I got some great suggestions yesterday (thanks Ian, MrBliss, 2the9's).


This was my old T-Shirt design; sadly,
it was just a "Skeleton Trading Card" on a shirt:


And here's a quick redesign, larger cartoon
without the "Trading Card" business:


Better?

Another question is...what one earth should be on the back of the shirt? Nothing? Or put the image on the back, and some little graphic on the front pocket perhaps?


And what about long sleepy nightshirts like this:



.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 2 8:12:41 PST 2003 by teller]

Larger, maybe?

[This message was edited Wed Apr 2 2:14:14 PST 2003 by ChocolateInvasion]

I would like to see an image designed especially for the shirt, instead of having an image superimposed on it. Like ian said, yanno?

But things are looking better teller!

for teller

Natsume said:

I certainly hear that...and yet I'm somewhat limited by what CafePress can do for me...I can't print on the sleeve of the shirt, for example.

Maybe I need to bite the bullet and contract a real T-shirt printer! They've done a pretty good job with the coffee mugs, though...

Who dares to wear white tees anyway?

yeah w/o the trading card border looks more neat...nothing on the back of the shirts...pehaps the image a little bit bigger?

gooeythehamster said:

LOL that's classic...

I like them also better, with prints 'all over' the shirt and not just 'a picture on a shirt'

The second one is better, Teller...

ChocolateInvasion said:

That is actually harder to do and requires different printing equipment, thus most shirts simply have a picture or text on them.

IceNine said:

Tss...So?

gooeythehamster said:

Actually this is a very valid point...

Maybe something more like a baseball jersey? Or a baby-doll tee?

teller said:

White and black shirts will sell better than baseball jerseys... also, baseball jerseys cost more to produce and will increase your price.

Baby-doll shirts are always cool, but your market is smaller.

I like the second one... but I prefer the large image on the back and a tiny logo/company name on the front.

I'm not a t-shirt person however. When I got the prince.org t-shirt, I cut the sleeves out and made me a tank top.

Tossing in my the small on the front or over a pocket is good with the image on the back. (I've always thought that was a good way to do it) Also they have a ash-gray... I personally love gray t-shirts. Having a choice of each lay out and color,may not be a bad idea either.

I think you should take away the border and just open up the design. Have someone (friend, fellow orger) do the design (or the t-shirt supplier can work with one of your own fresh designs). There's only a one-time charge per design from the supplier to make the template (should only be $300-$400) then, depending on the size of your t-shirt order (say 500), t-shirts should come in at approx. $5 per shirt. With a 300/400% mark-up, you're making a good profit. Same with your mugs. $15 a mug is steep. A proper supplier with an order of 500 or less should be able to get those mugs down to a cost of less than $5. It's all about volume. If you're only ordering 50-100 at a time, you'll pay for it.

teller said:

How about a hight contrast, black&white image of the skeleton face on the top back of the shirt just below the neckline?

Tom said:

Can do.

From the sound of it, some folks would prefer the big cartoon on the back of the shirt...maybe a small, high contrast b&w skeleton face on the front pocket?

Red said:

Volume...yeah...I've got some high prices because each item is made on-the-fly by my supplier. The nice thing about it is that there are no up-front costs and I can change my mind frequently about the designs (and simply upload them). I do get a number of complaints about the prices sometimes, though...

these are nice designs, teller. i like design #2, as the image is larger

ok here's my dream skele-shirt: long sleeved (i never wear short sleeves) black shirt. on the front a fred astaire/tap-dancing (bowler hat, cane, tails) skeleton. musical notes perching like birds on his skele ribs

XxAxX said:

It could happen!

Like birds eh?

teller said:

Yes!

LaVisHh said:

Could this be the magic formula? :O

teller said:

I believe so. I think it's overkill to have any shirt with a large design on the front, where our face is. If I buy a shirt, it never has a huge intrusive image on the front. (except for concert t-shirts, but I don't wear them)

It's cool to see a little logo on the pocket, or on the right side of the chest. Seems a lot classier to me.

LaVisHh said:

Ok...but what about a long sleepy night-shirt? Does the same principle apply here as well?

teller said:

No, not in my eyes. At night, our back is usually covered up - sounds silly I'm sure, but it's my theory - so I think that nightshirts are the exception to the rule.

:writing all this shit down emoticon:

I vote second... and leave the back alone.. To much will distract from the design...


Also I like long sleeve t-shirts.

Good luck, Teller.

I'd take a good skeleton out of the cards and put it on or next to a logo. Less text.