It is Time to Plan for Jacket Season

After the last few weeks of rain I have been so pleased to have sunshine for a few days. It definitely lifts the spirits, but I must confess that in the evenings I have been feeling that the chill is starting to creep up on us. Jackets are a great corporate clothing option. They help to build corporate identity and serve as walking billboards for your company. They make great staff morale boosters and many clients also welcome a jacket over this season. If you are buying for immediate use and want a great all-rounder jacket for those rainy days, the

all-weather jacket is a terrific option. It is a light weight jacket that comes in a variety of colours. It also have a convenient zip up bag that it is stored in so ladies can pop it into an average size handbag or it can be left in the boot of your car. The All Weather jacket is constructed from windproof and water resistant rip-stop nylon. This jacket has Mesh Airtex lining for added comfort. The hood may be zipped off or tucked into the collar and concealed. It comes in black, lime, navy, red and stone. If you are looking for a more serious jacket, then the Trade Jacket is the way to go. The Trade Jacket

has an extended length jacket, which is medium weight, padded jacket featuring zip-away/roll-up hood, elasticated cuffs with tab adjusters, two side pockets with bar-tacking reinforced entry and horizontal chest flap concealing zippered pocket on right side. This jacket is available in six colours, black, bottle, grey, red, royal, navy. On the sportier side is the Monte Carlo Jacket. This is Medium weight padded jacket in raglan cut for

versatile fit. This jacket features include reflective piping for high visibility, zipaway padded hood with drawstring, two zippered side pockets and adjustable cuffs with velcro tabs. This sporty two-tone styling jacket comes in four colourways black and charcoal, lime and black, red and black and finally royal and black. For more jacket options contact Belle Regalo e-mail us on info@belleregalo.co.za

Best Branding for Corporate Clothing

Corporate clothing is a wonderful promotional tool. But bad branding is like getting a tattoo on your face. You had better be sure before you take the plunge. Many companies use corporate clothing to help enhance their corporate image and also use corporate clothing as uniforms. Companies have large spends on corporate identity, but sometimes get unstuck when it comes to applying their branding to their corporate clothing. Here are some check points when branding your corporate clothing. 1. Know Your Company Logo A logo is made up of the design, but also the pantone colours. Some designs are made with print in mind, but cannot be easily embroidered. We have a client who entered into a joint venture and had lounge shirts done for the project. The designer added text to the bottom of the logo. When we converted the logo into an embroidery format we saw that the letters would have merged into each other making the letting illegible. So we had to recommend to the client that they alter their logo to allow for bigger lettering. When you have a logo designed asked the designer, what pantone colours match the logo. Pantone is an international numbering system for inks. When you know your pantone, you can ensure that you corporate clothing always has the correct colour. Embroidery threads do not match pantone colours, but using a pantone reference books embroiderer’s get the closes thread match for you. When you send through your logo, make sure that you have a high resolution good quality logo. The better the quality of the logo, the better the quality of the branding. 2. Know the difference between different kinds of branding Embroidery on corporate clothing Embroidery is when the logo is made of masses of tiny stitches. Almost like colouring in the logo with a needle and thread onto your corporate clothing. Embroidery adds a quality and expensive look to corporate clothing. Embroidery can be cost effective if your logo is small. But don’t scrimp on stich count. If your embroidery quote looks very low as why. Some embroiderers’ compete only on price and use few stitches, so that they will appear to be cheaper, but that is all that it is, cheap and cheap does not enhance a brand. There must be sufficient stitches to cover the area and not have bit of fabric peeking through your logo. You would use embroidery of jackets, lounge shirts, fleece, caps and jerseys. In the motoring industry embroidery is often used on pit shirts. Heat Transfer on corporate clothing Heat transfer printing is a method of printing fibres with disperses dyes. The dyes are designed and are then transferred from pre-printed paper onto a fabric by contact heat and then the dyes are absorbed by the fabric. Heat transfer is great for producing clear and very well defined images. It works almost like an iron on label, but on a much bigger scale. Heat transfers are commonly used when you need to put a photo onto a garment. It is generally more costly than silk screening. However if there is a lot of definition, then heat transfers can be cheaper than silk -screening. Silk-screening on corporate clothing Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil to receive a desired image. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A fill blade or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink into the mesh openings for transfer by capillary action during the squeegee stroke. Basically, it is the process of using a stencil to apply ink onto a substrate, whether it is t-shirts, posters, stickers, vinyl, wood, or other material. The vast majority of t-shirts are branded using silk screening. Although you can silk screen a number of corporate clothing items, it is not as durable as embroidery, so it is more likely to be used on low cost corporate clothing items such as conti-suits and t-shirts. 3. Know how costing works for branding on corporate clothing Whatever branding you are using for corporate clothing, there is always a set up cost. This is the cost to set up the machine to work on your job. A machine or silk screener can only work on one job at a time. For embroidery your logo has to be programmed into the machines. For silk-screening, the screens have to be placed onto the frames. The process where the machine operator or silk-screening sets up the work station is called the set up and you are charged for this. Some companies will build this cost into the cost of their garments, so it is not visible, but this cost always exists. As the set up cost is done at the start of each job, you can divide this cost by the total number of corporate clothing items that you are branding. For embroidery your costs are calculated by working out many stitches it takes to colour in your logo. This means that the bigger your logo on your corporate clothing, the more stitches will be used and the higher the cost of your logo on your corporate clothing. For silk screening the costs are calculated by how many colours you need to print. New screens are made for every colour. If you have a colour printer at your office, you may be tempted to think that your t-shirt or other corporate clothing will come out nice and quickly like it does on your printer. For silk-screening of corporate clothing, the silk screener will put up the first screen with the first colour and then print that colour. Then he or she will remove the screen, set up a new screen and then print the second colour. So the more colours you have the more times this has to be repeated. That is why you pay per colour of your t-shirt or other corporate clothing. 4. Getting Artwork Approvals A good quality high resolution logo will produce the best quality branding on your corporate clothing. You can think of it as the foundation of your branding on your corporate clothing. Once you have sent through your artwork, then the branding department will produce a layout approval. This will show where the logo will be positioned on the item and will also indicate what the pantone colours are. If you have not supplied your pantone colours, then the branding department will do an estimate of what the colour should be. The responsibility always lies with the client to make sure that the colour is correct. Once you have signed the approval, you are accepting it the way that it is and you cannot have it changed once the job is underway. The layout approval is like a branding contract that you enter into. Some clients prefer to have a pre-production sample. This is a matter of personal preference. Thousands of logos are embroidered or silk screened every day without a pre-production sample. But if this is your first time using a supplier or if you have a manger who micro manages, or if you have very strict corporate identity rules then you will get a lot of reassurance getting a pre-production sample. Many companies will charge you a separate set up fee for this service, as they have to set up the machines for only one item. Even a small company can get the benefits of having corporate clothing. Going through these simple branding tools can help you to get the best results for your corporate clothing branding budget. For more information about corporate clothing contact Belle Regalo on info@belleregalo.co.za or 0829487461 or visit our site www.belleregalo.co.za

Belle Offers a Wide Range of Corporate Clothing and Corporate Clothing

Belle Regalo offers a wide variety of corporate clothing items.

Our range includes: Blouses, caps, custom made cycling gear, First Ascent clothing, formal jackets, golf shirts, jackets, jerseys, lounge shirts, shorts, skirts, tracksuits, trousers We also offer a wide variety of Corporate Gifts Backpacks, business card holders, clocks, computer bags, conference bags, coolers, desktops, drawstring bags, flasks, hampers, key chains, moleskine notebooks mugs, multi-tools, notebooks, pens, travel bags, wine accessories, women’s gifts Belle Regalo offers a full branding service on items purchased from Belle Regalo. Our services include: Debossing, digital printing, embroidery, engraving, foiling, kiln fired mugs, pad printing, silk-screening. No branding will take place until you have signed off your artwork approval. This gives you an opportunity to check spelling, layout etc. until you are happy enough to proceed with the actual branding. For more information visit us on www.belleregalo.co.za or e-mail us on info@belleregalo.co.za

Best Buy Jacket for Winter

With winter literally yanking at our door, I thought that I would share what is my best buy from our corporate jacket range for this season. My all-time favourite winter jacket is definitely the Executive Ladies Jacket. It is fully lined, so it gives great warmth, yet light weight enough to be very comfortable. It is manufactured from stylish mock suede. I love the belted look, as it can be pulled in to make a more flattering view of your waist. I also love the length of the jacket, as it covers your bottom and the dimpled sins of all those carb cravings that come with winter. But more importantly it covers that lower back section between your lower spine and mid back, which I find tends to get cold when those shorter jackets sneak up when you sit down. As there are so many hipster styled pants these days, this little portion of a lady’s body tends to take a hit during the winter chills, so it is comforting to know that you can still wear hipsters and keep your back warm. It is not a formal jacket; however it is far more fashionable and stylish than a conventional promotional jacket. I personally have two colours, one black, which I wear with a black pencil skirt and corporate shirt on cool days and the stone which I wear with jeans and knee length high heel brown boots. This winter jacket actually comes in three colours, black, stone and navy. I think that I should rush to get a navy one to wear with blue jeans and crisp white shirt or polar neck. This look is ideal for casual day. The jacket also comes in a matching gent’s style, but without the belted waist. But don’t run out and tell them about it, they just may want one too. For other jacket options have a look at www.belleregalo.co.za Or call us on 082 948 7461 or e-mail us on info@belleregalo.co.za Be kind to your self this winter. Kim Vermaak  

Corporate Clothing

Corporate clothing is a wonderful option branding options. Corporate clothing can be both a subtle form of branding or create a strong message. If you choose colour on colour branding for your corporate clothing, that means that the corporate clothing will be embroidered in the same colour thread as the thread that the garment has been manufactured from. For more dramatic corporate clothing branding statements you can embroider or silk-screen in more dramatic colours. You can also brand the back of the corporate clothing with larger format silk-screening or embroidery. We recommend that for large format you use silk-screening or heat press as embroidery can be very expensive for large area branding on corporate clothing. Popular corporate clothing for May to July are jerseys, long sleeve shirts, fleece garments and winter jackets.

Corporate Image Update

Some Tips for the Image My mother used to have this saying “There goes mutton dressed up as lamb”. She was referring to mature women who were dressing as if they were in their twenties. Instead of looking younger they looked foolish. We all want to look younger and we all want to look our best. But there just seem to be some women who make it seem all so simple. Enter the image consultant’s jobs. They take the guess work out of what seems to be land mine of fashion mistakes. I was recently blessed to attend one such talk and thought that I would share a few ideas that stood out for me. You can apply them when working with your corporate clothing. Contrasting Colours White there are fashion trends currently that work with solid tones, such as wearing a tan top and tan trousers, research shows that people who wear contrasting colours get noticed. However there are a few rules. If you wear high contrasting colours such as black and white, black and red etc, then you may be too intimidating for the person that you are having an appointment with. Safe contrasting colours would be medium contrast for example a navy and light blue or a black and pastel pink. Choosing a white While for many the idea of a crisp white shirt may appeal there are some rules in choosing a white that compliments you. A general rule of thumb is to look at the whites of your eyes. If the white of your eyes and a crisp white, then a crisp white will suit you. However if you have a slight yellowing tinge to the whites of your eyes and I am not talking about jaundice here, then an off white may be more flattering to you. Do Real Men Wear Pink? While socializing with pink may work well for a professional look; men should still avoid pink or purple for appointments. Look at corporate clothing options that work within these fashion rules. Make Up I see a lot of ladies who just by pass the whole make up thing. They prefer to go natural or could just not be bothered. But research does show that women who do wear make up tend to get promoted more frequently. While for some that may see very sexist, a bigger salary may allow you to achieve more of your dreams, so you decide what is ultimately more important to you. When to put out your cigarette Most companies have a no smoking rule, so if you are a smoker you may be tempted to smoke in your car on the way to an appointment. The general rule is to smoke your last cigarette twenty minutes before your next appointment. That gives enough time to minimize the smoky aura that you have. Also remember to carry mints with you and use them before the appointment If you are looking for corporate clothing, give Belle Regalo a call or e-mail us on info@belleregalo.co.za

I Love the Winter Jacket

I can not claim to be a winter person. But sadly as my business is not yet a multi-national, I have to keep regular seasonal patterns along with my collegues, freinds and family.

So while I am trapped in winter, I have to find things to be thankful for and one of thise is definately the winter jacket. Thankfully there are a lot more fashionable items in the corporate clothing and promotional clothing ranges of of winter jackets. Even ladies have now been recognised when it comes to corporate clothing with more and more ranges including both a ladies and gents version of the winter jacket.

Lately I have been eyeing out ladies belted jacket. The one that I have in mind (see image above), has lovely top stitching detail and is a fully padded jacket. Oh what a joy to be snug, warm and stylish as well.

Winter jackets are very well received as corporate gifts. The trick is to start planning in advance and to keep a database of the sizes of your best clients. That way you can reuse it for golf days, soccer viewing get-togethers, and other corporate events. Keep in contact with your client's PA who can discreetly tell you if too much winter comfort food has been on the boss's desk and that they may have to upsize.

Always order and few additional sizes so that if your client does not fit their winter jacket, that you can easily swap the jacket out with your winter jacket stock without too much fuss or embassment.

If you are using winter jackets as a branding tool, then put your logo on big and bold. But if you are relationship building, then you may want to keep your logo on your winter jackets small and discreet.