Make an Impression With Compression

T-shirts have been extremely popular as promotional items for a long time, mainly because they are affordable, offer a lot of imprint options and shirt colors, and can be worn by anyone regardless of age and gender. But because they have been around as promotional items for so long, the novelty wore off long ago and now they are used mainly for their practicality and convenience. Is there any way to keep this promotional item from being dumped in the “boring and unoriginal” pile? Introducing the smashed, or compressed, T-shirt.

Smashed T-shirts are imprinted T-shirts compressed into a unique shape (with the application of 50,000 pounds of pressure) with an insert card affixed to the top of the shape. Put your logo on the shirts themselves, and use the card to offer other information relevant to the campaign. Smashed T-shirts have advantages: They are novel, portable because of their smashed shapes, and eco-friendly because they are generally made of 100 percent cotton.

In a case study published by distributor Aptco, steel manufacturer ClarkWestern used compressed T-shirts shaped like the cross-section of an I-beam to grab attention at trade shows and sales calls. The shirt’s compressed shape was designed to draw attention to ClarkWestern’s new construction framing product. The shirts were a hit because they were tangible products that the recipients could play with, and delivered an important message about the innovations the manufacturer was selling – before the shirt was even opened or worn!

So freshen up your campaigns with a new twist on a classic favorite.