Happy New Year 2013 to everyone! Whats your New Years Resolution for your work? Would one of them be to look smarter and sharpen up for you and your team? If so then please read on. There are a lot of advantages to looking smarter of course in your work. It helps to:

- Increase confidence
- Look good
- Better perception by customers and suppliers

Simply put it makes the wearer feel better and in turn it makes everything else better. Today I'm going to simply talk about the basics first for those more casual events and tradeshows or simply those working environments where simply corporate branded polo shirts and tee shirts are required. Having something as basic as polos and tees does not mean you need to look shabby, nor does it mean you need to look like you are playing golf. There are plenty of ways to really sharpen your look with just these basic garments.

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What Trousers To Wear With Custom Branded Polo & Printed Tee Shirts?

Many clients we worked with last year ordered shirts with their custom branding for their team either for conferences or for daily work wear. However whilst they thought long and hard on what garment worked best many did not have guidelines for their team for what bottoms to wear. In general we know that most people simply wear a pair of jeans or a black pair of trousers with the shirts. If you did indeed wanted to look sharp then focus on the bottoms. Trousers, shorts and skirts can make a huge difference to the overall look. Here are some tips on what works best:

- If its denim opt for darker colours. Darker is more formal and is a slimming colour. Plus its easier to layer on other clothing and headwear and have them still match. Plus its a more modern colour too.

- Straight leg denim and chinos for both ladies and men work the best. Baggy oversized options look very shabby whilst skinny or tapered options will not give you a consistent corporate look with other team members and realistically are not as comfortable as straight leg options especially after a long hard day.

- Length. The need for a proffesional alteration or at least someone who is handy with a needle and thread is an absolute essential. Folding hems outside of a pair of trousers or internally looks naff and gives not only an untidy appearance but also makes you look visually shorter and stouter as well. In terms of length standard rules apply so simply the trousers cut off at half a centimeter above the ground from the back of your heal when you have your shoes off. Also make sure that the waist is not pulled up and that it hangs naturally off your hips.

- Denim colour washes out easily. A tip would be to wash less frequently BUT ensure that you air them in the sun regularly. Preferbly every few days. For stains wipe off with a wet cloth and for ones that still smell a bit I have heard that freezing them in a freezer removes bacteria and the smell.

- Bottom colours - The safest colour choices are: Black, Beige, Blue, Brown, Greys If you know what you are doing then Reds, Greens and Yellows but these are very very hard colorus to pull off. At Cubic Promote we like to recomend contrast colours and colours that dont wash out and fade easily. So if you have a black or blue printed polo shirt then go for a beige or grey pair of trousers. If its a white shirt then go with dark blues browns or blacks as bottoms. If its red then determine if its dark or light and then contrast the trousers colour for best effect.

For footwear the simpler the better and I would talk more about shoes on another blog post. For trousers though follow these guidelines and we guarantee that you and your team would be looking a whole lot more consistent and stylish for 2013. Rememebr to keep visiting this post!