Article - How Branded Corporate Shirts Help to Improve Company Image
10 Jan 2018
Corporate branded shirts, though a new trend, have been in use for quite some time in the medical industry. However, the shirts are mostly branded to indicate that staff members are from the medical emergency services. Come to think of it, Police uniforms are also a form of corporate branding.
If you think of Police uniforms then the distinct blue colour comes to mind. The uniforms are highly effective in showing the public that the persons wearing them are law enforcement agents. Because the Police members all wear the uniforms with the same logo and distinctive markings, the public has become familiar with the style, colour and logo as representative of the Police force.
The same effect is created when you invest in corporate branded shirts for your employees. They become living billboards for your company. Take, for instance, fuel forecourt attendants. They wear the clothing of the particular oil company and motorists can identify them easily.
When a fuel attendant dressed in the corporate branded shirt approaches the motorist at the filling station, the motorist immediately recognises that the attendant is there to assist. If the attendant didn’t wear the branded clothing, the motorist, especially in South Africa with its high crime rate, may have decided to drive off out of fear of becoming a smash & grab or hijacking victim.
What the branded corporate shirts thus do for the company include:
· Making the employees easily identifiable as representatives of the particular company.
· Build customer trust in the employees.
· Develop a positive perception on the part of the public.
· Act as advertisement of the particular company and its brand.
However, the corporate branded clothing also improves employee morale. Reports have shown that having a job improves a person’s self-esteem. In South Africa, having a job is especially important and it gives status to the employee. Wearing the corporate uniform makes it easier for the employee to show that they have a job and this improves self-esteem and confidence. The pride associated with being an employee at a particular company transfers into the way the employee interacts with the public. It thus helps to build a positive attitude.
Another reason why branding of corporate shirts should be a priority in any branding and marketing drive is that it is a cost-effective way to ensure that employees don’t engage in criminal activities or any activities that can affect the company’s image negatively. This is especially true when the company has a policy in place regarding behaviour in their branded clothing.
A waiter just dressed in the standard black and white attire can easily misbehave in public at a restaurant next door. Though the customers at the adjacent restaurant recognise the waiter and thus develop a negative perception of the employees and management of the employer restaurant, there isn’t much that the employer can do. The waiter is off-duty and though still in work attire, the clothing isn’t representative of the employer company. If the waiter, however, causes trouble anywhere in public dressed in the restaurant’s branded clothing then it is reason enough for a disciplinary hearing or dismissal in order to protect the company brand.
By investing in corporate branded clothing an employer can thus set policies regarding acceptable behaviour of employees while dressed in the attire. At the same time the company benefits from well-behaved employees that are on their way to and from work dressed in their corporate clothing. Such employees act as ambassadors of the brand.
Indeed, even if the employees are expected to pay for the clothing they will still benefit from wearing such. Instead of having to spend thousands in building up a wardrobe for work they can wear their uniforms or the branded shirts. With such, they only need three to five sets of clothing and thus save considerable on their clothing expenditures.