A Coat for All Seasons

What does Sir Thomas More have to do with coats? Nothing, actually. But, to get literary for a second, “A Man for All Seasons” was the title of a play about him, written in 1954 by Robert Bolt, and naturally, brought to film in 1966. Neither one of these have anything to do with coats, though, either.

The phraseology surrounding him, however? Well, that’s another story. Should coats somehow become personified, the idiom so closely associated with More could very easily apply. Why? Because, simply, they allow companies to advertise year-round with their employees as spokespeople, affirmed Alisa Buckner, merchandise and marketing director at Independence, Missouri-based Dunbrooke. Promotional products
for all seasons? That’s a marketing masterpiece.

ONE FOR ALL …

The concept of a “seasonless” style is apparently not fashion fiction. With the growth in popularity of vests for the in-between months as well as adaptable looks for increased promotional versatility, distributors now have the option of choosing one style to get end-users through a variety of weather patterns. And for an item that already has high perceived value,
multipurpose styling ups the ante all the more. “Consumers know that a good outerwear piece is an investment, and when they see their company or organization giving them a jacket, they think that their company has made an investment,” noted Christina Rubbicco of Medford, Massachusetts-based Charles River Apparel’s marketing department.

By extension, outerwear can last quite awhile. “Most jacket styles are timeless and will be used again and again in coming years,” she added. Couple enduring style with all-in-one construction and distributors have the opportunity to stretch promotional dollars further than ever before. The trick to seasonless outerwear is all in the construction: these items are sometimes referred to as “systems” jackets, which implies design components that work cooperatively. Since neither distributor nor end-user can predict the weather, providing a contingency plan—just in case—is an important selling point. A few key words to look for are “reversible,” “detachable” and “convertible.”