Business Shirts With A Logo: How To Do It Without Being Tacky
While Business Shirts with a logo have been around for a long time, the general practice is to only put the logo on golf or polo shirts and leave the dress shirts alone.
Some say that displaying your logo on a dress shirt is a bit too tacky for the boardroom atmosphere. I disagree. A company is about business. Some companies have specific dress codes. What better dress code than to actually wear the company colors?
If you are trade-show bound, then wearing a business shirt with a logo is not only a good idea, it's almost a requirement. Trade show attendees will meet hundreds of people. By the end of the day, names and faces blur. If while they are talking to you, they are also looking at your logo – you have greatly increased the odds that when it comes time for the follow up phone call, they will have an easier time of associating you and your face with the company , which of course increases the chances of a successful beginning to a new relationship.
Making the logo look good on a dress shirt can be harder to pull off, but very doable.
First consider your logo: Is it "busy" or "plain"? Putting a loud logo on a loud shirt is akin to wearing stripes with plaids (not that anyone wears stripes or plaids any more). Clashing colors doesn't project the profession image that you are going for.
If you have flexibility with your company's logo colors, you can easily arrange for combinations that work well together. If your company policy about the logo colors is stricter, then you are of course more restricted when it comes to shirt colors. If you are also wearing a tie, you need to be even more mindful that you present a neat professional appearance.
The option I prefer is a tone-on-tone approach. For example, If you logo is mostly blue, sew it on a blue shirt. Even if the thread matches exactly, you get a subtle almost embossed sort of look – very classy. A different shade of blue also has a softer look – your logo won't jump off the shirt like a billboard, but will be visible in a very professional understated sort of way.
Wearing business shirts with your logo is just one way to leverage your advertising dollars and project a consistent and professional image.