If there's one thing we have learned over the years at Bed - everyone loves a freebie! From a gift voucher for a restaurant that ends up becoming your favourite place to eat out, a branded pen that you find yourself reaching for the most, to a USB stick that you rediscover years later rattling around in a drawer…if it's free, we'll use it!
The Originals
We learned this very quickly back in 2019 after the release of our very first item of merchandise, the 'Official Bed T-Shirt', which was FREE for all Bed tenants at the time. We launched this with the intention of our tenants wearing their merch to bed (haha…get it? ??), pushing the launch forward with the accompanying hashtag #notafashionstatement. But sure enough, before we knew it, the streets of Chester were peppered with our 'Official Bed T-shirts'! After an initial order of 200 flew out of the door, we decided to go one step further with the creation of the 'Official Bed Hoody'. Unsurprisingly, the hoody proved to be even more popular than the T-Shirt!
The Second Birthday Edition
Following this success, in early 2020, we decided to create an updated version of the 'Official Bed Hoody' to celebrate Bed's second birthday. This launch offered an array of different colours in addition to the original charcoal grey design – forest green, perfect peach, grey moondust and nice 'n' nude! We even had a guest celebrity appearance from X-Factor's Wagner who cameoed in a couple of snappy promo vids, sporting the different colour hoodies we had to offer!
The Post Lockdown Edition
After a challenging year that begun with the Covid-19 pandemic, we launched our third version of the 'Official Bed Hoody', a post lockdown edition. This release offered not on only a new selection of colours, but it also boasted a brand new design! Unfortunately, during this launch, another lockdown was announced…but what better way to spend your lockdown than being comfy and cosy in your NEW 'Official Bed Hoody'?! We took this opportunity to hold our first ever Bed Hoody competition, where participants could win £100 every single day of lockdown by posting a pic to their Instagram story wearing their hoody!
Chester Freshers Edition 2021
Our latest edition launched alongside Freshers Fair in September 2021. This time, we upgraded the original 'Official Bed T-Shirt' by recreating the design in a number of different colours. We dished out close to 2,000 at Freshers Fair alone, which we then followed up with an order of 2,500 hoodies! This hoody saw a new design, inspired by American fashion, incorporating a mix of booth hoodies and for the first time ever, we launched sweaters!
Written by Talia Kayne
