RD wants to know what you want in a race t-shirt (Page 2)

the cotton shirts end up as bike rags.

the "tech tees" never fit and are even more useless, just throw them in the goodwill bag.

i can at least use the cotton shirts as bike rags....

I like Tech tees, color does not matter to me unless its a cotton tee. My bike club always has cotton tees and they are orange or day glow green. They argue its for visibility which is true, but its a cotton shirt. I'm not going to work out in cotton, or wear a day glow shirt around town, so they end up siting in my closet or becoming garage rags.

A few years ago, I raced the Emerald Across the Bay 12K, and the race sponsors sold a long sleeved technical shirt with a thicker wicking material, and with only one sponsor it's not littered with logos & came with a nice design.  The shirt was manufactured by Sport-Tek, and it is my favorite tech shirt of all the shirts I've either received for free or bought.  And, they gave away a free-be long sleeved cotton shirt made by Gildan, which I also prefer to a short sleeved t-shirt. I wear the higher quality technical t-shirts that come with a waffle like material, but some of the ultra cheapy shirts I've received lately I cannot wear because they'll latch onto any/every possible body hair and pull on it.  It's really annoying (and painful), esp when running.

I agree with tech shirts, women's sizing - hopefully accurate women's sizing. I hate getting race shirts in the smallest size and then swimming in them, and there are plenty of women smaller than I am!

I don't like white for tech shirts unless they're good quality - thicker material. I have white race shirts and you can see my entire sports bra and my belly button. Ugh.

V-necks are awesome.

I like it when race shirts are a little unusual - a unique color, some kind of fun logo or something. I have too many shirts that have a blah race logo on the front and a bunch of sponsors on the back. I did a 10k called reindeer run that has a cute cartoon reindeer running on the front and the sponsors are listed on the back in the shape of a Christmas tree. Another one that I love is a women's specific shirt from the fit to fight triathlon - it has a teal ribbon on the front (for ovarian cancer) with all the race info and a cool artistic swim/bike/run/flower linear design at the bottom, with the same design across the top on the back, and then it says something on the back about empowering women.

Oooh, I love that shirt because it's sleeveless, too. I HATE sleeves in the summer when it's hot.

One  more thing - if there's more than one event, specify which one the person participated in! I ran the air force marathon, and my shirt says "US Air Force Marathon" with "5k-10k-Half-Full" underneath. Sorry, I ran the marathon, I don't want people thinking I did the 5k!!!! Flying Pig Marathon is good for that - they have the event - full, half, 10k, 5k, or relay - on the back of the shirt.

I did not read all of the responses.

I HATE white shirts!!!!!

Men's and women's sizes are nice.  Unisex sizes lean toward fitting men only.

Tech shirt is the best.  I really like Patagonia.

I, personally, do not like tightness around the neck.

I don't bother getting a cotton shirt unless it has a really unique design.

I like socks.  You can never have enough socks.

Personally either is fine with me, but PLEASE PLEASE tell me when registering!!  I wear t-shirts out and about, but only use the tech shirts for running.  Many races don't tell me which shirt they are giving out and then ask me for my size.  In a t-shirt I wear XL but in the tech shirts I am a M or L.

So, in conclusion, I will wear either as long as you tell me what I am getting in advance.  Also, no crazy colors.  As a guy any whites, greys, or blues would be fine.  I hate when I get some turquoise or lime green shirt.

Why does it have to be a shirt?  I would love a race visor or something else.  The best "schwag" I've gotten from races are:

Yankz laces with the race logo on the plastic fastener

A race belt with "I am Fearless" all around it (the race was the fearless tri)

coffee mug with race logo which I still use at work

sunglasses cord (the kind that you can wear your glasses around your neck

All of these I thought were original and neat extras rather than the same old white shirt.  If it has to be a shirt, I want a tech shirt in any color but white!

I guess I would echo what many others said, High quality tech shirts, long sleeve because I already have plenty of short sleeve.  

The option to cut the entry price by $10 and refuse the shirt is a good one.

Also the idea of shorts or a hat/visor is a good thought I saw someone mention.

Tech tee. Regular t-shirts become work outside shirts or pajama shirts. Have a women's cut available and +1 to poster above who said make sure you have enough smalls. Also, make sure they are long enough.

I don't really care about the color (although I'm a klutz so Gatorade spills are more likely to show on a white one and make me wear it less often), but having a cool design is nice. The two I wear most often are my marathon shirts, one long-sleeved and one short-sleeved, because they have a nice design of the marathon logo on them. No preference as to neckline.

I did just get a logo hat for a race, which I thought was something different and fun. But when it comes down to it, I need more shirts than hats, assuming the shirts will actually be useful.

I guess what I would suggest to a race director is really if your goal is to get the shirt to be worn by participants (at other expos to post workout brunch) it has to look good / great. For some reason great race shirts are pretty rare and most people race a lot during the year so we've all got a drawer full of ugly shirts. So splurge on a good clean attractive design with a common color or one that makes sense with your race.

Because you asked my favorite race shirt at the moment is the Miami Latin half marathon shirt.

Bingo.

And hire somebody to do the design. Spend the money to get an attractive and hip logo for your organization. I don't wear ugly shirts that some volunteer staff member created ... thereby rendering your free advertising useless. One color ink on a green t-shirt goes right into the rag pile.

If you have to go cotton, don't go the cheap route there either. Go for the t-shirt cut that are currently trendy. Think American Apparel design. I will wear a quality t-shirt.

If you can't do that ... then I'd rather not get a shirt and take a cheaper entry. 

ETA: I never buy the shirt if it's an option. If you're doing this to get your race advertised, it'll need to be free for me to wear it (or absorbed by my registration fee). 

Not this.

Wow. That one is just terrible.

"Hey ... what's that facebook thing all the kids are talking about? We should do something like that for our t-shirts this year. We could pretend like turkeys with alliterative names have Facebook accounts. Everyone will love it."