Although one of the most commonly customized articles of clothing is the good old t-shirt, your custom promotional apparel options are certainly not limited to it. Many companies offer custom screen printing, embroidery and monogramming of baseball caps, shorts, polos, robes, jackets and more.

For years, custom apparel has been a very popular and sought after giveaway product for any and every business. The companies that are really good at creating product awareness even pay people to advertise their product or company for them.

If you're choosing to use custom apparel for a promotional giveaway product at a trade show or similar event, here are a few important things you can do to maximize the potential of your marketing strategy:

1) Know who you are marketing to. Do whatever market research is necessary, because this is the most important ingredient to a successful marketing campaign of any type.

2) Choose the perfect custom clothing item to fit your market, brand and trade show or other event.

3) Develop a means to deliver your message or sales pitch to your target audience or collect market data during the distribution of your promotional products.

4) Remember to follow up on these leads that you acquire. If you don't, you might as well be donating these tshirts or sweatshirts to charity.

Here are a couple of suggestions for buying customized clothing for the newbie:

1) If you're looking to utilize customized clothing to uniform your employees, be sure to choose comfortable, quality products which fit your business image and level of professionalism.

2) Consider buying in bulk to save on your bottom line. Many custom clothing and screen printing companies will charge a set up fee but offer considerable discounts for bulk orders. The savings for ordering in bulk can be quite substantial.

3) If you're looking to be as cost effective as possible, be flexible about the style and color of the apparel you're having customized. You may be able to save quite a bit of money by going with a simple white tshirt rather than a colored one. You might also consider a poly/cotton blend tshirt if cost is a big issue. Using a 50/50 cotton blend tshirt vs a 100% cotton product will dramatically reduce the price per unit.

4) Remember that large size apparel usually costs more. If your market is solely made of of individuals who wear a size XL there may not be much you can do, but if your market can be reached with children's sizes this might save you some cash.

5) If you're designing your own custom t shirts or the like, keep in mind that generally, the more colors you use and the more places on the garment that you choose to embroider, screen print, or otherwise customize, the more it adds to your bottom line.

6) Before committing to a design of your own custom apparel or custom shirts, seek the advice of a professional company which specializes in customizing and screen printing clothing and other promotional items. They can help you with each step, to be sure that the final item, be it an employee or team uniform, or a promotional t-shirt, will be a professional looking design of quality craftsmanship.