Tee Shirts

[Jasmine Zhou]

I'm perfectly happy to wear my team shirts in public. However, team shirts are part of our uniform at not-very-formal presentations, at our weekly booth at the farmer's market, and of course at competitions. This means that if I wear team shirts outside of those events, I run the risk of the shirts not making it through the laundry in time for the next team-related event, especially if I need to lend spares to newer members of the team.
(I wear team shirts more often now that I've been on an FRC team for two years and have older shirts with an out-of-date list of sponsors on them, but I still haven't gotten out of the habit of saving them for team events.)

For advertising the fact that I'm involved in FIRST and that FIRST exists, I much prefer my pair of FIRST-logo earrings. In my experience, people usually don't comment on our team shirt unless they already know what it's about, while whenever I wear the earrings I get compliments and questions. As soon as someone asks me about them or mentions that they look cute, I take the opportunity to practice my elevator pitch. (With the earrings as a starting point, I almost convinced one of the cheerleaders to come check out our team, but their practice schedule conflicts with our meeting schedule.)

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by kstl99

I have gathered many FIRST shirts in the 4 years since I joined and I end up wearing them often. This is a great way to advertise.

Same here. I have easily over 25 different FIRST-related shirts, many of which are from different teams. They honestly make up over a third (probably actually closer to a half...) of my entire shirt supply, and I wear them all the time. I will have to buy some new shirts for college, though . Just yesterday I wore my new "Don't Mess With Texas Robots" shirt that I got at IRI to honor TRR, and today I wore my "2013 World Champion Alliance" shirt (also got at IRI) to honor 1477's finalist performance at TRR.

[Kathysmith]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

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?

We have black and Red tie dye shirts too, but the worst part is the black,red, and white camo cargo pants.

[nikeairmancurry]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

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?

I've worn my "Koko Ed is my homeboy" shier out plenty...

[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.

[Jay O'Donnell]

*In the voice of the e-trade baby from commercials* Apparently wearing shirts with a skull and crossbones on the front is FROWNED UPON in THIS ESTABLISHMENT!. Seriously though wearing a PVC Pirates shirt doesn't exactly bring the best attention to ones self. I've had people walk away from me while fundraising because they don't like our shirts. So as much as I'd like to show off my true FIRST colors in public, I can't wear my own teams shirt often outside of school without getting dirty looks. I do still where shirts from competitions (Battlecry, Beantown, Mayhem in Merrimack) so I guess that counts for something.

[kstl99]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

*In the voice of the e-trade baby from commercials* Apparently wearing shirts with a skull and crossbones on the front is FROWNED UPON in THIS ESTABLISHMENT!..

When I first joined our team the logo included a crazed looking tin man running with a raised axe. The following years he has become friendlier despite my objections. It was explained to me that the crazed tin man was a bit scary to the younger kids. I guess as far as advertising goes they were right.

Bright florescent yellow isn't the type of shirt you see every day on the streets, and it always makes people look at you, which is why I wear my team shirt as much as I can. It's bright and obscure, but then again so is FIRST, so it's a perfect fit. I've introduced quite a few people to robotics through the question of "what's with the shirt?".

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

Bright florescent yellow isn't the type of shirt you see every day on the streets, and it always makes people look at you, which is why I wear my team shirt as much as I can. It's bright and obscure, but then again so is FIRST, so it's a perfect fit. I've introduced quite a few people to robotics through the question of "what's with the shirt?".

Took the words out of my mouth. The more noticeable and dynamic the shirt is, the more likely people are to look at it. It helps if it looks sharp too, because people will often judge a book (in this case FRC) by its cover.

[KelliV]

As some people have said I think it varies on the color of your shirt. I wouldn't be caught dead in my old Stang colors on the street. However, any FIRST polo is totally fair game.

Something to keep in mind, when you're wearing your shirt your actions are not just your own, you are representing your team, their sponsors, and FIRST as a whole. I still can tell you the team number of the kid who was acting like a fool at a concert years ago.

[BrendanB]

I wear my FIRST shirts when I can, but in the hot summer months, a t shirt full of screen printing isn't the best for the summer heat. Next season our team is going to look into better heat alternatives. Even moisture wicking material is extremely uncomfortable.

I also know for most people they don't like wearing their team apparel outside of competition for risk of damaging it and having to replace "team uniform".

[cadandcookies]

At this point, I have seven "Team 2220" shirts, a state tournament shirt, one of the "Create, Inspire, Engineer" shirts from champs, and a FIRST jacket. If I time my laundry right, I find I can wear one of my FIRST shirts every day of the week, all year round (and most of the time that's exactly what I do).

I think my team's rather unobtrusive colors (that also match the school colors) makes it easier for our students (and mentors!) to wear them.

I think it's highly area based. I occasionally notice people in team/FIRST related shirts when I'm out and about in my area, but we also have a fairly high density of FIRST teams.

[Celia]

I always try to wear my team shirt when I go to cities with FIRST teams. Of course, what with my living in Michigan this isn't too hard . I do not particularly like my team's new colors - fluorescent yellow with blue (opposite of my pic) - but I wear them proudly anyway. I love wearing my FIRST shirts/hoodie. It's a great way to meet people. I've seen many FRC shirts around, but then again, that may just be Michigan for you.

I know a lot of our first-year members don't wear the shirts too often in fear of ruining them (as they only have one set so far), but the rest of the team wears our shirts pretty regularly. I've been a member for two seasons, and I have five 240 shirts alone. I also have an FLL volunteer shirt, FIRST robotics camp volunteer shirt, and FIRST hoodie.

It's even better when you go out with your friends and all wear your team shirts. FIRST pride and weird looks are abundant!

[Taylor]

Especially when travelling, I wear FRC shirts - but usually not my own team. I'll wear a volunteer* or IRI or state champ shirt because I figure they're more recognizable to those in the know than a CyberCards shirt.
But if I'm out locally, I'll wear team shirts - usually those of other teams (THRUST, Purple Precision, Thunder Chickens, UPS, etc.) because my own team shirts get worn at school and events and I don't want them getting threadbare.

*I'll rock my Lunacy volunteer shirt, but that probably has the same effect as an I <3 MECANUM shirt - those that know what it means will probably avoid the wearer based on philosophical issues

[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.