Poly9: a booth capsule for three fall expos.
Ten people on a booth at three fall expos, dressed like every other vendor in the hall.
What Poly9 asked for in July
Poly9 had three fall expos booked and a booth team of ten. At the last show they'd worn blank navy polos with an iron-on logo, same as the vendors either side of them, and attendees walked past because nothing in the booth said Poly9. Their gradient was on every slide and had never been on a shirt. The brief arrived in July, and it asked us to make the team visible from across the hall in something they'd wear on a Saturday.
Why the tee is printed and the polo is stitched
The gradient goes on the tee as a DTF print, purple at the shoulder to pink at the hem. DTF holds a gradient with no color-count limit and is rated for 50-plus washes, where a budget iron-on goes muddy by the second show. On the polo, Poly9's mark is stitched tonally on navy piqué. It reads as a fade from across the hall and as thread up close.
The other pieces are quieter. The hoodie and the zip hoodie are ink with a tonal embroidered mark, and the cap matches. We made the tee the one loud piece because the rest of the capsule is meant to be worn after the show.
Designed in July, made by fall.
The tee's price includes its gradient print. The other four figures are the garment alone, since their marks are stitched and thread work takes us one business day to price. After Poly9 approved the design, production took three weeks and shipping two, which put the kit in hand before the first load-in. Every piece went out in a sleeve with its wearer's name on it.