Tech companies and venture capital firms are always trying to find new and unique (AND cheap) ways to get their name out there and woo employees, customers, and potential partners.

The most ubiquitous pieces of the swag tend to be stickers and t-shirts. With the arrival of the “Great Hooded One,” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in the 2000s, hooded sweatshirts have also come into vogue as well.

The creative forces and personalities of companies often shine through in some of the clever t-shirt designs and slogans that appear on the gear that companies hand out as part of their marketing plans.

You’ll see signs of what I’m talking about all over Boston: Hubspot’s sprocket logo popping up on eye-piercing-orange t-shirts, teams of runners in RunKeeper gear running on the Charles, possibly some sightings of a Clypd or StarStreet shirts in Davis Square, KarmaLoop stickers everywhere.

In addition to getting a company logo out in the public eye, there is also a little bit of peacocking going on with some of the swag that is being flashed around Boston these days. There are some pieces of gear that actually denote higher status (believe it or not), whether that be affiliation with a certain VC firm or being part of a special team at a company.

Here is a breakdown (and a hierarchy) of the tech swag hierarchy in Boston.

Google Ventures

The dual-coast (and maybe soon European) venture capital arm of tech giant Google has quite possibly the most “insider” swag in town.

Sported almost solely by the founders of companies that are part of Google Ventures’ portfolio, the Google Venture hoodie not only looks like the most comfortable sweatshirt ever, it denotes a level of startup cred that very few companies can claim.

Think that I am exaggerating a bit?

Earlier this year, I visited a couple of Google Venture back companies back-to-back. At Objective Logistics, Phil Beauregard was sporting the Google Ventures hoodie; across town, a few hours later, both Mike Saguero and Seth Rosen where wearing the same exact sweatshirt.

Here’s Beauregard and Saguero in their GV hoodies:

Beauregard is running two companies right now, Objective Logistics and the side project ReKindle (which we’ll get to in a second). He told me that at early Google Ventures Founder and CEO Summits, all the founders of GV portfolio companies got special Google Ventures-branded Nike sneakers:

Pretty sweet.  The story behind the shoes, according to Beauregard, is that Silicon Valley chief executive coach Bill Campbell has a a strong connection with Nike, which made the shoes special for Google Ventures. Reportedly, these are one the very few instances where a corporate logo that isn’t a swoosh adorns Nike shoes.

HubSpot

While not carrying as much caché and exclusivity as the Google Ventures gear, HubSpot garb does serve a signifier as a tribe member of the inbound marketing company’s inner circle of employees and devoted customers.

There are a lot of rumors about what new HubSpot employees get when they first join the company. I found out that new engineers get the best “insider” swag, including custom shirts, headphones, guitar picks, and etched wristbands (whatever those are), and special HubSpot Hacker sweatshirts for engineers and developers only.

Member of special “teams” within HubSpot also get specific gear including those working on HubSpot’s Signals project, seen below in their sweatshirts.

Atlas Venture

While not quite having the same cred as the Google Ventures gear, Atlas Venture is also trying to make some waves among its portfolio companies. The VC firm recently sent out Atlas Venture-branded backpacks to founders of companies that it has invested in.

Additionally, Atlas investor Chris Lynch has his own personal branding gear for his portfolio companies specifically. Here is a picture of Lynch, with Objective Logistics co-founders Matt Grace and Phil Beauregard sporting #LynchMob shirts.

Wayfair

Like HubSpot, Wayfair have a wide array Wayfair gear that they can grab.

On an employee’s third anniversary at the company, they receive a Wayfair embroidered Patagonia vest.

Startups

Just like some of these better known companies, the smaller and recently-founded companies are trying to get some traction by handing out gear to advisors, investors, and, in some instances, pretty much anybody.

Here is ReKindle’s take on the Google Venture/Zuckerberg hooded sweatshirt:

Some companies even might pay you with swag, like BostInno used to with this sweet number:

By far the most well-known swag in the city from the past few years comes out of Terrible Labs. A few different people I spoke to referred to the company’s clever #terriblelover shirts that you’ll still popping up here and there around Boston.