Trade show apparel. Designed for the booth.
If your show is 8 to 12 weeks out, you're on time. We design a booth capsule across eight products, from 15 pieces, and the pieces arrive a week before move-in when you approve the design six weeks ahead.
A capsule, not a logo on a blank.
Booth apparel is the only branding that rides the escalator and stands in the coffee line, and it's judged from 30 feet. We design a capsule for that distance, with one color block and one pattern drawn from the brand placed across the pieces each role needs.
Four of our eight products do most of the work on a show floor. At the demo station it's the piqué polo at $20.18 with a printed mark, and an embroidered mark is priced in one business day. The tee is $17.02 with a DTF print up to about 10 in wide on the chest and about 12 in on the back. That reads across an aisle. For the 8 a.m. hall and the load-out there's the zip hoodie in 330 GSM fleece, $25.22 printed. The floor team wears the cap as mobile signage, at $10.85.
A pullover hoodie, a sweatshirt, a button-up for the lead and a beanie for the winter conference fill out the eight. Because every piece arrives sleeved with the wearer's name, handing out kits on move-in day takes minutes.
Eight weeks out is the window.
More exhibitors look for booth apparel eight weeks out than eight days out, and eight weeks is what we're built for. Three weeks of production run from the day you approve the design, two weeks of shipping follow, and a week of buffer sits before the show. About two weeks of design come before all of that, at your pace.
Plan around the approval date, because the clock doesn't start when you first enquire. Approve six weeks before the show and the pieces arrive a week early, while approving five weeks out leaves no buffer at all. Put the show date into the lead-time planner and it gives you the exact day.
A paid sample set adds about two weeks before you approve, and for a first show it's worth it. Halls are lit like operating rooms, and a color that works on screen can go flat under them.
The capsule per person for a two-day show
Each person gets two polos for the two show days, a zip hoodie for the mornings and a cap for the floor. With one print on every piece, that comes to $76.43 for each person at list, design and the name on the sleeve included. An embroidered polo mark or a 3D cap front is priced in one business day.
Six people is 24 pieces, or $458.58 at list with one print on each. Send the mix on the quote form and it's priced as one order. Teams of four to ten are who our 15-piece minimum is for.
Design the capsule in the Studio →Design for 30 feet.
At 30 feet nobody reads a logo. They see a block of color moving through a crowd, and for that reason the capsule starts with one saturated color on every team member and a pattern that does the work a bigger logo can't. A DTF print carries the pattern on the tee and the back panel, and embroidery carries the mark on the polo, up to about 4 in wide and in up to 12 thread colors. Screen printing is on offer too; ask us which garments suit it.
The booth apparel guide has the design rules and the quantities. The ideas-by-industry guide shows what a software booth and a biotech booth wear differently.
Which role wears which piece
Demo staff wear the polo, the people building the booth wear the tee and the lead wears a button-up. Keep the color and the pattern the same and the silhouettes can differ by role. The booth staff apparel page covers the pieces and the decoration, and the role-by-role guide covers the floor.
Poly9 runs a 10-person booth team across three fall expos on one July design sprint. The gradient tee and the tonal polo stay on file, and each show is a quantity and a date. If you're dressing an event crew, the events and agencies page has that version.
Where to go next
Booth staff apparel
The pieces, the decoration and the price, from 15 pieces.
Booth staff apparel →Booth teams from 15
Four to ten people, the shirt count and the capsule.
Small booth teams →The lead-time planner
Show date in, approval date out, every stage visible.
Find the approval date →Booth apparel guide
The backwards timeline, the two-tops-a-day rule, design for 30 feet.
Read the guide →Booth staff by role
What demo staff, floor staff and the lead each wear.
Read the guide →Ideas by industry
What a software booth and a biotech booth wear differently.
Read the guide →Questions exhibitors ask.
How far ahead should we order trade show apparel?
Start 8 to 10 weeks before the show and aim to approve the design six weeks out. Once you approve, production and shipping finish a week before move-in, and that week is your buffer.
What's the minimum for booth apparel?
Orders start at 15 pieces, which is what a six-person booth needs in shirts and spares for two show days. If your team needs fewer than that, use the quote form to tell us what you have in mind.
Where do you ship booth apparel?
Within the US, to the address you give us, which can be your office or wherever the booth freight is being gathered. Shipping takes two weeks, and it's the last stage, so have the design approved early enough for the pieces to land a week before the show.
What should booth staff wear?
Put an embroidered polo at the demo station, a printed tee in the aisle, a zip hoodie on anyone in the cold hall and a cap on the floor team. Match the color and the pattern and let the pieces vary by role. The booth staff apparel page has the products and the role guide has the floor plan.