Promotional Dress Shirts: A Few Fabric Facts
Power dressing is popular among both established executives and the younger set of employees. Whether your target market falls within the senior level or the yuppie range, dress shirts are the ideal giveaway. It goes beyond taking advantage of this fashion trend. Dress shirts also underscore your company's professionalism.
Pick out a dress shirt that you can best identify with your brand. Deciding factors can include color, style and fabric. Of the three, fiber should weigh the most as it determines the quality of your promotional dress shirt.
Here are a few facts that could help you find out more about fabrics. While there are a lot of other fabric types available out there, these are the ones most used for promotional dress shirts.
Cotton - A soft fiber that grows around the seed of the cotton plant. Cotton fabric is soft and breathable, making it the most widely used natural-fiber today. It offers a high degree of strength, durability and absorbency.
Denim - A rugged cotton twill textile traditionally colored blue (or stonewashed for a lighter look). It is a fiber used for casual dress shirts.
Pima Cotton - One of the world's top graded cottons, it is traditionally grown in the southwest United States by Pima Indians. The long fibers of this cotton give it a luxurious hand and added durability.
Polyester - A synthetic fiber which offers superior strength and excellent resilience. It is also noted for its soft, luxurious feel. Low absorbency allow it to dry quickly.
Poplin - Medium- to heavy weight, durable fabric made of cotton or cotton blends. The rigid structure is a result of its tight weaving. Promotional dress shirts of this material are often easy to iron and wrinkle-resistant.
Rayon - This artificial silk is regenerated from cellulosic fiber. It can imitate the look and feel of natural fibers. Generally, rayons have a silky hand and a shiny luster. Rayon does not insulate heat, making it the ideal fabric for hot climates. It does, however, have low elastic recovery and durability.
Sateen - A cotton fabric with a satin-like finish. Sateen has a sheened finish and a soft feel as an effect of its weaving.
Silk - A natural protein fiber obtained from cocoons made by the silkworm larvae. It is prized for its brilliant sheen resulting from the fiber's prism-like structure. Silk is soft yet highly durable and absorbent.
Spandex - A synthetic elastomeric fiber that can handle repeated stretching over 600% without breaking. It is lightweight, abrasion-resistant and has a smooth, silky feel.
Wool - One of the most revered natural fibers, wool is derived mainly derived from sheep fleece. (Some animal fur - rabbit, llama, alpacas, goat -- may also constitute wool fiber). Wool offers high elasticity. It also naturally repels water and stains and resists fading.
