Towers Street Apparel

[TheMan]

OK, y'all know by now I have a fair few shy folks on here as friends, they don't post much & some of the points I make will often represent a wider viewpoint. So here is one I am posting on behalf of another.

Basically it was suggested that it would be a nice idea, especially for big meets, to have some way of identifying each other by way of an item of clothing, a hoodie for example with the Towers Street logo on - they also suggested you could put your name on the back.

Now, the idea of a hoodie, with THE MAN written on the back appeals to me I must confess lol!! ;D

I know there will be varying levels of opinion on this, but I think the point is in itself a valid one, if you do turn up and want to catch up with a meet, something to identify with (other than Astro's blue coat of leadership ) would be quite useful really.

Anyway I offered to post this on their behalf so...

Please keep replies polite. Thank you.

 

[DiogoJ42]

This topic comes up every now and then, and the general opinion seems to be "urgh, I hate the thought of publicly branding myself as a geek".

Personally, I don't have an issue with it. It could be rather interesting.

I've always thought that the most daunting thing about being a new member on meets is trying to remember who is who, especially when your screen name is different to your real name. (I'm useless at remembering names. Luckily being from London I can get away with calling people "mate". )

When Kelpie goes on her Guiders forum meets, they have name badges with both their user names and first names. Some of them even have forum branded hoodies with their user names on. So it clearly works for some online communities.

Of course, there is the question of do we want to advertise who we are to everyone on park? Given some of the shenanigans us lot can get up to, it may be better to remain slightly more inconspicuous.

 

[Alastair]

I suggested on Thursday that each enthusiast site should have their own particular coloured flag that would be held up by the leader of the group to distinguish between them. So TS would obviously have a purple flag. TT's would be navy, Coasterforce's white etc. The flags could then have a dual use for inter-group jousting later on on Towers Street.

 

[DiogoJ42]

LOL. I can see it now. At opening days of new coasters in future, there will be proud armies of rival geeks, marching in to battle behind our respective Colours, to compete for the rights to be first in line.

This could get ugly. I call dibs on manning the machine gun nest.

 

[BigDave]

The major problem with official TST merch is cost and commitment I think. If 50 people say they want a badge or something and then only 20 people actually put their names down and pay, then the forum would be left with 30 badges they cannot shift. Also ordering small numbers of something normally means you have to pay a fair bit more than if you were ordering thousands.

 

[Alastair]

LOL. I can see it now. At opening days of new coasters in future, there will be proud armies of rival geeks, marching in to battle behind our respective Colours, to compete for the rights to be first in line.

This could get ugly. I call dibs on manning the machine gun nest.

Yeah, and now Camelot has gone down the pan, it will be the only taste the GP get of medieval style battle

 

[Rob]

I'm personally not against the idea (probably due to my obsession with theme park merch!) and I actually quite like the idea of personalised hoodies! It was done once when we were back on TT, there were TT fleeces. I can't remember exactly when that was though. Then of course we had the TT pin badges not too long ago.

So yeah, I would be a supporter of any branded TS stuff! However I know the idea has been rejected in the past for various reasons.

 

[TheMan]

This got a warmer reception than I was expecting lol!

 

[delta79]

I would like to be able to spot fellow forum members when on park, but I don't feel comfortable with big branding. Like walking around with a t shirt saying "here comes the Geeks" or a big version of the Towers street logo.

The thing is If I spotted another member, I would have to work up the courage to say hello as i hate doing cold introductions.

most people can spot me walking around the park. I am the bloke with a beard, hiking books, black work trousers and Snickers Winter Jacket in blue and black.

 

[Cheese]

Personally I always cringe when I see stag, hen, birthday and other groups wandering around theme parks in custom clothes with their nicknames printed on the back. You could argue that we geeks look daft enough in our park merch without that sort of thing, but I see it as a different kind of daft!

Custom clothing in an online community/enthusiast group context is obviously slightly different to that though. You aren't wearing a pink t-shirt with the reason for the only trip you'll wear it on emblazoned across the front. Instead you're wearing something that's (hopefully) tastefully designed and shows your support for the community you're part of, and you'll probably get quite a bit of use from it. It's also an excellent way to identify fellow members. On that basis it's a nice idea and I'd probably buy some.

I'd prefer not to have names on the back though. I still think it looks silly on custom clothing made for clubs, organisations and sports teams, and for some reason I think it can come across as a bit pretentious too. In fact, the whole thing could perhaps come across as a bit pretentious to other guests and enthusiast groups alike.

My other reservations about the idea probably sound stupid and wouldn't be issues in reality, but hear me out. The first is that, as other posts have jokingly mentioned, we enthusiast groups occasionally get petty about the other groups. If we're easy to identify it might lead to members experiencing minor childish stuff like insults, derisive laughter and other stuff that's unimportant in the grander scheme of things but can nevertheless make you feel a bit rubbish. That said, not everybody would want to wear such clothing, and I imagine that it would probably appeal more to the thicker-skinned members who'd easily shrug that off anyway.

The second is that if I were a first time meet attendee and a large proportion of the members attending were sporting dark purple TowersStreet hoodies, I'd feel a bit uncomfortable and wonder if the regular meet crew were a slightly insular bunch that are hard to join. I'd like to think we're not and that they'd soon feel welcome, but I'd hate for people to get the wrong impression. Turning up on a Saturday morning and being confronted by a sea of purple is probably unlikely though; as I said, not everybody would want TS attire, and even if lots of members had it not many would wear it on every meet.

All in all I think it needs a little bit of careful consideration, but it's not a bad idea.

Disclaimer: the above may be utter rubbish. I've had a small amount of alcohol tonight.

 

[Dan]

Towers Street Apparel

I'm against wearing branded clothing but I would like to see a TST pin badge go on sale just because I am a pin badge geek and it is small enough to go unnoticed by others

 

[badlydrawnkelBel]

Re: Re: Towers Street Apparel

When Kelpie goes on her Guiders forum meets, they have name badges with both their user names and first names.

We kind of all made this suggestion after my friends and I first attended a meet. As I was unsure of how to introduce myself, do I use my real name or my handle? (Wow haven't used that expression since the days of AOL, yahoo and msn!)
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[GAGrathea]

Towers Street Apparel

When I see members of a fansite all walking around in matching clothing I do cringe a little - I've always thought the beauty of our meets is that while we're all overly a bit geeky, the whole thing is far more casual than something like a pay-for coaster club. I certainly wouldn't walk around the park in TS-branded clothes (and I adore the site)

Personally not my bag, but it's certainly something which gets raised a lot so hmmmm

 

[James]

I would love to see a TowersStreet badge in future.

Regarding clothing... personally I would only wear a branded hoodie at home, on park it feels too "LOOK AT ME I'M A GEEK". You obviously have the problem then of not all people wearing branded clothing and it just seems to be a bit of a clique I think this community needs to avoid. A pin badge is subtle and I think would be a nice little thing for the team to look into one day.

 

[Sam]

To be frank, not only would I not want to wear a TS-branded hoodie or jacket, but I wouldn't really want to be with people wearing them either. It would definitely alter the atmosphere of meets, and it might push away some of the more 'casual' enthusiasts in our group.

Pin badges are fine.

 

[Jordan]

I'd like to see pin-badges. Not so fussed about actual clothing though.

The major problem with official TST merch is cost and commitment I think. If 50 people say they want a badge or something and then only 20 people actually put their names down and pay, then the forum would be left with 30 badges they cannot shift.

We avoided that problem when we sold the TT badges by getting everyone to commit and pay upfront.

 

[Joseph]

It would feel to much like TPR, and y'all know how bad that be... :

 

[TheMan]

I think the point being lost here, especially when mentioning it will "ruin" the feel of meets, is the fact there are a few people who would like to join up, who are casual meet people, who don't know who anyone is.

That's the point, it is less about some fashion statement & more practical. Though, wearing a hoodie with this logo does not make you TPR anymore than wearing a Real Madrid T-Shirt makes you an overpaid Prima Donna.

 

[badlydrawnkelBel]

Re: Re: Towers Street Apparel

I think the point being lost here, especially when mentioning it will "ruin" the feel of meets, is the fact there are a few people who would like to join up, who are casual meet people, who don't know who anyone is.

That's the point, it is less about some fashion statement & more practical. Though, wearing a hoodie with this logo does not make you TPR anymore than wearing a Real Madrid T-Shirt makes you an overpaid Prima Donna.

Exactly! I know I felt very nervous to go to the meet I did as I did not k ow anyone but Roanne amd Dave. I think it is a good usual tool!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TheMan]

Re: Re: Towers Street Apparel

I think the point being lost here, especially when mentioning it will "ruin" the feel of meets, is the fact there are a few people who would like to join up, who are casual meet people, who don't know who anyone is.

That's the point, it is less about some fashion statement & more practical. Though, wearing a hoodie with this logo does not make you TPR anymore than wearing a Real Madrid T-Shirt makes you an overpaid Prima Donna.

Exactly! I know I felt very nervous to go to the meet I did as I did not k ow anyone but Roanne amd Dave. I think it is a good usual tool!

I think it's important that it's realised we aren't talking here about forum meets looking like this:

Though The Smiler queue will likely look a bit like that when it opens (I think I spotted Sam!)