Forums >Gears and Wears>Too many tech shirts?
I remember the good ol' days, when I was new to running and there was the excitement of the free race t-shirt. That was fun until one of my drawers was overflowing and another was starting to fill with the things. The herd had to be culled (by way of salvation army), and more often than not I now turn them down at races.
But through all of this there was the rare treasure of the free, race tech shirt! I had a small supply of cheapo, ugly tech shirts and was happy to push them aside for ones emblazoned with "Vermont City Marathon" and "Reach the Beach". Over the weekend, however, I was handed one at a race and for the first time thought to myself, "I will never wear this shirt." I have enough now to go for weeks without doing laundry... that actually might be a viable option if I can acquire enough shorts and socks to last as long.
Has anyone else reached tech shirt saturation?
------------------------------------- 5K - 18:25 - 3/19/11 10K - 39:38 - 12/13/09 1/2 - 1:29:38 - 5/30/10 Full - 3:45:40 - 5/27/07
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Nate -- funny you mention this because my wife and I were talking just last evening about this (not tech shirts but still racing shirts). We bought a new bed and dressers a few months ago, and the dressers are quite a bit larger then the old one and she was saying how happy she is that we bought it all (cause we really needed it bad)..
I mentioned that when we bought it, I had lots of room in my dresser, but now the drawers are almost all filled up with racing T-shirts because I have so many now...... One of our OLD dressers we took down to the basement and was going to give it to a relative, but I am now thinking about making the downstairs dresser my running dresser and put my 5 pairs of running shoes, 4 running shorts, 2 pairs of tights - various running jackets, gloves, headbands ----- and ALLL THOSE Shirts in the downstairs running dressers (Ill bet I have 35 race t-shirts now - maybe more and yet, I only wear 3 or 4 of them).............
So -- I dont have too many tech shirts, but definately have too many race shirts......
Champions are made when no one is watching
I'm reaching saturation point, but it's hard to let them go.
I think if were to donate, I'd have to take a Sharpie and write "Someone else ran" or "I didn't run" above the race name .
Would be nice if races diversified their swag. Socks are nice. One race I do gives out shorts.
DWARP Marathon Madness Mob
Wow....Great timing
I was just thinking last night about all the tech shirts I have and how my stack of Cotton T's has dwindled down to nothing.
We begged for the Tech T's and now we got 'em.......and since I don't wear the Technical fabric shirts for casual clothes I really miss my large pile of cotton shirts.
Race Directors.......PLEASE.......Bring back the Cotton T !!!!!!!!
Wow....Great timing I was just thinking last night about all the tech shirts I have and how my stack of Cotton T's has dwindled down to nothing. We begged for the Tech T's and now we got 'em.......and since I don't wear the Technical fabric shirts for casual clothes I really miss my large pile of cotton shirts. Race Directors.......PLEASE.......Bring back the Cotton T !!!!!!!!
At our 5K, we used to give entrants the option of a cotton or technical long-sleeve tee (with a higher entry fee for the tech tee). Each year, more and more people went for the tech tee. The price of the tech tees have come down enough that this year we are offering the option of a tech tee or no shirt (at a lower entry fee). We had to raise our entry fee overall, which is one of the reasons we offered the lower-cost 'no-shirt' option. It is still months before our race, however we have about 140 entries, and only 6 people have taken the 'no shirt' option. So it seems the tech tees (at least, the long-sleeve variety) are still in demand.
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Imminent Catastrophe
+1. I actually prefer cotton.
dnephin, that's a great idea about writing "I didn't run" on them before donating.
"Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"
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Good Bad & The Monkey
My race, runners get both a tech tee and a cotton tee.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
there are two local races that are of interest. one gives out socks and the other gloves (early April race). I should make a point to run them next year.
This year I did two of the local ones that give out long sleeve shirts (one cotton and one tech). So my shirt pile is diversified.
tech shirts are smaller and lighter so they don't fill the drawer as much. I prefer them.
People used to make fun of me for my pref of cotton shirts over tech shirts... especially the crappy tech shirt.
Anyway, I give many of my shirts (both types) to goodwill. I keep the cool, wearable ones and the ones from special races, even if they suck. The rest do not pass Go and do not collect 200 dollars.
But I'd muuuuuuuuuch rather have cotton shirts. I only wear the tech shirts when I work out... and I only wear the tech shirts that are reasonably well made. Which means that a pile of tech shirts does not get as much use as a pile of cotton shirts.
Also, the cotton shirt that has died can become a wax-the-car item. A dead tech shirt is a pile of non-natural, non-useful "fabric".
I like race tee shirts that have a nice design, they seem to be a rarity though.
Amen
It must be very difficult to come up with a simple classy design........BTW Trent, I like the ones of yours that I have seen.
The decision on whether it's a shirt I'll wear or not is made right away. It either hits the clothes basket or the bottom drawer of the tool box.......except for the ones with the solid 4 color screen print graphics that take up the entire front of the shirt.......they don't even make a good rag.
Mitch & Pete's Mom
My issue with the tech shirts is that they are usually men's sizes and I look and feel like I'm doing the "walk of shame" run.
I did recently do a women only race, the Aflac Iron Girl and they gave out a very nice women's cut tech shirt.
Hoodoo Guru
Nothing to see here. Mispost. Please move along.
The tangents are moot.
People used to make fun of me for my pref of cotton shirts over tech shirts... especially the crappy tech shirt. Anyway, I give many of my shirts (both types) to goodwill. I keep the cool, wearable ones and the ones from special races, even if they suck. The rest do not pass Go and do not collect 200 dollars. But I'd muuuuuuuuuch rather have cotton shirts. I only wear the tech shirts when I work out... and I only wear the tech shirts that are reasonably well made. Which means that a pile of tech shirts does not get as much use as a pile of cotton shirts. Also, the cotton shirt that has died can become a wax-the-car item. A dead tech shirt is a pile of non-natural, non-useful "fabric".
Me too, to all of this.
Plus, a cotton t-shirt costs a lot less than even a crappy tech shirt and really I'd rather have a race keep costs down. There are a few races I run that don't include a shirt at all unless you specifically order one.
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