I've seen 548's bumper stickers on cars in the grocery store parking lot, I've seen 503's robot trailer parked in their sponsor's back lot, and I've seen the Adopt a Road sign designated to 68. I've never noticed anyone wearing a team shirt before, other than myself (when you have 6 team shirts, they tend to cycle through the laundry pretty frequently, hence it's a bit rare for me to not be donning my toaster apparel).

Some of it is a matter of chance. Part of it is based on the saturation of FIRST's presence in your area. The rest is all personal preference; while I wear my shirts any chance I'm given, I know some of my teammates never wear them outside of competitions or meetings. And for those people who choose not to wear them, it might even be a matter of them trying to preserve the shirt longer for memories -- I've had to retire my 2011 shirt because I wore it so much it was turning from blue to green!

[Walter Deitzler]

I was down at a summer camp at Mizzou recently, I saw one guy from 1986 Titanium wearing his shirt, one girl from 2345 KARS/Animal Control wearing hers, and I myself wore at least two of mine, plus the 973 shirt I own.

[Pault]

I tend not to wear my team shirt outside robotics. I think it really depends on what your team shirts look like. Ours are flourescent green designed to be as noticable as possible with a big cat on the front, so I can't just wear it casually. I do like to wear my JCPenny FRC shirt around. It still rocks the first logo but doesn't look wierd.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Pault

I tend not to wear my team shirt outside robotics. I think it really depends on what your team shirts look like. Ours are flourescent green designed to be as noticable as possible with a big cat on the front, so I can't just wear it casually. I do like to wear my JCPenny FRC shirt around. It still rocks the first logo but doesn't look wierd.

I always wear my colors proudly.
They can be the loudest dumbest looking shirts around (and black and red tie die can look pretty loud) and I'll still wear it around.
If you don't have love for your own team then who will?

[JohnFogarty]

I want a FIRST Logo flatbill hat. I'd wear that thing 24/7.

[Walter Deitzler]

Originally Posted by John_1102

I want a FIRST Logo flatbill hat. I'd wear that thing 24/7.

See if 610 has any left in stock, I wear mine all of the time.

Originally Posted by Pault

I tend not to wear my team shirt outside robotics. I think it really depends on what your team shirts look like. Ours are flourescent green designed to be as noticable as possible with a big cat on the front, so I can't just wear it casually. I do like to wear my JCPenny FRC shirt around. It still rocks the first logo but doesn't look wierd.

I wear my bright pink florescent Robolions "I <3 Robots" shirt all of the time, it is a great conversation starter.

[Seth Mallory]

The students of 192 design 3 new shirts each year. The students buy their own shirts so while they are on the team they get 6 to 9 shirts. The students and the mentors tend wear their shirts around town.

[Abhishek R]

I've collected a few of the Texas teams' shirts and wear them along with my own team's all the time.

[saikiranra]

Like Pault and Koko Ed, our team's shirts really stand out. They are neon Pink with a gigantic 696 logo and tend to get some weird looks. Great for events but not something every student would wear.

I have seen kids from teams with more neutral colors who rock their shirts in super markets and such. Blue is one good color to wear around.

[Roger]

Melissa and I wore our matching "Walpole Robotics" t-shirts yesterday during the dog's afternoon walk in a local park. Stopped to chat with a young couple with a toddler. Toddler wanted to pet the dog. They asked about the robotics team and we gave the quick explanation. They asked more, very interested and maybe wanting to help, and so we gave the fuller description. We spent some time talking about what it was all about, the different FRC, FTC, and FLL teams the schools have and when their "seasons" were, and of course that they don't need a child in the school to help out (it would be a couple of years for PK-FLL). All because we wore robotics t-shirts.

Oddly, they did not ask about the Great Blue Heron bobble-head I was wearing.