Winter Apparel: Your Buying Guide
Branded winter apparel is a perfect addition to your seasonal campaigns or calendar-based events. As explained in our branded apparel article, wearables were the most popular promotional product of 2023. And not for nothing!
Including, but not limited to the below, winter apparel gives your brand the opportunity to add warmth to the colder months for both your audience and your teams. There are so many styles of each of these for you to choose from and every one comes with a different price tag.
- Jackets
- Coats
- Beanies
- Scarves
- Gloves
- Sweaters
- Pullovers
- Puffer
- Hoodies
How winter apparel is priced will determine what you can achieve with your budget. From quantities to the details of your decoration, each will influence the number on the bottom of your quote. So let’s go over what factors you need to consider…
Why is some winter apparel cheap?
Like all apparel, the quality determines the price. And vice versa.
Cheap winter apparel is usually made from inexpensive materials, such as fleece, nylon, acrylic or polyester. Also, the garment may be thinner, with fewer layers or linings.
These options are great for your budget and will work well for quick brand awareness campaigns or promotions. However, if you’re equipping your team for the winter months, or are located in a particularly cold climate, higher-quality winter apparel will make an impact on your audience.
Another consideration for promotional apparel, is the size and quality of the decoration you’re looking for.
For example, a one-colour screen print on the left chest of your promotional hoodie is an easy, low-cost option. It gets your brand out in the world on a cosy, cost-effective piece of merchandise.
Decoration pricing varies so widely depending on your requirements. That means there’s a method for everyone. How do you choose the right one for your brand?
Our printing article might help.
Why is some winter apparel expensive?
As the above describes what makes winter apparel cheap, the opposite can be applied to demonstrate what makes it expensive.
Made from high quality materials, like wool, linen, down, leather, recycled, weather-proof and tech fabrics – expensive winter wear can last longer and keep your audience warmer in the cold months. These fabrics cost more, but return more in brand perception and perceived value.
This is particularly important for your teams who are out in the field. Exposed to the elements year-round it is vital that your people are comfortable. In these cases, it’s your branded apparel that can affect the effectiveness of your teams.
This is where the quality is put to the test.
Branded winter apparel also has the opportunity for decoration types not seen in other merchandise. For example, custom jacquard patterns in knitted products, leather patches, and custom zip pulls.
Every detail accentuates your brand, but each can add to the cost of your winter apparel.
What pushes our price up?
All the extras we’ve mentioned can increase the price of your branded winter apparel. Things like the below will also add to the order total:
- Low order quantities – bulk buying is the best way to keep the cost per unit down.
- Multiple decoration locations – a simple embroidery on the left chest is great. You may also need us to embroider a message on the right chest; or print across the back. These subsequent decorations will increase the price.
- Folding and poly bagging – how your apparel is presented when you open the box is important. Instead of mixing all the sizes together in a pile, we can fold and polybag the items individually. This is reflected in the pricing.
- Multiple delivery locations – freight to one location is free. However, if you’d like us to distribute your winter apparel to multiple branches, we’ll include that in the quoted pricing.
What pushes our price down?
Keeping things simple will help you stick to your winter apparel budget.
If you only need a small, one-colour print on the back of those gloves to get your brand out there, go with it.
It’s also important to note that wardrobe basics are mostly always classics and will amplify your branding with ease. For example, your customers and clients will wear a simple, subtly branded scarf year after year, lowering your cost per impressions as its lifetime increases.
The Advertising Specialty Institute found that outerwear gains 7,856 impressions over it’s two year lifetime. This makes its cost per impression approximately half a cent.
That’s a solid statistic for the marketer in you.
Why is winter apparel essential to your brand?
Winter apparel is not just for your audience.
Cold-weather uniforms are an essential piece of your team’s kit that ensures they’re able to perform their best when the weather is the worst. There are also all the reasons we mentioned in the adjacent post.
Additionally, the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) went into depth about how branded winter apparel can benefit your brand.
“For outdoor workers, such as those in the postal, construction and forestry industries, and those who make house calls, such as service technicians and some beauticians and health-care professionals, having a first-rate jacket and matching accessories as their cold-weather uniform can help ensure that workers are able to sufficiently perform their jobs, and convey that the company cares about its workers’ health, safety and well-being.”
Even a well-timed hoodie, paired with a pair of cosy socks is enough to make a difference in your teams’ productivity and mental wellness.
Consider a winter warmer employee pack to help them get through the darker months.
Whether you’ve got the budget to go all out next winter, or you’re keeping it tight to keep it cosy, there is a perfect piece of winter apparel for your brand. Match the product to your values and message for the biggest impact and watch how it brings your brand to life.
Our team has over 20 years of experience sourcing real products that deliver unreal results. Why not complete our Merch Matcher™ and let us get the process started.
