Custom tee shirt graphics can say a lot about a brand and/or the people who wear the customized shirts. That’s kind of the point. But have you ever wondered what your company’s custom tee shirt graphics say about your brand?
Let’s take a look at what some of the most popular custom tee graphics from the past have said, and see if they offer any insight.
The Concert Tee.
Back in the 1970s, bands started selling tee shirts at their concerts. When they took off in popularity, people started making their own, bootlegged, custom tees to sell at discounted rates. Though the bootlegging has more or less stopped, bands still sell tee shirts at every show they play. If your brand’s custom tees are designed like concert tee shirts, they would be quite engaging to music lovers — i.e. everyone (because who doesn’t like music?).
“Keep Calm and Carry On.”
In 1939, the United Kingdom saw that the second great war would inevitably reach it, and so it created posters to help boost morale. Though the design is now almost 80-years-old, it recently exploded in popularity, and has been repurposed a number of ways. Unfortunately, it’s been rehashed and rebranded so many times that any brand who tries to cash in on it nowadays will have its intentions made clear. Basically, it’s not cool anymore, and brands only use the design to sell custom tees.
“I <3 NY"
In 1977, Milton Glasser wrote “I <3 NY" on a napkin, and wound up creating the most imitated tee shirt design in history. Just like the "Keep Calm and Carry On" design, it's been repurposed and rebranded almost too many times to count. However, unlike the other design, it's a classic, and can be quite effective if repurposed effectively. For example, instead of "I <3 Company," you could replace the heart with a pizza if you sold pizzas. The design is so ingrained into our culture that people will get it at a glance.
If you want to spread a message about your business — like the fact that you offer the best pizza in town or the fastest auto service, for example — then you should definitely consider having some cheap custom tee shirts made up for your business.
