After running hundreds of custom apparel and promotional product programs this year, the patterns are clear. The programs that work share the same traits: they started with strategy rather than a product wish list, they gave us accurate artwork files before production, they planned around key delivery windows, and they treated branded apparel as an extension of their brand standards rather than an exception to them. The programs that ran into trouble had the opposite characteristics. Use the end of the year to audit your program and build the version that works.