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T-BOT · December 11th, 2007

Ok, so a lot of board members sell t-shirts online, right?

Are you really ready to sell a lot of shirts? or do you already sell a lot of t-shirts ?
Alot I mean something like 50 shirts a day. Is that do-able?

How would you handle selling 50 shirts per day or more, tell me as much as you can even if you do not sell that much. But if you did etc.

What exactly do you think is involved in selling 50 shirts per day at retail price 15 to 30 dollars a pop ? how much work is involved ? packing etc....

How do you or How would YOU do it ? give me examples of a days work.

btw: this is to help me with a Market-Research project Im working on...there may be something nice in there for you.

billm75 · December 11th, 2007

I'm a one man show from design to production to packing to shipping to webmaster to head bottle washer and fry cook.

SO...to sell 50 shirts a day I guess I would go by my plan: (keep in mind, my store isn't running....YET).

I have a cutoff time for stock orders, this allows me time to get things ready and start production.

I would organize all of my orders by size/style. This way I'm able to produce the vinyl for the artwork all at one shot.

Then weed the vinyls, pull the shirts and begin pressing by order #.

As I'm pressing and peeling, I have my tshirt folder at the ready and begin that process as well.

Once all shirts are made and the press is off, I can start packaging and printing out the shipping labels.

By my estimates, I'll be in production from start to finish (all but actually SHIPPING the shirts) for about 4 - 5 hours with my process. I'm able to crank out up to 20 shirts an hour on the press, and cutting/weeding time would be 1/2 of the production time estimates as that's the most labor intensive portion of what I'm doing. Everything else is assembly line work.

Hope that helps. Prolly doesn't, but hey, I tried.

Gunslinger · December 11th, 2007

Lucy,

Yes, we are ready sell to 50+ shirts a day. We are a direct-to-garment printer (one T-Jet 3), doing both local custom jobs and retail, and selling online (including ebay). We aren't selling anywhere near 50, yet, as the online store hasn't been open very long. But we have done a lot of different projects online over the last decade. Our most successful (non-tee) online shop, at our peak, averaged 40 orders a day ... my wife would print out the orders, and I would pack and fill them, and either one of us shipped them out. I don't think it took us more than 5 hours a day. Selling 50+ shirts a day (even as 50 individual orders) is definately doable. Printing and selling 50+ a day is doable for light shirts, but it would start to get tricky for shirts requiring an underbase with one machine. But then, it is simply a matter of additional machines (or heftier), and perhaps hiring help. Then, of course, you could use a fulfillment house to handle it all.

knifemaker3 · December 13th, 2007

Lucy,
Just finshed a 50 vest order on ansi safety compliant vest in safety yellow last week. All in Vinyl.
Here is how it went. There were varying amounts of different titles on all the vest. 1 of a title the smallest 5 of the same title largest. All just lettering no graphics 1 color.

Cut and weeded from 3-5 titles. Unpacked equal amount of vest from plastic bag, discarded craft paper inside the vest. Unzipped vest pressed rubbed cooled repressed 10 seconds cooled folded and repackaged in plastic bag.

Start again with another 3-5. This is all I could work with at a time in my small bedroom I currently have my equipment in until I can get the shop building finished.

Took @ 6 vest from start to finish per hour. Did in 3 day hitches. Approximately 8.5 hours total work time in all. Cleared $750 profit on total order.

Could have took less time if in bigger work area.

By the way I too am a 1 man operation.

Now if I can just get 50 vest orders at least once a week!!!!!!!!!!

Craig

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