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I think part of the problem is actually the shift away from shirts. Swag is advertising but at least a shirt served a purpose and if you didn’t want it you coul

I think part of the problem is actually the shift away from shirts. Swag is advertising but at least a shirt served a purpose and if you didn’t want it you could donate it. Many company shirts ended up at Goodwill or shipped off the 3rd world countries. But shirts are expensive so no one gives them anymore. They’ve shifted to the cheapest items they can find. I usually turn down swag now and when I’m in charge of swag I always opt for t-shirts with some sort of “use the product quickly” treasure hunt task to earn one.

Symbiote 5y ago
The tshirts, if they end up abroad, contribute to ruining the local textile industry. Many developing countries had local industry producing fabric and clothes, but they really struggle to compete with free or almost free waste Western clothes.
- chrisdfrey 5y ago
  Some articles on this: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44951670 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44951670 https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/business/second-hand-clothes-africa/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/business/second-hand-clothes-...
- stickfigure 5y ago
  When you say "local textile industry" are you thinking of cotton growing, yarn spinning, fabric weaving, or shirt cutting/sewing? Because those are all totally different things done in totally different parts of the world. There is no longer such thing as "local textile industry". A single strand of cotton is better traveled than most of us. Lots of great learning starts here: https://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title https://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title
- Fatnino 5y ago
  You mean the shirts made abroad, printed with Random Co. logo, shipped to the US, then shipped right back when no one wanted them? Those shirts? How does it ruin the local textile economy for a foreign company to pay the local mill to give out free shirts?
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    Last time I was in an African country there were people wearing shirts like "Atlanta Winners 2019" when it was some other baseball team that won in 2019. So similar to what you describe. Those shirts were probably made in Asia, but ruin the African clothing industry.
Gigachad 5y ago
The stuff has become so cheap and junky that it's basically useless. Like they hand out bluetooth speakers which sound worse than laptop speakers. And then the company gets stuck with box loads of this ewaste junk when branding changes. I think the least wasteful idea I saw was the company branding on a packet of mints. At least thats something almost everyone wants and isn't any more wasteful than store mints.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  There was someone at a trade show I went to a few years ago (like all the rest) selling a product called (in industry) a "lunchbox" who was giving away branded snack-sized boxes of raisins.
- KennyBlanken 5y ago
  I remember working at a company where some idiot in marketing ordered a thousand or so clear bouncy-balls with the company logo that had electronics inside that flashed red LEDs and made an obnoxious chime through a loud piezo speaker. They were almost the size of lacrosse ball. They were useless even for just idle play because you could probably punch a hole in a wall with one, damage equipment, or hurt someone. To this day I have no idea what the hell they were thinking.
- cosmodisk 5y ago
  We had these smart watches that cost like $5 a pop.. Even my 3 years old daughter at the time didn't want them.
stickfigure 5y ago
Bulk order single color silkscreen on a cheap tee is around $5. Totes are about the same. Dye sublimation mugs are ~$3. Not sure about nalgene-type bottles but I'm guessing in the $3-$5 range. Is it the cost? $3-$5 per item seems about what I would expect. I'd guess the biggest problem with tees is sizing. It's not one uniform product to hand out, so you have the added complexity of multiple inventory and people asking to swap their size.
- rdtwo 5y ago
  Some of those bottles reek so bad of chemicals you would have to be an idiot to drink out of them.
olyjohn 5y ago
T-shirts are awesome, because you can wear them when you change your oil and you don't have to get your good work clothes dirty.
pharmakom 5y ago
Sad to say but most of those shirts probably ended up in landfill.

Symbiote 5y ago

The tshirts, if they end up abroad, contribute to ruining the local textile industry. Many developing countries had local industry producing fabric and clothes, but they really struggle to compete with free or almost free waste Western clothes.

chrisdfrey 5y ago
Some articles on this: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44951670 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44951670 https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/business/second-hand-clothes-africa/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/business/second-hand-clothes-...
stickfigure 5y ago
When you say "local textile industry" are you thinking of cotton growing, yarn spinning, fabric weaving, or shirt cutting/sewing? Because those are all totally different things done in totally different parts of the world. There is no longer such thing as "local textile industry". A single strand of cotton is better traveled than most of us. Lots of great learning starts here: https://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title https://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title
Fatnino 5y ago
You mean the shirts made abroad, printed with Random Co. logo, shipped to the US, then shipped right back when no one wanted them? Those shirts? How does it ruin the local textile economy for a foreign company to pay the local mill to give out free shirts?
- Symbiote 5y ago
  Last time I was in an African country there were people wearing shirts like "Atlanta Winners 2019" when it was some other baseball team that won in 2019. So similar to what you describe. Those shirts were probably made in Asia, but ruin the African clothing industry.

Gigachad 5y ago

The stuff has become so cheap and junky that it's basically useless. Like they hand out bluetooth speakers which sound worse than laptop speakers. And then the company gets stuck with box loads of this ewaste junk when branding changes. I think the least wasteful idea I saw was the company branding on a packet of mints. At least thats something almost everyone wants and isn't any more wasteful than store mints.

InitialLastName 5y ago
There was someone at a trade show I went to a few years ago (like all the rest) selling a product called (in industry) a "lunchbox" who was giving away branded snack-sized boxes of raisins.
KennyBlanken 5y ago
I remember working at a company where some idiot in marketing ordered a thousand or so clear bouncy-balls with the company logo that had electronics inside that flashed red LEDs and made an obnoxious chime through a loud piezo speaker. They were almost the size of lacrosse ball. They were useless even for just idle play because you could probably punch a hole in a wall with one, damage equipment, or hurt someone. To this day I have no idea what the hell they were thinking.
cosmodisk 5y ago
We had these smart watches that cost like $5 a pop.. Even my 3 years old daughter at the time didn't want them.

stickfigure 5y ago

Bulk order single color silkscreen on a cheap tee is around $5. Totes are about the same. Dye sublimation mugs are ~$3. Not sure about nalgene-type bottles but I'm guessing in the $3-$5 range. Is it the cost? $3-$5 per item seems about what I would expect. I'd guess the biggest problem with tees is sizing. It's not one uniform product to hand out, so you have the added complexity of multiple inventory and people asking to swap their size.

rdtwo 5y ago
Some of those bottles reek so bad of chemicals you would have to be an idiot to drink out of them.

olyjohn 5y ago

T-shirts are awesome, because you can wear them when you change your oil and you don't have to get your good work clothes dirty.

pharmakom 5y ago

Sad to say but most of those shirts probably ended up in landfill.