As events change, so does the landscape of what runners are expecting from events with regard to swag. Gone are the days of a cotton shirt and just something tossed in a plastic bag. Runners are looking for premium swag options for their experience. Lets look at some cost-effective ways to change your swag for your next race or add something to what you already offer for runners.

Here are 3 great options to offer as swag and some cost-effective ways to make them.

1) Event Shirts

A shirt is a great way to not only show off a great logo but it’s also the industry standard in regards to swag. Shirts can be triblend, 50/50, polyester or you can go with different materials like RPET, Bamboo or even organic cotton.

Shirt Materials

When choosing shirts, it’s important to choose a high-quality product in the right material. If you want something that runners can use as performance-wear, like a dri-fit or a tech shirt, those are usually a 100% polyester shirt. Another option is to do a 50/50 shirt that is half cotton and half polyester which retains some wicking but is more casual. The best casual shirts for race swag would be triblend shirts or possibly even a bamboo blend. Triblend shirts are usually the softest you can find and Bamboo blend are super soft as well as anti-microbial to keep away odors if worn run after run.

Race Shirts Runners Love

No matter what you pick you will want runners to love the shirt and for your graphic to pop off of it. There are great programs for RDs in the market such as the RD program that UltraSignup has with Headsweats or there are other brand team programs. If you like to do more of the work yourself, there are always a good options to buy shirts via OpenTip, Shirtspace or a wholesale vendor. From there you can find a local screen printer or even choose to DIY with a heatpress and transfers. If you are looking for a local printer, the most important part is to find out the total cost upfront including screen fees. When screen printing, each color you add to a shirt requires a screen, so if you have 5 colors that’s 5 different screens. If you go with a DTF (direct to film) or DTG (direct to garment) method then these are heatpressed on so there are not any screen costs associated, just the fees to press the shirt with the graphic. The key to using any printer is to find out the cost up front, with all fees included, so that you know what the cost is if you are providing shirts/goods or if they provide them. This makes it simple to see which of the options works best within your budget framework.

2) Hats

Hats are another item that runners love and have a great space for putting something race related. If that is a slogan, a logo or the company name, hats offer you a great opportunity to show off your brand. Most hats that runners wear are running venting hats, the traditional trucker or a performance trucker. These usually run about $12-15 to buy wholesale through someone like Headsweats. For our DIY fans, you can usually find great truckers for $3-4 and running hats for $5-6 as blanks. You can buy DTF transfers for around $1-2 and heat press them yourself. Both are great options to offer to your runners.

3) DIY Options

The last option would be to do something outside of the box. There is always the opportunity to do things DIY for a small investment, it’s a trade off in time and effort against working with a printer or a structured brand program. A heat press for shirts and bags runs around $199 and a hat press another $199. If you have a more to spend, you can even purchase a laser cutter for $300-500 for projects. Having these in home and the knowledge to use them enables you to make a wide range of products from tumblers, to leather goods, keychains, etc.

At the end of the day runners want something that is great quality and useful for them. As RDs, it’s great to have something that they will use and wear which helps us in long tail advertising and brand awareness.

Being a race director comes with many decisions and formalities that are needed to round out a good event. As we move on, we will dive into each piece that makes up race directing and get the perspective from other RDs as well along the way.

Headsweats and UltraSignup are teaming up to provide UltraSignup Race Directors with the best pricing on the best race apparel.

Check out more details here: https://www.headsweats.com/pages/ultrasignup-x-headsweats

About “RD Education”

Race directing is hard work. The job requires a broad set of skills that include everything from inventing wild race concepts to route creation, budget management, event coordination, permits and crowd management to branding and social media. It takes business savvy, time, and dedication. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

The resources you’ll find here are created by long-time race director Rob Goyen along with input and expertise from across the sport. They are designed to help answer questions and provide a guide to support new and emerging race directors as you find yourself asking, “How do I do that?” Or repeating the age-old phrase, “I didn’t know I needed to…”

What would you like us to cover? Email rob@ultrasignup.com.