Hmm. I’m seriously considering doing the above. Searching the site with the usual set of keywords brings up a TON of results that are not relevant to my questions.
Is there already one, good thread about:
1) What quantities of shirts you should buy to start and in what sizes
2) Quality printers to produce said shirts
3) What sort of lead time would one need to build in with pre-orders to account for printing and shipping
The marketing aspects I’m not worried about. I get a fair amount of mail each week asking me when my own line will hit, so I think the audience is there. I just need to capitalize on an already established base of ingratiated consumers.
52 Comments
molasses4masses said 4 months ago
I can’t answer your questions, but I would be a customer.... :)
Mr.Stan Geek said 4 months ago
There are post with some of the info your looking for but I’ve yet to see one with all the answers you may be looking for you could start it up now or spent hours searching
Also when it comes to size shirts it would be base on the people your looking to get to buy your stuff
collisiontheory said 4 months ago
That would be rad ray. I’ve seen a thread about the size breakdowns. A lot use the 2-3-3-2 ratio for S-M-L-XL. With your kind of fan following I’d say at least come out with 50 to 100 per design minimum.
edword said 4 months ago
yeah dude I think it would be a great idea.
I bet if you started with a couple pre-order designs you would have a great response.
Then you would have some start up cash and an idea how much intrest is out there.
Reilly said 4 months ago
The search on this site should really be separated into title search and comment search.
basil said 4 months ago
#1 someone had suggested start out with 36 per design or somewhere low, and work it up to more quantities after selling out, but i think that was for people with a low budget.
so maybe order xs - xl adult sizes (along with girl sizes?)
and probably 15 each size? i dunno im crazy
#2 mr heartcore?
heroes said 4 months ago
dont fgt XS : ]
skullface said 4 months ago
heythequickness said 4 months ago
My current plan is starting out with 25. I break even at 12 shirts sold. When I break even, I’ll get another design printed that way I’ll have at least some variety.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
The ratio sounds interesting, Collision. That sort of "been there, done that" info is really nice to have. It saves the rest of us missteps.
Monuments, I IM’d Jimmy, but I think he’s super busy. If he’s reading this, that would be fine with me.
I’d probably start small and let the business grow organically. I’m about to launch print sales and I hope to use that as seed money.
a killer wombat said 4 months ago
... put me down for a shirt, I’m already pre-ordering.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
What sort of lead time would one need to build in with pre-orders to account for printing and shipping?
*Added as No. 3.
molasses4masses said 4 months ago
That is a great idea.
basil said 4 months ago
probably talk to mammoth printshop or merch spin , i’ve heard good things about merch spins turnaround time, and mammoth does a good job as well
try adding perks to pre-orders, a free drawing lesson :), free shipping, candy, pins, etc. you know, what would the difference be from buying it the first day your lines out vs pre-ordering
i wouldnt know much about lead times though
collisiontheory said 4 months ago
Rushing started a thread with a lot of printers:
http://www.emptees.com/posts/2152-people-that-print
Jon Kruse created a blog about starting our own t-shirt company:
http://www.mediocoreclothing.com/?page_id=31
More printers in the resources section. I’ve posted some there that do all over printing:
http://www.emptees.com/resources/category/3-links
Derisory Designs said 4 months ago
Yo Ray, I could get you a quote for printing shirts. I’ll email you.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
Awesome, Collision.
I’m probably* going to be doing some really difficult designs, coverage wise. Anyone know if some of the printers listed (and liked) tackle crazy prints?
*Knowing me, nothing is ever simple. :\
collisiontheory said 4 months ago
You could also just print shirts based on just the pre-orders. Say if a shirt hits a 25 or maybe 50 pre-orders then that’s the only time you print them. Saves you a lot on initial capital and you don’t have to worry about shirt quantities. Then once you sell out on the 50 then you can do another pre-order batch of 50 or something? Just an idea.
basil said 4 months ago
you could talk to some of the people you have worked for in the past and ask them who had printed your designs, just a thought, aside from that you could send some printers your design and just ask them if they are able to print them
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
I’d rather not bark up the client tree. Rather than shotgun printers with my designs, I suspect that people here have personal experience in dealing with specific printers. Word of mouth / referrals are almost always the better bet.
sittingduck said 4 months ago
Talk to MadebyMAS, he’s got a cool set up for printing.
MadeByMAS said 4 months ago
We just upgraded our shop and we can do massive prints now if you are looking at all over or full sized prints.
collisiontheory said 4 months ago
I posted these guys on the resources section. They’ve done some Imaginary Foundation shirts so they pretty much know what they’re doing:
http://www.pacificsplash.com/
You might also want to consider hooking up with the Design by Humans guys. They can print anything. They also do the prints for a new company called teefury.com
jumpy said 4 months ago
+1
it would be cool if people on here listed which printers they used, and what tee brand etc. maybe it could be in their profile... if they are willing to share the info
basil said 4 months ago
I see where you’re getting at, talk to madebymas, he’s got a nice set up for printing, and he’s printing stuff for my line
edit-
sittingduck beat me to it.
GerardoG said 4 months ago
DBH doesn’t print any outside jobs, they said they are too busy with their own stuff
Simply Complicated said 4 months ago
i want your logo mascot guy as a tee, minus the zombie dick haha
kyleisez said 4 months ago
good luck dude
{miles to go} said 4 months ago
if your looking to do crazy oversized prints, doing only 36 of a tee probably isnt much of an option price point wise.
collisions size break down isnt too bad. i sell more med and large and at close to that ratio. just depends on events, etc. online, mostly those sizes though.
Jon Kruse said 4 months ago
I hear good things about American Icon Printing (Glamour Kills, Seibei), and Jimmy has yet to print a bad looking tee.
Start off small
Talk to all the t-shirt blogs and then set them up to receive a newsletter. Info Below.
http://www.mediocoreclothing.com/?p=12
http://www.mediocoreclothing.com/?p=13
collisiontheory said 4 months ago
Well they print Teefury.com’s stuff so there’s a good chance they can print someone else’s stuff. There might be some minimums in the hundreds though.
Joe said 4 months ago
The turnaround time for getting shirts printed and shipped to you to ship to pre-orders should be about a month after you get all of your pre-orders in. Generally, allow up to two weeks for the shirts to get printed, and one week for them to get to you. So add an extra and a couple days just to be safe. And if they arrive early, then great! Just make sure you have everything set up with your printer beforehand. You can usually get orders rushed for extra $$$ if you want to cut down that delay.
ChrisOmlor said 4 months ago
Hey Ray, check out SunSports apparel (http://www.sunsportsapparel.com/), they generally have a 300-600 piece minimum order but if you want the best you’ve gotta go with the best. Talk to Jim. If you need someone to help you out with the whole process talk to Dave at AMB3R.com tell him Chris Omlor from Kingdom Media Design referred you. Hope this helps you my friend. CO
"Crazy" Mike said 4 months ago
You know I would like more details on the new set up just so I have an idea what could possibly be done in the future.
I have a higher starting number but that’s kinda around the idea I have in mind to go with for now . . .
heythequickness said 4 months ago
With a rep like yours frenden, I don’t think you would have a problem selling shirts at all.
With that said, Mammoth print shop is good, but I think they’re turn around time is a little slow. But they do a good job. I’m definitely gonna try merchspin next, or if I can afford it, jimmy.
jimmyheartcore said 4 months ago
You’re never on AIM!
E-Mail me your phone number and I’ll give you a shout tomorrow sometime.
Cool?
MadeByMAS said 4 months ago
I have new partners and they brought in new equipment so the shop basically doubled in capability and quality/quantities we can put out.
We have a setup that prints basic sizes around 13x18 inches which run right at basic pricing and then we have an automatic over sized printer that can print basically anything 2x4 feet. The bigger press costs more so it kind of depends on the job, we use whichever setup matches the artwork the best.
Perudoesitbetter said 4 months ago
Yeah, Mammoth is great. I’ve printed several shirts with them, turnaround is starting to be a little bit of a hassle but hey they get the job done and they do it right. I’m not too worried about the turnaround at this point since I’m not rushing anything, just anxious to see them new tees. haha.
Oh and Good luck Frenden. I’m sure you’ll do great.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
I wondered about that. I think that, much like my budget, the ambition of the designs will grow gradually, making the more advanced prints feasible. Good to know.
If a month is realistic, yeah, I’d pad it a little further. Better to under promise and over deliver, always.
Just a hunch, but I think I don’t quite have the market yet to warrant 600 of each design. It’s good to know that, if or when I do, the companies mentioned handle such a quantity of output at high levels of quality. Thanks for that!
That’s exactly the sort of info that I want to get. Gracias.
Jimmy, sounds fine by me!
I’m on AIM through the week due to a long term project I’m working on, but need to take a break on the weekends. I’m just not much of an IM chat participator.
"Crazy" Mike said 4 months ago
Ah . . . I see . . . granted all I think all my designs that could be printed as a tee still fall within the basic dimensions . . . I’m curious about the oversize and all over and what potential designs that could produce. Oh and this is just me curious but was my stuff printed before or after you got the new equipment?
gaunty said 4 months ago
wotto said 4 months ago
good luck ray i am sure u’ll be a huge success.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
Time will tell! It’s going to have to wait a while. I’ve had one too many all nighters lately.
wotto said 4 months ago
that means business is good, you gotta worry when there are no all nighters.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
Sure. It’s a good problem to have!
collisiontheory said 4 months ago
Looks like an all nighter right now dude.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
It likely is. Deadline tomorrow AM.
FRENDEN said 4 months ago
Not quite. Getting to bed now. Wee.
dobi said 4 months ago
hit me up if you have any q’s ray, "armstheychoke"
robolove said 4 months ago
I personally only really sell wholesale and I print to order.
I tell my customers that if they order 1 to 250 tees on a monday then the order should reach them by friday and for orders of 250+ to allow for an extra 2-4 days.
I used to have a shop selling mostly brand name tees like heartcore / atticus / kill brand / famous and so on and found that for women I was best off ordering in:
3-3-2-0
and for men:
3-3-2-1
(s-m-l-xl)
Hope this is of some help?
i22ac said 4 months ago
i work for a company that sells to walmart and they usually have a break down of
(2,4,4,2,)For tees or (2,3,3,2) for hoddies hope this helps if anything
sittingduck said 4 months ago
uh oh ...