Does club clothing encourage or put off new members?

[Paul Frost]

I got thinking about this after the Scottish Champs and you can see some of my thinking in that thread. I think that having good looking club kit and lots of members wearing it creates a fantastic sense of being part of something and being proud of your club. I likened it to wearing your team/tribe/gang colours as you go into battle. It creates a bond that can give strength and encouragement to the less experienced.

On the flip side, does it create a barrier when someone new comes along, do they feel outside the clique and are put off?

[Freefall]

The subject is more complex than this. Eddie H is wearing a club top from last century which is quite different from the current "good looking" club kit.

[Paul Frost]

Perhaps club members who insist on wearing old kit should be mugged in forest and have it forcibly removed and burnt, or a "friend" should have a word about how they are damaging the image of the club. Use whichever method gets the desired result.

[SeanC]

My clubs gives juniors a club top after they've joined and gone to a few events, definitely gives them a sense of belonging.

[Paul Frost]

How do you finance that? What is the cost of your clubs tops?

[SeanC]

I think there was a personal donation.

Also the tops get recycled when juniors grow out of them. Not sure of the costs, but they are proper O tops.

However for many clubs, the amount of reserves vs amount of juniors, they could afford this out of reserves.

[Mr D]

Clothing (especially competition tops) MUST be affordable otherwise people wont buy them, and feel part of the club.

Ideally there would be a "few spare" (i.e. pool tops) which people can borrow until they feel part of the club and buy one..

[Mrs H]

As some of you may recall I had a little pop at smartening up for urban races in my CompassSport column. The standard response from the old top/overwashed T shirt brigade was that they didn't care what they looked like/what other people thought. they just didn't get the idea of presenting a dynamic, attractive impression across the age ranges of a vibrant exciting sport. A very selfish attitude in my opinion.

PS I would be a bit squeamish about wearing a " pool top" given the standards if personal hygiene amongst some members of our sport - and that is another thing I had a go about. smarten up folks!

[Freefall]

I should add that Eddie H is the most successful club member and his achievements (despite his kit) are inspirational!

[SeanC]

This is definitely an area clubs can use their reserves to invest in.

Eg all keen new members can receive a free top if they go to all /large number of events in the local league (if it's a 10 event league, that's a shirt that pays for itself).

How about half or third price to long standing members who haven't bought a club top in , eer, a while?

The problems I see with club kit is the sizing and the ordering process. Club orders go in, if you miss the order the stock of popular sizes soon dwindles so new club members get told to wait for the next order (can take years) or pick one from stock that's not quite the right size or style. If club members get into the habit of replacing their tops every 2-3 years then this gets easier. There are many decade old tops out there which look tatty (I have one). The better looking tops are expensive so again this might need some kind of club subsidy.

So this is a job for club committees to take on IMHO.

[buzz]

I should add that Eddie H is the most successful club member and his achievements (despite his kit) are inspirational!

Yeh but when do we get to mug him

Perhaps his club could give him a nice new top in honour of his achievements.

[johnrobinson]

He probably wouldn't wear it ,his old top navigates by itself you know, Eddie just provides the motive power.

[DaveK]

PS I would be a bit squeamish about wearing a " pool top" given the standards if personal hygiene amongst some members of our sport - and that is another thing I had a go about. smarten up folks!

Particularly if they have been used at multi-day events, eh Mrs H .

On a more serious note, as Sean says, our club 'junior squad' tops are clearly highly prized, so a subsidy system for the grown-ups might well serve to promote some tribal bonding .

[EddieH]

Seriously I agree with Paul's premise in this thread. However I have a big problem with the sustainable ethics of fashion. I find the waste abhorrent.

I have always bought a club top in every club. However in common with just about everything nowadays, last year's kit is considered obsolete. Somehow I have had at 4 generations of Moravian kit, none of which I am prepared to chuck out when it is still perfectly serviceable. I have 5 tops, some of which still look new.

It is simply a conflict of club id versus hatred of wasting the world's resources. It is not black and white, but getting new kit every time it changes is not congruent with my values.

[Mrs H]

Eddie! The number of road/air miles you(and the rest of us) cover in pursuit of orienteering makes the sustainability of the occasional new top a total irrelevance. Use the old ones as dusters

As for fashion you should do as I do donate and buy your clothes at charity shops. That way you can have something new (different) without breaking the bank or the planet.