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xballicon · September 4th, 2009

I've been reviewing online t-shirt design solutions for months now and have narrowed the selection process down to two options, Shirt Tools (ShirtTools online garment designer software) and DecoNetwork/Piki (Wilcom DecoNetwork).

The basic difference between the two tools is one is a stand-alone one-time purchase (Shirt Tools) and the other is a recurring software as a service with affiliate stores option (DecoNetwork).

Outside of those key differences, I'm wondering if anyone has recent as in 2009 comments regarding the pros and cons of the two systems. Specifically how the systems are working for your business and are they meeting your customers needs for online design and fulfillment.

Any other feedback you have regarding backend functionality and designing the site with your own look and feel would be appreciated.

Like I said, I've been researching for quite a while and would like to get some real user feedback prior to making a final decision.

Thanks for your help.

swannn32 · September 22nd, 2009

Umm - I don't have either of those, but just looking at the shirt tools one brings up some questions. . .
Since you only pay once, do you ever get an update of their software. Also, if you are doing screenprinting, then the shirt tools one is lacking in design capabilities - like, you can't change the color of the clip art and the clip art on the administration side is not in the proper format (vector) for screenprinting. If you are just printing on a direct to garment machine, then that part won't matter so much.
Wilcom is a company that has been around for awhile (doing other things too - not just this). I've never heard of Shirt Tools till just now.
So that is my opinion. Maybe it'll help?

MissEden · September 23rd, 2009

I've been researching this for a while as well and hadn't heard of shirt tools before your post.
I love the idea of not paying a comission but the shirt tools site is lacking in... well in just about everything important!
there's no information there at all other than the price, a video isn't enough- where are the terms and conditions? What are you actually buying? I would need to see this kind of information in writing before I would make such an expensive purchse.
It's very quick to take you to a payment site without offering any real information.
Why is the price in dollars?? The people in the video are British and the site is based in the UK, can't really understand why it's in dollars...
In fact, the more I think about it and the more I look at the site the more I wonder about Shirt tools, it looks a little dodgy to me.

On top of that the guy in the video is a bit shifty looking for my liking...

TPrintDesigner · September 27th, 2009

Swann32-

ShirtTools is for DTG, sublimation in fact any sort of digital printing. You get free bugfixes for as long as you use the product. Version upgrades are chargable.

The files ARE in vector .swf format. We export to .png with transparent backgrounds.

TPrintDesigner · September 27th, 2009

MissEden-

Agreed, the main site is missing a lot of content. This will be addressed shortly after we have finished upgrading existing customers from V.1

ShirtTools started out life three years ago as a very basic online designer named "TPrintDesigner". The latest version 2.0 is a total rewrite of that early software consisting of a new UI and lots more features. The reason it is priced in $USD is because it is a worldwide product. You will find that Wilcom DecoNetwork do exactly the same. As for being dodgy? We are a registered U.K business with a clearly displayed address and contact telephone number.

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