Polo T-Shirts for FRC

[TDav540]

While we were at Championships this year, I attended Team 1902 Exploding Bacon's Conference this year on marketing a team. One of the points the presenter made was that 1902 uses polo shirts for more formal events such as presentations and community outreach. This idea truly struck a chord and now I am pursuing polo t-shirts for my team, TALON 540, for the same reason.

I saw many teams with polo shirts attending the Championship, and I was wondering where you guys get your polos printed or made well for a relatively low cost. What website or store do you get your shirts made? Any tips for making a great polo would also be greatly appreciated!

[ElvisMom]

We also find that some of our adults (parents) prefer the polo to a t-shirt, especially those who can wear a polo to work.

We have ordered polos in bulk for uniformity for the purposes you describe just using a local vendor (one of our area mom's does most of the school district work and we use her too). A good local resource can order the shirts, knows how they run for size and quality, etc.

Personally, I've also picked up items in team colors on clearance at large retail stores and had them embroidered. Our gal has the logo and will do individual work. Picked up quarter-zip pullovers for $3 and paid $5 for logo.

[Phyrxes]

As part of their rebranding push this past year the students on 2068 and 4472 worked with a local screen printing and embroidery shop to make sure all the team clothing would be consistently colored from hats, to tshirts, to polos. The students did the graphic design work with the shop owner so the shirts ended up being very reasonable, and they waived the set up fees that they usually charge for embrodiery.

I would find a local shop and talk to them they can make suggestions about which vendor you may wish to use to get the color you are looking for. Depending on your local business contacts ask the activities department at the school who they use and go from there.

Edit #2: One of the deciding factors for the team for shirt supplier was the size availablity for the tshirts, the brand selected by the students goes up to 6X.

[tim-tim]

We have a similar opinion, polos seem to be more professional and give a better appearance of the team overall.

As for where we get them, we have a good relationship with local screen printing and embroidery shops. I think we paid something like $8-9 a polo, including screen print. The polo we use is the Gildan Ultra Blend 50/50.

[Dancin103]

We get our polo's and button downs from Landsend.

[mateoland]

Originally Posted by Dancin103

We get our polo's and button downs from Landsend.

Good suggestion. Landsend is a good one, as well as any other "school uniform" on-line companies.

Matt

[Ernst]

I'm not sure of the vendor, but for our tournament "uniform", we tend to follow a schedule:

Thursday: Retro shirt
Friday: Current year tshirt
Saturday: Current year polo

It's important to look good on Saturday for the extra people that come (parents, sponsors, school representatives, etc.) but some people just prefer the tshirts or sweatshirts for the less important days. The downside is that our team is wearing different colors every day (all kinds of blues and golds on Thursday, blue tie-dye on Friday, and navy blue with a hint of yellow on Saturday).

[Libby K]

RushOrderTees.com is my go-to for all things apparel, even if you're not rushing. They're fantastic, quick, and always double-check proofs with you. On top of that, they're aware of FIRST and its teams. They love us. In fact, they've even featured us as a customer!

I'm a big fan of everything RoT does.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by ZehP

The downside is that our team is wearing different colors every day...

TechnoKats shirt colors are customarily red on Thursday, dark blue on Friday, and lighter blue on Saturday. I find I often need to check what I'm wearing myself in order to know what color to look for in the stands.

[Nate Laverdure]

I would avoid choosing solid-color polos in any of the FIRST "family of programs" colors, the dark green of the safety advisors, the dark blue of the FTAs, the light blue of the Volunteer Coordinators, etc. If you must choose one of these colors, please make your logo nice and big.

EDIT: Collar or sleeve details on team polos are also a really great way to distinguish yourselves from the pack.

[StillDefective]

Originally Posted by ZehP

I'm not sure of the vendor, but for our tournament "uniform", we tend to follow a schedule:

Thursday: Retro shirt

[Snip]

Throwback Thursday?

[Allison]

1024 orders our polos from twofive apparel. They customized the polo for us to have a larger yellow strip than the standard. Our shirts include an embroidered logo on the front and a watermark logo on the back. The polos are made out of a dry fit material which does make the polos slightly more expensive but is really nice on a hot day or under the lights at a venue. I believe the cost is about $35 each but we only provide one per student their first year on the team. The shirts are two years old now and still look great.

http://twofiveapparel.com/apparel/ba...aching-shirts/


-Allison