Construction and Landscaping Gear for the New Season
With warm weather right around the corner, it’s the perfect time for outdoor-based industries like landscapers and contractors to start thinking about their custom gear. Whether refreshing worn-out custom gear, expanding the breadth of products needed to keep crews safe, or trying out a new custom design, companies can benefit from getting new custom gaiters, t-shirts, safety vests, and more. We talked to three of our customers to find out how custom gear works for them and how it could work for you too.
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The company: Ram CC Inc.
What they do: Concrete construction with a specialization in steel forming.
How custom gear helps them: Keeps the crew safe and helps advertise the business.
Their story: Based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, owner Brendant Palomo tells us, “I started my Concrete business in 2015. I started doing residence work in the beginning and moved to commercial projects. I mostly do underground parking with podium decks.”
Their design: Brendant said that his sister created his logo by hand and then transformed it into a digital design.
Their gear: “The reason I picked the… safety yellow is because it gives my crew added protection from getting cut from rebar and also helps my crew from the damaging rays from the sun,” says Brendant. “The color also helps my crew to be highly visible to heavy machinery in the jobsite and also vehicles. The gaiter helps with stopping the spread of COVID-19 and also from the sun rays.”
Their products:
Champion Authentic Soft Wash T-Shirt
New Era Series Long Sleeve Performance Shirt
Carhartt Force Cotton Long Sleeve Pocket T-shirt
Their advice: Brendant says that if someone isn’t sure what custom gear to choose for their business, that they should think about the possible uses. “Get gear that serves more than one purpose,” he advises.
Their final thought: “Custom Ink has one of the best customer services I ever had which keeps me going back.”
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The company: Viridian Wood
What they do: Rescue, reclaim, and reuse wood that would have otherwise gone to waste.
How custom gear helped them: Increases employee engagement through design contests, keeps them warm in the warehouse, and makes them feel more like a team.
Their story: Portland, Oregon-based Viridian Wood began in 2005 when its founders, friends Pierce Henley and Joe Mitchoff, discovered beautiful wood going to waste. They knew they had to rescue it, so they founded Viridian Reclaimed Wood. “Through trial and error, we pioneered an (award winning!) method to up-cycle the wood into beautiful, affordable, durable and ready-to-install tables, counters, paneling and flooring,” Marketing Manager Linley Shepard, tells us. “Our reclaimed wood comes from abandoned buildings, shipyards, old gymnasiums and other post-consumer uses–even backyard fences! We exist to give new life to the precious woods we reclaim, to reduce demand for new lumber, and to make our community a better place for us being here.”
Linley says that, for their custom gear, they wanted to highlight their core values of co-create and celebrate. “We want to use the creative juices of our employees in everything we do, and we want to keep it fun! Everyone likes t-shirts & ‘swag,’ but it’s even more fun to get the chance to have your custom design be worn every day.”
Their design: They held a company-wide contest where employees could submit their designs. They received 20 submissions, chose their top three, and then had the executive team vote on the winner. The winner received bragging rights along with the pride of seeing their design on their company’s shirts for the year!
Their gear: They order custom gear annually and this year opted for long sleeve t-shirts at their employees’ request since “it can get pretty chilly in the factory in the winter!”
Their product: Hanes Authentic Long Sleeve T-shirt
Their final thought: “We are excited that Custom Ink was able to make our vision come to life so perfectly. We unveiled the t-shirt with the custom logo as a surprise to the employee who actually was out of the office on the day we announced the winner. It was very cool!”
The company: Wave Landscaping & Design
What they do: Take care of lawn maintenance, tree services, hurricane cleanup, and irrigation, as well as full landscape designs for residential homes.
How custom gear helps them: Boosts marketing and gets people to engage with their business. Their clients like the uniforms so much, they’ve asked to buy their own which expands marketing reach even further!
Their story: “My dad, Ed Barnwell Jr., and I own and run our very own landscaping & landscape design company, Wave Landscaping & Design in Palm Beach County, Florida,” says Samantha Barnwell, director of operations. “We expanded from regular lawn maintenance to include landscape design about two years ago. I taught myself computer design programs and studied native Florida plants, we were determined to surpass our client’s expectations and be the best at what we do. We spent every day, including nights and weekends, learning everything about landscape design and continuing to try to better ourselves in this industry…. Today we are constantly creating and installing new design projects. The design element has truly taken over a large portion of our business and we are so thankful to each and every one of our clients. I am particularly grateful to my dad, my entire family, and my fiance JT for their endless support and belief in our business.”
Their design: They hired designer and Savannah School of Art and Design student Nina Berbrick to create their logo. Samantha says that their family loves the ocean and grew up at the beach, so they wanted to tie that into their branding. “We felt that the name “Wave” just fit and fits nicely into our tagline ‘ride the wave to your landscape paradise.’”
Their gear: They ordered a lot including custom hats, long sleeve work shirts, crewneck sweatshirts, and polos. “We felt that having a variety of options would help us in our marketing goals. Each item serves a different purpose. The hats and work shirts are for everyday uniform use, but we find ourselves wearing the hats even when we are not working or on site. The crewnecks can be used as a part of the uniform, but I personally wear mine all the time. Finally, the polos are used when we have a business meeting, they help us look professional while still promoting our company in a tasteful way.”
Their products:
Sport-Tek Competitor Mesh Back Hat
Sport-Tek Competitor Long Sleeve Performance Shirt
Sport-Tek Competitor Performance Polo
Hanes Ultimate Heavyweight Crewneck Sweatshirt
Their advice: Samantha says if you’re considering custom gear for your business, you should definitely do it. “Having custom gear makes you look professional and Custom Ink makes the process easy and fun.”
Their final thought: “It is a huge marketing boost! Having crisp, bright, beautiful, customized gear attracts people to check out our business. We even have clients asking to purchase the uniforms!”
If you want more ideas, check out our entire Contractors and Landscapers collection.
Miellyn is the Director of Marketing Content at Custom Ink. Her work has spanned marketing for television networks like TLC and Travel, educational content for Smithsonian and National Geographic, marketing and story for indie video games, essays for publishers including Random House, The Telegraph, and Smart Pop Books, and stories for press outlets like VICE and VH1.
Love it. Seeing the way other companies advertise their products is super helpful for me as I have a landscaping company in Surrey, BC. This is a great source of inspiration Miellyn! Thanks!
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