When I get free t-shirts from work or conferences, they're pretty much reserved for being something to wear when I'm painting or mowing the lawn. One such shirt never even made it out of the office; it's still been neatly folded up at the bottom of a desk drawer since the day they gave it to me a few months ago.
But this is because I have yet to receive a company or conference t-shirt that either properly fits me or has a tasteful or clever design I'd want to be seen wearing in public. If you print two dozen sponsor logos on the back of a free conference t-shirt, I'll probably toss the shirt and wish you spent the t-shirt budget on better booze at the afterparty.
I know I'm not averse to t-shirts in general, since my wife will take any opportunity to give me trouble about how many shirts I've bought from Woot and Threadless...
And I add:
8. Pony up for a not-white shirt.
This one puzzles me a lot. The place I work recently ordered a bunch of shirts for everyone who wanted one in the dev team. The sizes went up to XL, and their "XL" was the same size as an "M" in some stores. Fully half the devs in our shop couldn't fit into the largest size offered.
Here's a tip, as someone who likes wearing t-shirts: buy larger sizes. Someone who can wear an "M" can just as easily wear an "L" or "XL", but the reverse is very much not true.
Also, if your T-shirt looks good and is really well designed (high quality, maybe fitted, good graphic design and color work) I might actually wear it other places, even though I don't usually wear T-shirts.
So unless you want me to cut up your shirt and turn them into schmattas, give me a small and I will wear it on my body.
Otherwise, donate it to Goodwill.
I pretty much only wear American Apparel t-shirts, and they don't shrink. I doubt printing your logo on it is going to change that :)
Cotton does shrink in the dryer. Yes, higher quality dryers cause this less, but they all cause shrinking to some degree.
2. If you've got a poor quality tee that doesn't fit, why would I wear it?
2. see above
I never said it would take one wash, it could take 5. I'm just saying giving out a shirt that's larger makes more sense than one that is too small, seeing as how clothing only shrinks once you own it.
It's that thinking that leads to skinny people (like me) having a lot of large t-shirts that they don't fit into. Just because it can physically go over your body doesn't mean that it "fits."
This goes double if you're going to a convention. Give a petite girl a men's large and chances are it will never make it over her head once. Be the only booth at the show that gives out fitted women's gear, though, and suddenly you'll find them on every girl in the place.
Sure it is physically impossible, but that person will end up looking like a slob. Fit is the most important factor in style, so if you're going to "brand" your employees at least do not force them to swim in the clothing you give them!
When I see at least some smaller sizes (and I'm not a petite woman), I feel like at they least they were thinking of people like me.
It's different if you are buying shirts as schwag. I once worked for a startup where the t-shirts were more popular than the product and the most important sizes were mens and womens size medium.
1) Maybe t-shirts sizes themselves are not the same between 1999 and 2008 2) Maybe the average age of the attender has not changed, so there's really no age component 3) Maybe a different demographic is now attending the conference 4) Maybe all Americans are fatter on average and programmers are just part of that trend
You'd probably also want some external data as I'm pretty sure people as a whole are getting fatter.
People used to hearing that line really appreciate when you go the extra mile:
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/1...
T-shirts are listed not by inches or cms, which would tell you exactly what you getting.
hence the recent posts of different definitions for different sizes by different mfg. If they listed the actually sizes like they do with most suits. Then you have a reasonable chance of a good fit.
If you are buying for employees, it's easy enough to ask employees what their preferred sizes are. We all have a few tradeshow T-shirts at home, so we know how the various sizes of various brands fit us.
Buy some extra; some people will want two, if you have leftovers, mix them in with the next iteration, or leave them on the 'free' shelf in the break room, you know, for when your employees feel like upgrading out of their old copy that has developed holes.
If you are buying for the general public, well, you plan to run out, right? it doesn't really matter if you run out of the big sizes before the little sizes. keep track of what runs out of last and adjust accordingly next time.
If you end up taking home leftovers, mix them in with the next batch of shirts you give away.
But they are high-quality shirts (even if Dov Charney is a lecher).
I agree that people should donate clothes they no longer need or want. I was referencing the documentary about Africa as an example of just how far the benefit of donated clothes can reach.