should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
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i was planning on starting a t-shirt line targeted towards the fighting community, like brands such as affliction and tapout. however in order to seperate myself from those already established brands, i figured that i would stray away from the typical "affliction" style of skulls/eagles/crosses etc. and all those other crazy designs.
i planned of having a more illustrated look with pictures, symbols and meanings behind my shirts...not just a bunch of random skull designs. however, im starting to think that maybe its not such a good idea. those shirts ARE immensely popular (despite being already played out in my opinion) and im not sure i should be very different from them.
im thinking maybe i should change my entire style and vision that i originally had for my clothing line, and conform to a more popular "affliction/ed hardy" style since thats what sells.
im confused and this is delaying my line from getting started/finished. i dont know which style i should choose! any advice?
Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
Honestly, Im tired of wearing these ed hardey, tap out, affliction t-shirts, i have a lot of these shirts. What im trying to tell you is stick to your plan and be ORIGINAL with your own ideas. Don't be like those guy's, if you have good designs and vision of what you think would hit the fighting community, implemented and try it out. And believe me there's probably more people out here tired of these skulls/eagles/crosses as well. I believe is time for a change, it's to played out IMHO. Goodluck
Last edited by ambitious; December 17th, 2008 at 12:20 PM.
Reason: typo
Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
i agree entirely with what you said! im sick of it too!
however, the general public probably doesnt share our opinions. they will probably still buy the other brand name shirts since they are the "in" thing right now... think of when a musician comes out and has a very unique sound and starts to gain a lot of hardcore fans. when this musician and his agents start to realize that he/she is not going to make much money, the musician usually conforms to whats popular and "sells out" ...in the end however, that musician winds up making money even though he/she is a sellout
the general public thinks very different from us. while we agree that those shirts are over with and we are sick of them, the fact of the matter is that they still sell! so i dont know what to do, change my image to be more friendly with that market? or use my original ideas?
Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
Peter, tough question. In the end you must do what ever pays the bills. By conforming it may offer you the chance to showcase your other designs. It might give you the chance to work into the network to make your designs the next big thing.
If you have plenty of finances then do whatever you like.
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Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
Paying the bills and staying true to your niche are two completely separate things. Why not come up with some completely different designs that are way off the norm but could still cater to your audience?
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Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
I am gald someone else said it because if I see another post from a person wanting to create a shirt styled like Ed Hardy or Afflicition I am going to scream. Why can 't we be individuals and have our styles represent our own taste. Why do we have to copy someone eles's design and think that is the only way we can be successful. BE CREATIVE! Get imaginative. Do something different you never know your style might be the next in thing. I am sick of those styles.
Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
I agree with Katrina.
I know it's hard to believe, but all the played out skulls, eagles, crosses, & grunge backgrounds were all original/different ideas at one point. So why can't you come up with the "next big thing" so you can become HUGE and everybody on the planet will copy you and then we can come here and complain about how we're tired of seeing your style and sick of reading posts about people wanting to start a t-shirt line like yours. ha ha.
Seriously I think you should take it in your own direction.
Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ambitious
Honestly, Im tired of wearing these ed hardey, tap out, affliction t-shirts, i have a lot of these shirts. What im trying to tell you is stick to your plan and be ORIGINAL with your own ideas. Don't be like those guy's, if you have good designs and vision of what you think would hit the fighting community, implemented and try it out. And believe me there's probably more people out here tired of these skulls/eagles/crosses as well. I believe is time for a change, it's to played out IMHO. Goodluck
Seriously, you can't compete with these guys so do something different so you aren't competing with them.
Re: should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more?
i am in a similar situation, and i too think that this fad will fade away
i cant really say that i dont like these types of shirts, because i like the artwork on the ones that are really different, that dont have the ordinary skulls and such on them
but i dont see this style fading away anytime soon
this grungy dirty style is everywhere right now, not just with clothing but with many things
a lot of products you see are leaning more toward this style
its been gaining popularity for quite a while in graphic design and its more popular now than ever
while studying art in college over the past few years i noticed this style getting bigger and bigger
i think that you could find a happy medium between this style and your own
if you could mix your style with this style than i think you could do just as well as conforming with this trend
and eventually when you get several designs under your belt you could experiment with phasing this grungy style out on a few shirts just to see what happens, then go from there
This is a discussion about should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more? that was posted in the General T-Shirt Selling Discussion section of the forums.
should i conform my style/vision to already established brands in order to sell more? 
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So why can't you come up with the "next big thing" so you can become HUGE and everybody on the planet will copy you and then we can come here and complain about how we're tired of seeing your style and sick of reading posts about people wanting to start a t-shirt line like yours. 
