It’s fall, which means it’s time to break out that cozy seasonal essential: the plaid flannel shirt. With Vogue dubbing it “the transitional staple of choice,” the trendy piece has been featured on recent runways by designers like Bottega Veneta and Toteme. But the flannel has been around since its origins as rural workwear. Its use in the ’90s grunge and underground music scene amplified its popularity, with groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam sporting the garments onstage.
“It always starts with either a celebrity or an influencer, and then it kind of trickles down from there to the mass appeal,” says Andi Goeing, a product marketing expert at Counselor Top 40 supplier S&S Activewear (asi/84358).
But your clients don’t need to be Paul Bunyan or Eddie Vedder to rock the look. A flannel’s easily imprintable material, color variety and near universal appeal make it a winning choice for the promotional products industry.
“We have trouble sometimes keeping the stuff in stock,” says Paul Kory, vice president of business development at Burnside/Sierra Pacific Apparel (asi/87224). “We started out with six colors, and now we have 28 different color variations in flannels. It’s a trendy, fashion-forward look, and millennials really like it because they just don’t want to wear what their mom and dad wore.”
A flannel shirt – perhaps sporting an embroidered logo or custom patch – could be an ideal seasonal incentive for corporate employees. Other markets to target include hospitality as well as craft breweries and bars. Bartenders can wear logoed flannels as a uniform, but breweries could also sell branded flannel shirts in their gift shops, in addition to T-shirts, stickers and other gear, Goeing says.
Think Gen Z and younger millennials for ideal flannel appeal. “Our biggest customer of flannels still is younger people, people in colleges, high school and then people entering the workforce, starting their own companies,” Kory says.
Whether untucked and worn as a “shacket” with a crop top or buttoned up and paired with jeans, the flannel shirt has timeless appeal in fall and beyond.
