The role of sportswear in my weight transformation

Look into my closet, and you’ll find that I own many Adidas polo tees. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not an athlete. I never considered myself one. In fact, when I was younger, I was in the Trim and Fit club.

“Eh faster leh,” Adam was a whole metre ahead of me.

“Ugh,” I grunted while being forced to run around the assembly hall. I tried to catch up to kick Adam in the butt.

TAF club stands for many things. One of my closest friends, Adam, joked that if you turned the letters around, it would be FAT. Adam had a sense of humour that kept me going. We were well aware of our body size, and we made fun of it. But I might not turn up for school if not for him and his jokes.

We were both indeed fat. Overweight. High risk for diabetes, as my PE teacher would comment.

Adam’s aunt has diabetes, and he’s told me how much of a pain it is to have to take medication for it.

In Secondary 3, Adam’s regular running efforts with the TAF club finally paid off for him.

“Eh so… I’ll be running on my own from now on leh,” I looked at the ground and mumbled.

“Yea, I want to give Hockey or Badminton a try,” Adam didn’t look at me either.

“I thought that we would be sticking together in the TAF club. Remember how we used to laugh at those guys playing hockey or badminton?” I looked at Adam. The blaring afternoon sun coming down at me, the rays made me squint a little.

“Yea… But I am tired of being in the TAF club you know. I actually want to try having a sports CCA. I don’t want to be stuck at TAF club forever.”

A moment of silence.

“I like the polo tees they wear for hockey and badminton practise,” I punctured the air with my comment.

“Me too… I got to go for the trial sessions now. Keep going and see you at Hockey or Badminton, James!” Adam slowly jogged away.

I felt a pang of… regret? A kind of loneliness. As if the sun had completely disappeared and the sky was overcast. I can’t believe it would just be me in the TAF club from now on. Me and some students from younger batches.

I had to get out, and I needed motivation.

I went home, and rummaged in my dad’s closet. I didn’t find any polo tees.

I looked into my piggy bank, and took out a few dollar notes.

At the sportswear shop, I looked around for a polo tee, trying to avoid the gaze of any sales people. I didn’t want them to ask about my size. I didn’t know if I would even fit into a polo tee sold here.

Then my eyes stopped on an Adidas running tee. It was a yellow polo tee, but made for running. I found the largest size and checked the tags.

“Adidas Singapore, sportswear designed to keep you as cool as you look.” I read the tag out loud.

Then I counted my cash, and walked up to the cashier to pay for it.

The next day was a Saturday, but I knew that from that day on, I had to practise running on weekend mornings. I went home, cut the price tag off and saw if I fit into the polo tee.

It was a very close fit. But I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror. It’s hard, because I’m sure I didn’t look like the guys who play hockey or badminton.

The next morning, I went to run at the park below my house. Alone, but together with my new Adidas polo tee.

3 months later, during the health check, the TAF club teacher told me that I had graduated from being in TAF club. I couldn’t believe my ears. I had put in extra effort to run every Saturday morning for the past 3 months!

It was true though, the polo tee that initially fit me when I bought it, was now too loose.

And that marked the start of my fitness journey. I joined Adam in the badminton team, just 3 months after he had joined.

Until today, I have sort of been collecting Adidas polo tees. It’s the epitome of smart casual meeting sports performance. I can wear it in almost any setting, and it’s versatile enough to pair with shorts or long pants.

Now, I look into the mirror whenever I put on an Adidas polo tee.

3 Fundamental Differences between Silkscreen Printing and Digital Printing

What are the 3 fundamental differences between silkscreen and digital printing? To answer that, we need to know what silkscreen printing and digital printing is. Silkscreen printing works something like a stencil, the stencil is placed over a piece of fabric and paint is brushed over the stencil, leaving a print on the fabric. Digital printing is applied by a heat transfer print method, an image is printed on a piece of vinyl (white printable or clear printable). The vinyl of the image will be placed on the fabric and heat pressed on. This ensures that the image will be firmly affixed to the fabric.

The first difference between silkscreen printing and digital printing is a range of colours. For Silkscreen printing, the more colours you choose, the more expensive the silkscreen printing will be. It is hard to achieve consistent gradient colours using silk screen printing and hence, it is not recommended by silkscreen printers. For silk screen printing, solid colours are preferred, with up to 5 colours to choose from. For digital printing, we are using CYMK technology, and we can achieve a wide range of colours, even gradient colours. If your design/ logo is very colourful with gradients, we will usually recommend digital printing instead of silkscreen printing.

The second difference between silkscreen printing and digital printing is cost. The costs involved in silk screen printing are lower for bulk quantity (40 pieces and above). To produce a silkscreen print, raw materials needed are silk screen stencil and paint. The higher the quantity required, the most cost-effective it is, as the silkscreen stencil can be used multiple times.  For digital printing, images are printed on vinyl using a digital printer, and the cost of the ink cartridges is high. There is also the cost of time needed to affix the image to the fabric, hence bringing up the cost of the digital print. Customers who value cost efficiency will usually choose silk screen printing for higher quantities. If you are only doing a couple of prints, we will recommend digital printing as it is not cost-effective to produce a silkscreen stencil just for a couple of prints, and in that case, the digital print will be cheaper.

The third difference between silkscreen printing and digital printing is details. For digital printing, we are able to achieve higher quality details and finishing as compared to silkscreen printing. Similar to a colour laser printing at your home or office, we can set print jobs at high resolution and print out very sharp edges and fine details. For silk screen printing, the print quality is good for bigger images, but for very fine details, we will suggest digital print or reverse silkscreen.

No matter what you are looking for, be it custom t shirt printing, or customised polo tee printing, feel free to speak to one of our printing specialists to discuss the best options based on your design and requirements. For example, if your logo is light coloured and you want to print against a dark coloured tee, the printed effect might not be as good as printing a dark logo on a light coloured tee. In this case, our designers will advise on what is the better print process to use to achieve the desired result for your customised polo or tee-shirt.

Do contact us at +65 63520988 or email us at info@ark.sg to discuss your needs with us. We look forward to creating your dream custom tee shirts!

 

Why Under Armour and Adidas running tee are popular

Gone are the days when people would do sports in a pair of old track pants and t-shirts.

To provide comfort and ease of movement, new styles of sportswear were designed. Additionally, with young people increasingly aware of style trends, sportswear designs reflected the spirited, celebrity-conscious sensibilities of the decade.

Now we see athletes rocking anything from sleek, branded technical sportswear to put-together designer training outfits. They want to look great, feel confident and show off their active lifestyle with cool yet functional athletic apparel. But what really matters in the design?

1. Materials

It is still quality and practicality before aesthetics in sportswear, ideally bearing qualities such as breathable and moisture wicking. Quality materials also help to keep the athlete’s temperature ideal and give just a right amount of support and pressure. It’s also important to think about the washability of the fabric; sportswear needs to be washed regularly and higher quality fabrics often recover well wash after wash and help the garments to keep their form.

2. Fit & shape

Another very important factor to consider in the design is the fit – the clothes must sit well so that you don’t need to adjust your clothing whilst sporting. The garment designs need to be practical and well tested – nothing is more annoying than having to pull your top down or trousers up as you are training. Well-designed pieces will sit perfectly on the user and remain secure, firm and flattering throughout the exercise.

3. Looks

Yes, looks do matter! If you spend a lot of time at the gym or doing sports, you may as well spend those hours every week in somewhat flattering clothing. On top of that, nice looking apparel can inspire to go further, lift confidence and give extra energy & motivation. One of the most visible trends in the sportswear field recently has been the use of extra bright, even neon colours – in fact, a lot of people that only wear neutral colours by day, actually prefer colourful sports clothing. Indeed, bright colour can be seen as bringing extra boost to the performance or work out: even those that prefer plain black training garments may choose to opt for some colourful shoes to add a bit of kick in their outfit. Then there are logos, which are another visible trend in sportswear at the moment.

4. Versatility

Thinking “multipurpose” is important when designing sportswear – for customers, it’s handy if the clothes are multifunctional and versatile, so that they can be used for multiple purposes and not only whilst exercising. This is actually a part of the reason why the sportswear industry is currently booming: athletic pieces have recently become increasingly popular as fashionable clothing, and for a lot of people, especially for the ones that live and breathe sports, the athletic gear often doubles up as casual daywear. You can see it all mixed up these days; comfy running shoes and training leggings combined with trendy bomber jackets and designer bags. If you like the way your training gear looks and feels, why not to also wear it whilst running errands, catching up with a friend or going shopping?

In concluding, nowadays it’s totally cool to indulge in awesome sportswear and you can definitely spend a bit extra on high quality materials, great fit and designs that please your eye – whether that’s black and minimal or funky and colourful. The most important thing is to feel good when you exercise, as well as being confident about how you look.

Under Armour sportswear and apparel and Adidas running tee and their range of products are made with the above quality in mind, which is why Under Armour Singapore and Adidas running tee are so popular in Singapore.

In Singapore, the Under Armour shops have apparel, shoes, and accessories for men in categories of short sleeve tops, sleeveless & tank tops, polos, long sleeve tops, hoodies and sweatshirts, featuring their top-of-the-line performance technology and innovation – Materials made better. Comfort made perfect.

Adidas Climalite is today’s technology. Lightweight Adidas running tee made with Adidas Climalite fabric is designed to keep athletes cool and dry during warm weather sessions. By pulling sweat away from the body to the outer surface, Adidas Climalite prevents sweat and heat buildup. It is perfect for moderate temperatures.

While there are many similar fabrics on the market, it’s the unique engineering of Adidas that sets it apart from the pack. Adidas Singapore use a diverse variety of materials in their products, and wherever possible make sure they are environmentally friendly and recycled.

 

Corporate Gift Idea- Adidas Polo Tee

Corporate gifts are perfect for business who want to make their clients or employees feel appreciated and valued.  Corporate gifting is also a great reminder to yourself and your business contacts that your relationship – and communication – does not just end with the signing of the contract. It goes way beyond that. Staying constantly in touch with your clients can help open up new opportunities for the future.

In every business, corporate gifting is an important thing to take care of and it has become a common practice of giving out the perfect corporate gifts which can actually do wonders in improving a business’s relationship with their clients. However, it is vital to know what to give your clients and the right gift will help you maintain a very good relation with your clients.

There are so many corporate gift ideas to think of for giveaways. Nobody wants to receive a cheap-looking present or items that are not useful or meaningful to recipients. If you truly want to establish a meaningful and long-term relationship with your recipients, you need to make sure that the items you send out to them are presentable and can make them feel truly valued.

The Adidas brand is the right choice for corporate gifting. The Adidas polo tee is one of the most versatile shirt for everyone. From sporting attire to leisurewear, Adidas polo tee can be paired with many wardrobe items such as jeans, shorts and even a suit with the proper fit.

Adidas is a company that has a variety of many sports products including sports apparel and accessories, and, of course, their many selections of Adidas shoes.

All Adidas products not only look great but also offer unsurpassed performance. Performance products are designed using the very latest technical breakthroughs. Adidas products are innovative, classic and always authentic. Adidas offer the latest and greatest gear that Adidas has to offer at every moment. When you shop with Adidas Singapore, you can rest assured that Adidas has been synonymous with excellence. Their hallmarks are the very best in quality standards, technology and innovation.

Ark Industries is a first class Singapore polo tee supplier. Their polo tee are made from the finest materials and fabrics, and is extremely soft and comfortable. They have a range of colours and cuts available for both men and women

Endorse your brand and business with Ark Industries, the first class Singapore polo tee supplier. Their spectacular collections of Adidas polo tee are a great hit and many fashion bloggers and celebrities have been spotted wearing these Adidas polo tee shirts.

So, the next time you are planning to gift your clients something, you know what exactly to give! it is Adidas.