Where are the Broken Kode Tees?
As I announced this a while back I think it’s important to finish what I started. When I first started writing this post it was actually to say that I wasn’t going to go through with the whole t-shirt thing and that I wasn’t going to be able to produce the designs that I wanted in the way that I wanted to do them, and then highlight the reasons. Strange thing is as I was writing this I realised that I actually still DO want to get this off the ground, so I’ll put my thoughts/ideas/experience on the table and ask for YOUR input, what should I do and where should I go.
Just to record my experience with the guys at StreetShirts. I exchanged around 20 emails or so with the guys over there trying to get to grips with what I’d need and how I could go about getting my designs printed off as t-shirts. My main issue with the t-shirts was the final price that I would attach to them, over £17 (roughly $30 US) that didn’t include postage and packaging! I thought that was a little steep. Fair enough they’re special designs and some designer t-shirt cost even more, but those tshirts have a name behind them and are sold in all sorts of outlets all over the world and etc etc. I’ve got my little site and whatever Streetshirts could bring in as well.
See that bring up the second real problem with the whole thing; I would have to pay for all the prints before hand. While I don’t mind that in the slightest, my main problem was the fact that I could have been £1500 out of pocket and absolutely no way of telling if I was going to sell 10 t-shirts , 100 t-shirts or whatever at that price.
So this presents me with a few options. Hopefully you guys can give me your thoughts as well:
- CafePress - I’m not interested in doing a cafepress thing even though that would be very easy to do it and I could have it up and running by the end of the day, but I don’t know what the quality is like (I’ve heard bad things about it), and I’m not sure about the impact on the designs, would the prints look good or would they fade after a single wash, what’s the impact on the cost of the thing from them?
- Preorder - Setup a shop and get people to preorder. If I get 100 in the first week, then I know this is something I can get on the press straight away (like Bryan Veloso, if you’ve not ordered your tshirt from him, what are you waiting for)
- Nothing - Scrap the idea. What I’m looking for isn’t available at the moment.
4. You could also submit your ideas to Threadless. If they seem popular enough they will get voted to be printed, and you will make a little money off of it. It is not exactly the biggest money making option, but it will let you know how your designs fare in the grand scheme of things.
5. Try looking for some local screeners. They may be willing to work out a deal with you. I did that back in 97 and it worked out well for me - especially since I got to overlook test runs and give my input before things got produced in larger quantity.
Hope these extra bits help.
↓ Quote | 11/12/2005
I’m quite friendly with an outfit that will be able to make it for quite a good price, but, er, I’m in New Zealand… probably a problem. Give me a shout otherwise.
5. (from the above comment) Sounds like a good idea, I hope you find someone good.
↓ Quote | 11/12/2005
Just to say that you’re right about Cafepress - I’ve had some shirts done with them and they’re not great quality. It’s not that the design fades, more that the fabric quality is below-par (really starchy and stiff, IYKWIM).
↓ Quote | 11/12/2005
A preliminary pre-order to see if demand’s high enough.
If it isn’t nothing’s lost, and if it is, bomb’s away!
↓ Quote | 11/12/2005
What about Spreadshirts?
↓ Quote | 12/12/2005
Hi! Just wanted to say, I really like your designs; I’d be interested in ordering one. :)
Pre-ordering, and working with a local screener, sounds like the safest bet to me.
↓ Quote | 12/12/2005
Thanks for the ideas guys, I think I’m going to definitely do a bit more research and come up with an alternative plan, since I’m not giving up on one of my ideas that easily :).
Hey Sarah, nice to have you here, thanks for the comments. Hopefully I’ll get around doing these tee :).
↓ Quote | 12/12/2005
Feel free to consider me as another willing pre-orderer. ^_-
↓ Quote | 13/12/2005
Hey, have you checked out spreadshirt? just google it, i found them to be really great when getting some custom t-shirts for a school play.
↓ Quote | 16/12/2005
You got some cool ideas going on there dude - Good luck with it :-)
↓ Quote | 23/3/2006