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Rodney · June 9th, 2008

Each year, I try to do something different and hopefully "useful" with the T-ShirtForums t-shirt design contest extravaganza giveaway.

Last year, we experienced the coolness of bamboo t-shirts.

This year we'll follow along and watch a t-shirt design go from idea to finished t-shirt with all the trimmings.

Our goal:

Turn prometheus's winning design into a fully custom t-shirt. From the fabric to the printing:

Our guide (and sponsor) in this journey will be Kris from High Style Productions.

If you've ever wondered what happens during the custom garment outsourcing and printing process, hopefully this project will help shed some light on the subject.

I'll keep this first post updated with the progress as we move things along. Our goal is to have pictures, videos, and more to help explain the process.

Stay tuned [subscribe to this thread for updates]

Since everything about these shirts will be custom, the turnaround time from start to finish is usually about 3-4 weeks after all the artwork, quantities, and order details are in.

Here is the overall ordering process:

Send email inquiry with design, quantity requested, garment style needed and any additional specs. DONE.
Decide on a fabric style/cut/printing method and receive fabric samples from High Style Productions. DONE.
Review samples and approve a cut/fabric/style - OR - send over my own sample from an existing t-shirt I have and my own size measurement chart to follow. DONE.
Confirm and send over artwork for t-shirt printing, t-shirt labels and hangtags. DONE and DONE.
Receive pictures of prints from the production line. DONE.
Once prints pictures are approved, a pre-production sample is sent via snail mail. ON THE WAY
Once the pre-production sample is approved, the shirts of the t-shirts will be finished and shipped.

Thursday, June 12, 2008: Received 100% combed cotton t-shirt fabric samples with different printing types and styles shown.

Friday, June 13, 2008: After feeling the fabric samples, decided to ask for something even softer than combed cotton. Maybe sueded cotton?

Monday, June 16, 2008: HSP sent out more fabric samples of sueded (called "peached" by their production line) cotton.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008: Sent sample t-shirt (from one of my Life is Good tees) to HSP for custom size grading. The t-shirts will be sized from S-5XL. Still need to find a good sizing chart for women's sizes.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008: PRE-Order link for this year's winning t-shirt design is now up. If you don't have 100 posts as of today, you can pre-order the winning t-shirt design here.

Thursday, July 10, 2008: Finished tallying up all the sizes needed from the PRE-order period and sent the sizes over so enough fabric could be produced and processed for the order. The 3-4 week process actually starts from this date since this is when all the numbers and specs have been confirmed.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008: Received "strike off" proof photo from the production line. Actual printed sample shipped out for approval. It's getting closer now

Thursday, August 7, 2008: Physical samples on their way to me from the factory. Received more production photo proofs. This time of the fully printed t-shirt to see the design placement and hangtag printing. Almost there!

Comin'OutSwingin · June 9th, 2008

I think this is a great idea. Can't wait to see how it unfolds.

Are they going to have t-shirtforums labels, too? That would be nice!

Rodney · June 9th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by comin'outswingin


	Are they going to have t-shirtforums labels, too?

Yep, that's the plan. Maybe even hangtags

Mostly just to show the full process of going from an image to "retail ready"

sunnydayz · June 9th, 2008

I am excited to see what cool technique will be used this year, thanks for doing this thread Rodney. It should be fun to watch

prometheus · June 9th, 2008

Two words: Suh weet!

tim3560 · June 9th, 2008

Ummm. I wan't a different color shirt. And this idea rocks!

highstyleinc · June 9th, 2008

Hi everyone,

First, let me say how excited I am to be part of this project!

We really want to take you through the whole process so let's get started as we move along here.

These shirts are going to be custom made from scratch, so we need measurements and fabric specs. I have sent 3 samples to Rodney with fitted cuts and regular cuts to approve. If approved we move forward. If Rodney decides to he wants a custom cut, he can send me samples and/or a measurement chart to follow.

Custom cuts can take a bit longer because as redundant as it is, I go over the specs and samples here (in NY) and then forward them over to the sewing dept (in India) and review with them again. They make a pattern from the sample (or measurement chart) and grade sizes.

While this is underway, we will confirm all artwork for prints, labels and hangtags.

So, that's the general process to get started.... stay tuned for more!!

Jasonda · June 9th, 2008

This is going to be hard to top next year, Rodney.. I think you will have to grow the cotton yourself or something.

sunnydayz · June 9th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasonda


	This is going to be hard to top next year, Rodney.. I think you will have to grow the cotton yourself or something.

Haha I was thinking the same thing

This is really cool and I cant wait to see the process of how this works.

Solmu · June 9th, 2008

Great idea, this should make for an interesting thread.

Solmu · June 9th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasonda


	This is going to be hard to top next year, Rodney.

Hard, but not impossible

COEDS · June 9th, 2008

I have a idea maybe next year we could design the shirt. I'm sure we all have things we like about a shirt that we would like to have. I would like to design a shirt to hold things I use in the shop. I would like little compartments for a pen,nippers,scissors,etc. We could then have the design contest too. I know it would be involved, but raiseing cotton would be much more involved LOL. ... JB

sunnydayz · June 9th, 2008

Hey with as many members as we have here now, we could have a great little co-op and grow the cotton and have rodney refine it (or what ever it is they do to cotton). Then we would need to find one of those places that makes the cotton into fabric and we would be all set. Or maybe we could find a way to recycle all of our misprints into new cotton tees hehe. That would be cool, we can be the first shirt recycler

COEDS · June 9th, 2008

we could be the first group to recycle shirts. I know you can buy garments made of recycled cotton garments already. I would be interested in a contest that was designed around the go green concept. We could use ec friendly materials to produce the garments and get the green movemnet a boost too. ... JB

sunnydayz · June 9th, 2008

oh man someone already did it? well there went that idea

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custom t-shirt manufacturing and design from start to finish [2008 TSF Extravaganza]

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custom t-shirt manufacturing and design from start to finish [2008 TSF Extravaganza]

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