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*

[Phyrxes]

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.

[BugByte]

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.

[AlecMataloni]

Originally Posted by BugByte

known locally for our "bowling" 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.

[MysterE]

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

[IndySam]

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

[1986titans]

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

[treffk]

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.

[Phyrxes]

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.

[Ankit S.]

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.

Originally Posted by BeltSanderRocks

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.

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.

[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.