About 25 years ago I decided that I did not want to be a walking advertisement for any company, so I tossed all clothes that were branded by any business. Coke, Nike, etc etc. I have not worn anything branded again. If you want ME to be a walking advertisement I thought, then pay me.

Riding gear. Some of it is SO branded that its stupid. Sorry, I will not buy gear that turns me into a walking advertisement, But it is also impossible to avoid. Some companies are better than others, some lines of gear is better than others, and some I plan to simply blacken, to make it less obvious. I even plan to blacken my motorcycle.

Its not that I hate business. Nor do I have a problem supporting products and companies that produce support worthy goods or services. I just refuse to offer free advertising.

Is this silly? Ridiculous? In this hyper-advertised world, why should I offer my body as a billboard for you?

How do you feel about this?

One of the reasons I paid out for a made to order BKS leather jacket was to be able to choose what branding went onto it which was none at all, a small label will not stop me buying an item of clothing but a large one will.

I agree.

And what about all this Youtubers that use their channel for advertisment.
To earn money
And pretend that they create videos because the like to share.

If a logo on your RIDING gear turns you into a WALKING advertisement, does this mean you must be a Harley rider?
Asking for a friend.

As an aside, 95% of all Harleys ever manufactured are still on the road.

The other 5% actually made it home.

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Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.

I saw a guy once riding a harley, with harley boots, pants, jacket, bennie, hat, underwear (yes he showed us the top of the strap), socks, gloves.....and proud as can be.

Whatever makes ya happy!

Well, Horizons Unlimited sells T-shirts. Would you feel the same way about someone wearing a HU jacket?

Do you have any T-shirts with band logos? That's the same sort of corporate branding - "buy our CDs" instead of "buy our gear".

There is low- or no-branding gear, and I've definitely invested in it. I have a Dainese Razon and RevIt jeans, and I have a Modeka textile suit with minimal branding.

That said, if an otherwise excellent piece of gear is discounted by the value of the advertising on it, I am willing to accept that. E.g. all over Europe you will see bikes parked under rain covers with giant Louis.de logos - because those covers are good enough, and sell for nothing. That's... fine.

What about all these travel writers that go on ARR to sell their books to earn money? And pretend they write because they like to travel.

That is to say: creating videos is work, and creating YouTube videos consistently and well enough for your audience to be worth anything for an advertiser, is HARD work. If they didn't like making videos and sharing, they would have gone into investment banking!

Ha, Y'all beat me to it with the comments about Harleys. So I'd guess there's no Screamin' Eagles tattooed on your chest (or even a 69 Bonnie on your back). Kind of hard to avoid some form of product placement though. How far do you go with this - chisel the badges off your bike, bleach all your T shirts white, only buy tinned food without labels?

A lot of people use this stuff not so much as free advertising for the businesses concerned but rather as statements of their values. So Liverpool FC football shirts while on holiday in Spain, Rossi branded leathers with 46 all over them on their sports bikes (a few years ago now those ones) or even 'Jesus loves you' on the T shirts of people knocking on my door to tell me 'the good news'.

Having said that I'm currently sitting here wearing an AMG Mercedes T shirt. Are those my values? Should I change my name to Max Power? No, sadly not. I don't own a Mercedes and I'm unlikely ever to do so. I just found it clean in the cupboard this morning; I think it's something my son bought. He drives a Ford Fiesta. Or at least I think it's a Fiesta. The badge on the back is missing.

I have a slightly different perspective on this - I don't subscribe to the wearing of brand names emblazoned across the item as for me it doesn't really add much to a product except to say "probably best to avoid this person" which saves me time.

However, I do not mind wearing items that carry a logo reasonably discretely. As regards t-shirts with bands / events / organisations on then that also saves me time as it gives me an insight into someone's life. For instance I would probably talk to someone wearing an HU t-shirt as it is likely that we have some common ground.

On a wider note there is something to be said for accepting branding of items - that is business continuity - we want our favourite items to be available next year for us to buy so if the branding allows the business to sell sufficient to still to bother to produce an item as they are making a profit on it then that is good for me. This is in much the same way that I accept that if I drive too hard a bargain with a supplier then I may not be able to go back to that supplier again as they will have either withdrawn from the market or gone belly up.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Lots of interesting views on this. I am in the middle of buying everything for an RTW right now. Literally from naked to ready to go. So this branding thing is in my purview right now.

I have NO issue with YT's selling products, or being sponsored, or writers selling their works, or more discreet branding, or folk who support their favorite team or band or forum. I am specifically talking about over the top branding where the logo or brand name is grossly displayed. I only mention this company in one reference and it is not a comment on quality or anything else - just this one product - Alpinestar sells a jacket where the logo is the entire front of the jacket. NO! Not for me. I will not wear it. Even if it was the BEST gear on the planet and it was free.

I will be doing the YT thing and am considering my approach right now. And branding is part of it. It has been extremely helpful in my selection of gear, to watch 100's of hours of videos with folk out there doing it, to get my purchases right. And I will ONLY offer this feedback if asked in most cases. My goal is not to be the same....not a gear reviewer....but if there is something that is outstanding - then I'll talk about it - and that's not advertising - supporting good products from good companies only makes sense.

So maybe the answer here is balance, respect, intelligence, thoughtfulness, flexibility, and a willingness to re-evaluate and change.....imagine a world where we apply this approach to everything.

I generally wear nothing with a logo, especially t-shirts. My sole exception is Horizons Unlimited where I carry a HU t-shirt for the 24-hour ferry journey to northern Spain so I can hook up with any others of a similar inclination.

My current two bikes are KTM and I HATE with a vengeance their 'ready to race' logo, it makes me want to puke as I am a bumbling adventurer, not some speed merchant.

As for pannier stickers, my choice is deliberately vague, for I have the flags of Greater London (Thames and Crown), Orkney and Brittany, plus the 'Indalo' prehistoric mystic symbol from Almería. Make of that what you will.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

The HUBB t shirt I was wearing last year while cycling the Kennet and Avon canal got me into an interesting converstion with another cyclist and hubber, which reminds me I must buy another if they are available as that one has fallen apart and gone for bike cleaning duties and yes I will wear HUBB products.

I wanna get a HU tee shirt, but the only one I see at the store is lime green. I don't want a lime green tee shirt, unless kermit the frog is on it!

Send a PM to Grant for an update on when they will be next available.

It's hi viz, be a good biker

Some advice (as a YT consumer myself): start doing the thing now. The backend stuff of travel is actually super interesting to audiences, the preparations and decisions and considerations of what to do and why, getting it all on tape and out there as you are doing it will make great content. And it will build up your audience BEFORE you actually set off, AND it will let you get good at on-the-fly video editing and production while you have spare time.